Hi. I need some aluminium to act as an external flashing.

I need it to be about 3mm thick by 150mm wide and in lengths 3 or 4 meters long. Any of these dimensions can vary a bit, but those are the ideal.

I have rung Capral and a few other suppliers without success 6mm x 150 mm or 3 x 100 are the nearest I can find, which is a bit far from spec.

So I’m thinking of buying a sheet of 3mm and cutting it into strips myself. I have a Ute to get a 3 or 4 meter sheet home no problems.

I would want the edge to be reasonably clean, but most of it will be concealed so doesn’t have to be perfect.

However I don’t want the resultant 150mm strips to be all coiled up or with excessively wavy edges, a result I fear I would get from manual snips. So I guess I’m more concerned with how it lays then how it looks.

What tool would I use for this ?

My first thought was tablesaw, then I thought about kickback, so that’s out (I’m overly scared of kickback after a previous mishap).

Then perhaps some sort of metal shears or nibbler. I’ve never used one however so don’t know what is required - do they leave a neat edge - can they be manual or is 3mm too thick - is there a handheld powered shear I can get from a hire shop which will follow a line?

I am not experienced in working metal so any advice is welcome.

Cheers
Arron


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