Cutting Stainless Sheet

[f350ca]

I have someone who wants a stand made for a soft ice-cream machine. Apparently can't find one the right size. Would be making it out of 18 gauge 304 stainless. How would you go about cutting the sheet up. I've done it with a jig saw but its slow, noisy and not very straight in my hands. Have been looking at the metal cutting circular saws, lots of video cutting heavy stuff but not much on thin flat stock. Worried it might grab and bend the sheet, or me.
Abrasive disk is out of the question in my closed shop in the winter. Plasma leaves too much cleanup.

[SteveG]

Guillotine (ideally), shear or bandsaw would be my suggestions.

Steve

[f350ca]

Don't have access to a shear Steve, actually have one but a 12 inch capacity. Need to cut sections from a 4x8 foot sheet so my band saw is out.

[SteveG]

I haven't done it myself, but I know they cut stainless on CNC routers. If you're running out of options it might be worth a try with a manual router. Since you do a bit of woodworking I'm guessing you've probably got a decent one? I've seen aluminium cut out to templates with a woodwork router and approx 3/16" or 1/4" ball bearing guided woodwork bits.
Not sure I'd be keen on the same cutter with stainless, but if you've got a carbide end mill that would fit in the router it could be worthwhile running a test piece.
Main thing with stainless in my limited experience (mostly drilling sheetmetal with HSS and cobalt bits) is to keep the speed down and keep it feeding otherwise it work hardens to heck and becomes a nightmare to cut. Not sure how well that carries across to milling/routing though.

Steve

[Highpower]

I don't remember what gauge I used but when I made the new face plate for my small heat treat furnace I just used the plasma cutter. Hardly any cleanup at all really. At first I tried my bandsaw in the vertical mode, but the vibration against the thin sheet metal table on the saw was too much to handle. Stainless puts up too good of a fight for me.  

It took me longer to get the plasma cutter out of it's case and set up than making the cuts. Of course it was only one piece but still way faster than the saw.

[Vinny]

Why not use that CNC Plasma Cutter you have?

[Dr Stan]

Plasma seems to be the way to go.  I certainly would not attempt to use a hand held router to cut SS.  Aluminum maybe, but certainly not SS.

[f350ca]

For smaller parts I use the plasma often. This cabinet is about 3 feet tall 1 1/2 feet wide and 2 foot deep. Im worried about warping on those long cuts and having to deal with the edges. Also the travel speed is so fast for this thin a material the steppers have trouble making the sharp corners, tend to round them. Maybe could crank up the acceleration setting.