Cutting/Painting Zinc Sheet Metal

Q

Qwertyman

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I need to cut, as straight as possible, zinc sheet metal. (i'm not sure if all sheet metal is zinc) Anyway its also 26 gauge and must be spray painted flat black, but i'm unsure of what type of spray paint and how the sanding process goes.

Any suggestions for cutting and painting it?
 
If it needs to be perfect and you don't have the tools, a machine shop will cut some with a sheer for a few bucks. Tell them the size you want.

If you're going to paint it, first spray some some self-etching primer and then spray the color of choice.

Self etch will keep it from flaking.
 
you can get some heavy duty tin snips and it will cut clean lines. As for paint get any self etching like Qtip said.
 
.0217 is the thickness for that gauge according to Machinery's Handbook 27...heh ok so i think tin snips will cut that fine, BUT the cut wont be smooth and flat. what you really need to cut it with is a shear.

ok if you dont have a shear heres another way...scribe your line where you want the cut and bandsaw it slightly oversize, then beltsand it close to the line, and as flat as you can get it. then finish the metal to the line with a file.

A neat file trick is called draw filing, this involves holding the long axis of the file perpendicular to the edge and holding the file flat on the edge you want to clean up, and then instead of pushing the file forward like you normally do, slide it sideways down the whole length of your part and that will produce an excellent flat and smooth edge for you. in your application a flat bastard or mill bastard file will do well.
 
Darkala said:
*snip*

A neat file trick is called draw filing, this involves holding the long axis of the file perpendicular to the edge and holding the file flat on the edge you want to clean up, and then instead of pushing the file forward like you normally do, slide it sideways down the whole length of your part and that will produce an excellent flat and smooth edge for you. in your application a flat bastard or mill bastard file will do well.
Click to expand...

works yes, but wear gloves, (more so if you go with snips) the cut edge will be sharp and trying to draw the file down it like that could produce some very nasty cuts if you where to slip, and the edge can be made VERY sharp if your file happens to be on a slight angle, and sheet metal snips will produce a serrated edge on the sheet and will slice thoguht your thumb like fine deli ham at the butchers

thore
 
"Zinc sheet metal" .......... assume you mean galvanized steel?

But yeah, a good pair of snips should do the trick. Shouldn't distort the edges too much
provided the snips are used properly, and haven't been abused in the past. Which isn't all
that uncommon unfortunately. All of of people can use snips, but not many really know how
to use them properly.
 
thanks for all your help thus far, it is galvanized and is very thin which why i'm thinking I need to somehow glue two together to get the thickness I want. I wish I could use a tablesaw to cut straight, but I really don't see that working well. It's either shears or something else. After that I need to bend it and such to contour to a shape. Actually i'm re-doing or trying to redo my arcade machine control panel, I hope this solution works.
 
A jigsaw works great for straight cuts. Be sure to use a straight edge as a guide.
Also be sure to use a blade with small teeth for thin metal = high TPH (teeth per inch)

My preference for cutting thin metal with a jigsaw is the Bosch Blue 36tph blades. A bit more
expensive, bet well worth it.
 
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