What would be the best way to cut a stainless steel square cooker hood (too long) its thin maybe just 1mm. My initial thoughts never having done this before are using a hacksaw but is there a better or easier method. The cut edge should be hidden if my calculations are correct so even if I mess up I should be ok but mentally would always think about the hidden job :-)
I should have said its the chimney part not the actual hood.
Probably a lot less than 1mm - worth measuring accurately because if it is as thin as I think it probably is, you might do it quickly and easily with a pair of tin snips e.g.
I had to remove rather more from mine and used a nibbler that goes in the chuck of a power drill. It isn't easy to get a clean straight cut and I ended up deburring the edge with an angle grinder. Whatever you decide, make sure that you have an unobstructed, clean work space and take the time to construct suitable supports for the piece while you work on it. It's easy to bend the material in ways that you can't easily undo, and scratches and gouges don't come out.
HTH JonH
Angle grinder. :)
seriously, you can get thin discs made for cutting stainless.
And it's difficult to cut stainless with one without discolouration of the stainless along the line if cut. I have used such disks to cut down lengths of 150mm flue for use as ventilation ducts for extractor fans. The leave a ragged edge that needs grinding smooth.
A decent nibbler is IMO the best way to go. Used carefully it will cut without distortion. The old fashioned and impossible to find Goscut anvil cutter would have been ideal. I'm sorry they stopped making them.
In message , F Murtz wrote
That's what they use on those car modification (hot rod) programmes. A thin cutting disk.
It may be worth clamping a bit of wood the other side of the cutting side to stop deformation if the material is thin.
Used to be a hand powered tool made by Monodex now available in the draper brand. Draper 35748 Expert 255mm Hand Nibbler at around £8 but get a couple of spare blades and practice on some scrap first. 22 SWG is about the thickest that the Mondex would sensibly cut. 16 SWG was possible but the blades often broke. Also required a good deal of strength in the finger of the operating hand.
As an afterthough certainly don't remove the protective film that the hood chimney probably comes wit and buy some suitable tape (a) to protect the piece from scratches and (b) to act as a cutting guide. It's easy to wander off.
Regards JonH
That will work but cut very slowly or the heat build up will discolour the stainless. Better would be hiring a nibbler designed for the job, but make sure you hire the right one for thin stainless steel.
Mike
Plasma cutter if you know someone who has one. Failing that get lots of clamps (one can never have too many clamps) and clamp two pieces of wood either side of the cutting line and centred on it. Cut through the wood/steel/wood sandwich with a jigsaw with a fine metal cutting blade. Always keep the work in front clamped close to the cutting pint removing the clamp when the saw touches it and moving it an inch or so forward at a time.
Why not just bite the tenner and take it to a metal fabricator?
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When I had to cut some thin stainless (wall panels from Ikea) I found a fine metal cutting blade in a jigsaw did the job quite well. The problem was that fine pieces from the cut would get trapped between the sole of the saw and the stainless and scratch it. The solution to this was to put some masking tape ( a few parallel strips) where the cut goes, then this can be marked for the line. Slow and careful cuts worked quite well. I did quite a few of these in my last kitchen: When I messed up a bit, the plastic edging strips from B&Q would cover most small deviations.
Used tin-snips for mine (or rather my neighbour did as it used to be his line of work and he has nice scribing tools and various snips available)
When I had to cut some thin stainless (wall panels from Ikea) I found a fine metal cutting blade in a jigsaw did the job quite well. The problem was that fine pieces from the cut would get trapped between the sole of the saw and the stainless and scratch it. The solution to this was to put some masking tape ( a few parallel strips) where the cut goes, then this can be marked for the line. Slow and careful cuts worked quite well. I did quite a few of these in my last kitchen: When I messed up a bit, the plastic edging strips from B&Q would cover most small deviations.
When I had to cut some thin stainless (wall panels from Ikea) I found a fine metal cutting blade in a jigsaw did the job quite well. The problem was that fine pieces from the cut would get trapped between the sole of the saw and the stainless and scratch it. The solution to this was to put some masking tape ( a few parallel strips) where the cut goes, then this can be marked for the line. Slow and careful cuts worked quite well. I did quite a few of these in my last kitchen: When I messed up a bit, the plastic edging strips from B&Q would cover most small deviations.
Thanks for all the ideas, I will be cutting around 12 inches off the chimney so I may try a few different options before I go for the final cut and see what works best. I have the different tools that various posters have mentioned so I can probably afford to mess a couple of times.
thanks again
Good strategy. Please report back on the results. I expect to have to replace my cooker hood at least once more before I cack it.
Regards JonH
Hi jonH Yes will report back. This is just another part of the learning curve, moved into this house in June and every job the previous owners have done has been botched. The cooker hood is being resited from isle to against the wall. It took me a day to work out how to dismantle it and then I find it was attched to the ceiling (plaster board) with rawplugs, how the thing never fell down I will never know as it must weigh in excess of 15 kilo (instructions say fittings to support 40k). so had to lift parts of the 1st floor bedroom floor to access elec and put some noggins in to support the new location. Then I find the chimney part of the hood had part of the exhaust vent covered as the chimney part was too long so hence the need to cut a section off. Because the previous was too long the hood part only had 50% of the screws required to hold it in position due to how it is put together. Probably installed by a qualified electrician who was paid a fantastic hourly rate :-)
Sandwich it tightly between to pieces of thin ply / chipboard / mdf, whatever is handy, and cut it slowly with a jigsaw or a hacksaw. If you don't support it well it will flutter under the cutting action of the blade. The sandwich should also help with a clean edge.
Paul Mc cann
That technique brings back some memories. I wish that I'd thought of that, as I had the material and those tools to hand when I was faced with the same project. But it's been too many years since my apprenticeship.
Regards JonH
Jigsaw, fine metal blade, and masking tape (to avoid any scratching). Worked fine on mine. Do a test cut on the scrap (i.e. the bit you're cutting off) first. Do make sure you correctly identify which side is scrap :)
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