…using hand tools (tin snips, hacksaws, pillar drill, files) by secondary school age pupils..?! I’m hoping to do a wee project with a third year (13/14yo) class; I’d need to either blag (town does have several metal fab places) or buy some sheet stainless but it isn’t something we have and I’ve never worked with it at all before.

(Before you ask it’s a pizza cutter; would like to make one they can actually use rather than just a model.)

Get yourself to a stainless steel fabricator for and off cut, they (usually) are pretty good at that sort of thing and may even be able to supply you with it cropped to the right sort of size. Stainless is in my experience no more difficult than mild unless is a high end blend (we use stuff here that is a nightmare due to its hardness. Another idea is to get hold of an old stainless steel sink and recycle the bowl! the metal wont be high grade and it would be a good project for the kids!

Where you based? You can have access to our scrap bin if I ask nicely

A circular pizza cutter? and are you just making the handle and buying in the blades? I wouldn’t like to give a bunch of 13/14yo a straight blade with a curved cutting edge?

another way to approach would be to go a bit more high tech – one co’ I worked for several years ago did some stuff with a local college as part of our commitment to the local community and training – showed students how we used cad cam to extract stuff from customers drawings then nested components to laser cut with least waste think we used to send the students home with a laser cut out of their name

not saying many companies would be up for it but if not to open ended time and cost wise might be – look under laser cutters

stainless is a bit of a bugger to manually work with – pretty tough stuff.

Thanks all.

@marcus7 – I’ve tried one local fabricator (not the sort of thing they use) and one more to try.

@thepodge – I’m in Glenrothes, Fife! Many thanks, anyway.

@antigee – thanks for the idea. Long term that would be great as one company (the one I’ve yet to try) certainly seems to have all the toys!

@Milkie – thought I’d try making the cutting discs… if the kids wanted to knife each other a pizza cutter is the last thing they’d think of. This is a small class and a sensible bunch.

@cp – _ may get hold of a small piece and try myself first!

househusband – I think I used to work for one of the glenrothes SS fabricators – drop me an email and i might be able to give you some names to drop when asking.

email in profile

Smudger666 – just sent you an email!

Just after I’d sent it I got a call back from Euro Precision; they have a sheet of 0.6mm (ideal!) that the MD has said we can have – result!