cutting tool for heavy duty foil

Well, from a theoretical PoV, you will never get a PERFECT circle.

OK, that sounds like nit-picking, but it isn't. If you mark out your circle first using a really good circle template, maybe with the point of a pin, you sould be able to cut it out to much better than 1/4 mm with ordinary sharp scissors. If that is not enough, I would be curious as to the application.

What you really need is a template. But since I have no idea of the size, I can't suggest anything.

Cheers

I'm looking to make a 4 1/2" and a 5 1/2" circle, which I can do with poster board… I guess I just need a better pair of scissors.

I assume that this is aluminum foil that you are cutting.

I find that a china dinner plate makes a good template to mark with, and then use scissors.

If you don't want to use scissors, then use a very sharp utility knife to score the metal around the plate, and then score the same circle several times. Then cut it.

–B.G.–

shift of outlook :

we might have a situation here where this person has quite disgusting scissors, and has not been made aware yet the existence of decent ones.
so :
you can get some Very nice scissors, and they will cut aluminium up to just south of the thickness of a credit card. it will not harm them unless one gets sloppy and lets the material flop between the blades and it spreads them apart.
you should be able to, by hand, cut (as Roger says) to an accuracy of about the thickness of a sheet of photo paper.
that is plenty round enough for this forum.

one can even sharpen garbage scissors with a file, if you gott'a … and they will work better than cheap dull ones.

Cool. thanks all. I think I'll go out and buy a decent pair of scissors. Enjoy your Thanksgiving dinners!

For that size, I'd suggest making a template from a manilla folder, an not poster board. Poster board doesn't have a good hard edge, and makes poor templates for tracing around.

I would not use a good pair of scissors to cut heavy foil, but even a cheap office pair will do a fine job, as long as they're in decent nick. I'm assuming you're talking about something like a disposable roasting pan. Something much heavier than that, and I'd go for tin snips (which in practiced hands can cut just as cleanly as scissors).

has anyone tried anything like this?

You could also use a child's protractor and replace the pencil with an X-acto hobby knife and #11 blade. Use a small piece of scrap plastic or plywood to anchor the pointy end and protect the aluminum while scribing.

Brilliant! Thanks Bob!

Saving lids from plastic spread containers has yielded quite a collection of templates. It's gotten to the point of buying stuff just to get a new lid with a new radius. Sort of like we did as kids with baseball cards.

Most frequently used app: reinforcement patches to be bonded to tarps and flies.

The trick with scissors for a lefty is to get left-handed or dual-handed ones so I can keep an eye constantly on the blades just where they cross on the cut line drawn on the work. For heavy foil, I might try a utility knife on a good cutting surface, but only if a screw or nail could be placed in the circle center to hold it firmly in place. Even without knowing, somehow I doubt that you want a hole in the circle.

It's much easier to scissor if a slightly larger rough circle is cut out first, so a lot of scrap is not getting in the way during cutting.

I have used the Olfa circle cutter. It works well, for what it's for. you need to properly anchor your work with weights on a good cutting surfice (a regular olfa sytle cutting mat works just fine) so it doesn't shift. It also pokes a hole, a bit larger than pin, in what you're cutting. Doesn't matter if you're working with cotton (the market is quilters), matters a lot if you're working with somethign that's supposed to be waterproof when you're done. It uses 18mm (the smallest) rotary cutter blades, which are expensive per use, even by rotary cutter blae standards, don't last long, and are sometimes hard to find.

It would probably cut one or two per blade out of heavy foil, if you don't care about the hole in the middle.

The tool to use for straight cuts on thin aluminum up to the thickness of aluminum flashing is a sharp utility knife blade. You don't cut all the way through, but just score the aluminum and then flex it to break along the score line. I've used this method on curved cuts, but it is hard to flex a tight curve. After I score the curved cut line, I make a series of radial cuts with a pair of electrician's scissors and flex the pieces to break the metal along the score lines. Electrician's scissors are tough and have serrated edges to grip the metal. If I can't score the cut, I would use electrician's scissors to make the cut, but the edge won't be as clean. Regardless of the method of cutting, there will be a burr on the edge of the metal and this can be removed by scraping with the edge of the utility knife. It takes a bit of practice, but isn't difficult. You drag the edge of the knife so that it doesn't dig in to the metal.

You can make a simple circle cutter with a strip of card and a board pin. Measure the radius on the strip of card, and mark the end points. Stick the board pin through one end, and a scalpel blade through the other.. Place the pin in the centre of the foil, and sweep the blade around the circle.

If you don't want a small central hole, use one of the big board pins with a big, flat head, and place the flat side down, and hold it in place with a bit of blu-tack, and fingers.

The other thing to point out is that foil will often fracture when folded along a significant score line, so you don't always need to cut all the way through when sweeping the circle.

[edit] d'oh! Just read William's post above…