Cut to size means you give the supplier the dimensions you need and pay for the material you use, rather than buying a full sheet and scrapping the offcut. It suits low volume work, odd sizes, one-off repairs and anyone without cutting capacity on site.
This is the practical version: when it saves money against buying full stock, what to send with your cutting list, and the small details that decide whether the piece arrives ready to weld or needing another hour of tidying.
Key takeaways
- Cut to size means paying for the material you use rather than a full sheet. It suits one-offs, small batches, repairs and prototypes.
- Buy the full sheet when you will use most of it and have cutting capacity on site. Use cut to size when you need a fraction of it.
- Our guillotine shears from 0.9mm up to 25mm, in lengths up to 6 metres, in stainless steel, mild steel and aluminium.
- Tolerance depends on thickness, grade and part geometry. Any supplier who quotes a number without knowing those three is guessing.
- Send grade, finish, thickness, dimensions, quantity and edge requirement in one message. Half a cutting list means a phone call.
What cut to size actually means
You send a list. Something like four pieces of 304, 2mm, 600 by 400. The supplier pulls a sheet from stock, nests your parts on it to keep waste down, shears them out, and hands you the blanks. What you take home is what you asked for and nothing else.
That is different from buying a full sheet and cutting it yourself, and different again from a production run where you would be working off a bill of materials for hundreds of identical parts. Cut to size sits in the middle. One-offs, small batches, repairs, the bracket you need by Thursday.
It is really two things at once: material supply, and the first cutting step done for you before the sheet metal reaches your bench.
Why buying full sheets costs more than it looks
Both routes have their place. What decides it is how much of the sheet you will actually use, whether you can handle and cut it safely, and what your time is worth.
Offcut waste
Buying the full sheet works when you consume most of it. If your nesting says 70 to 80 percent or more, the maths favours buying stock. Below that, you are paying for material to stand in the corner of the workshop. That is waste, even when it does not feel like it on the day.
Handling, storage and transport
A full sheet is a two-person lift, needs storing flat and dry, and has to get to you in one piece without the finished face picking up damage. Blanks do not.
Cutting on site
Shearing stainless cleanly needs the right tooling and a bit of practice. If you do not cut it every week, the learning curve and the burr you will spend time grinding off both count against doing it yourself.
Which process cuts what
Different jobs go to different machines, and the right one depends on thickness and on whether the part has a profile.
Shearing for straight cuts in sheet
Straight cuts in sheet and plate go to the guillotine. Ours shears from 0.9mm up to 25mm, handles lengths up to 6 metres, and cuts stainless steel, mild steel and aluminium. It is the fastest and cleanest route for rectangular blanks, which is most cut to size work. See our guillotine cutting capability.
Profiles, holes and thicker plate
Anything with a profile, internal holes or a radius needs a cutting head rather than a blade. Laser cutting handles profiles and holes in sheet with a narrow kerf. For thicker plate, plasma cutting and water jet cutting take over, with water jet cutting cold so there is no heat affected zone.
Send the part geometry with your enquiry and the job gets routed to the right machine without you having to work out which.
What affects the accuracy of a cut
Tolerance on a cut to size job is affected by more than most people expect, so it is more useful to talk about what moves it than to quote a number.
Thickness matters. Thin sheet flexes under the blade and thick plate can pull slightly as internal stresses release. Grade matters, because harder material resists the cut and can spring back after shearing. Part geometry matters too, since long thin strips bow more readily than square blanks. And the cut itself removes a small width of material, called the kerf, which is minimal on a guillotine and wider on a thermal process.
If a supplier promises you a tolerance without asking about your material and thickness, treat that with some caution. The honest answer is that it depends, and a good supplier will talk you through what it depends on.
Edge condition and whether you need deburring
A sheared edge carries a small burr on one side and a slight roll on the other. That is normal for the process. Whether it matters depends entirely on what happens to the part next.
If the blank is going into a weldment, the burr usually gets consumed in the joint and nobody sees it. If it is a handled edge on finished work, a splashback or a counter surround, it needs dressing. Deburring is treated as an option rather than a default, so raise it when you request the quote and it gets priced in from the start rather than added later. Our deburring and finishing service covers the visible work.
How to order cut to size stainless steel
Send this in one message and the quote comes back cleanly. Send half of it and we will be on the phone filling in the gaps.
- Grade. 304 for general fabrication and food contact, 316 where chlorides are present. If you are not sure, describe the application. Our stainless steel grades explained guide covers the choice in detail.
- Finish. Note which face is the show face, and whether the protective film stays on it.
- Thickness, in millimetres. If your drawing is in inches, convert it or flag it.
- Dimensions and quantity. Length by width for each piece and how many of each. A tidy table beats a paragraph. Call out the tighter dimension if one matters more than the other.
- Drawing file, if you have one. DXF is ideal for anything with a profile. A dimensioned PDF or a clear hand sketch is fine for straight blanks.
- Edge condition. Deburred, or are you dressing them yourself.
- Collection or delivery, with an address if the latter.
- Deadline, and whether it is firm.
Browse our stainless steel stock if you want to check what forms we carry before you send the list.
Turnaround and collection
Turnaround depends on whether the material is in stock, how busy the shear is when your order lands, and whether the cutting list is clear enough to price without a call back to you.
We will not put a lead time in writing here because it moves with load and material. What is fair to say is that a clean order in a common grade and thickness moves faster than an unusual one. Odd grades, specialist finishes and non-standard plate thicknesses may need to come in, which adds time. Collection is from our Kempton Park yard, or we deliver.
If you are in a rush, say so up front. It does not change the queue on its own, but it lets us tell you honestly whether the timing works before you commit.
A worked example, full sheet against cut to size
Illustrative only, using a typical sheet size rather than a quoted one.
Say you need six blanks at 300 by 200 in 2mm 304. A 2500 by 1250 sheet is 3,125,000 square millimetres. Your six blanks come to 360,000. That is roughly 11.5 percent of the sheet used and 88.5 percent left over.
Buy the sheet and you have paid for all of it to use an eighth. Order cut to size and you pay for the material you take plus the cutting, against nearly nine times as much material scrapped or stored on the alternative. The ratio is the point, not the rand figure, and it is why cut to size is the sensible route for low volume work.
Request a cut to size quote
Send your cutting list
Send your dimensions, grade and quantity through our contact page and we will come back with a quote. If you are unsure on grade or finish, describe the application and we will help sort it before pricing. Over 40 years of supplying and processing stainless steel from Kempton Park, ISO certified, with cutting services in house.
Frequently asked questions
What does cut to size stainless steel mean?
Cut to size means you give the supplier the dimensions you need and pay for the material you use, rather than buying a full sheet and scrapping the offcut. It suits low volume work, odd sizes, one-off repairs, and anyone without shearing or cutting capacity on site.
Is cut to size stainless steel more expensive than buying a full sheet?
Per square metre of finished blank, cut to size usually works out cheaper on small jobs because you only pay for what you use. A full sheet is cheaper per square metre of raw stock, but only pays off if you consume most of it. For one-offs, cut to size wins.
What thickness of stainless steel can be cut to size?
Our guillotine shears sheet and plate from 0.9mm up to 25mm, in lengths up to 6 metres. Thicker sections, and parts with holes or profiles, move to another process such as laser, plasma or water jet cutting. Send the thickness and geometry and the job gets routed accordingly.
What information do I need to provide for a cut to size quote?
Send the grade, finish, thickness in millimetres, the dimensions and quantity of each piece, and any drawing file you have. Note whether you want edges deburred and whether the protective film stays on. Include your deadline and whether you are collecting or need delivery.
Can I get stainless steel plate cut to size?
Yes, plate cut to size is a standard request. Thinner plate is sheared on the guillotine up to 25mm. Thicker plate, or plate with holes and profiles, goes to a thermal or water jet process. Send the plate thickness and the part geometry and it gets routed to the right machine.
Do cut to size pieces come deburred?
Deburring is an option rather than a default. Sheared edges carry a small burr on one side that may or may not need dressing, depending on what happens to the part next. Ask about deburring when you request the quote so it is priced in from the start.