Sheet Metal Shear usage - lessons for all of us.

[SCOTTRODS]

So I have been doing sheetmetal for work and as a hobby for years (Since I was a teenager, and I'm 55 now), and today, I was just chatting with one of my coworkers about how no one seems to know how to use Aviation snips, and he went on to tell me the Green handled Snips I had in my hands, were left hand snips. I have always called them by the "waste side", and was shocked to hear him say he was a journeyman sheetmetal mechanic for 15 years... I only worked in a sheetmetal shop making Chimney flashings custom for about 7 years so I just left it at that, and got curious how my knowledge had slipped over the years, so i went to youtube to find evidence of his knowledge and found, mine was more correct... He was also rudely adamant, that He knew it all and was completely against everything I said... So... You tube lent me this video Tin Snips, and I want to share it with you guys, as I know most of the VW guys I know are really sharp people who like to know how to use and build and adjust things as correctly as possible. I am a tool whore of sorts and don't like to abuse tools (most times). I watch people use files to Rub on stuff and it makes me cringe, and seeing someone use a pair of Channel lock pliers backwards kills me! Not to mention the ones who don't know proper use of an adjustable wrench (Which is why I recommend if you don't know how, use the proper sized wrench instead) Take a watch for 5 minutes... worth the watch seeing an Old Timer (REAL JOURNEYMAN) show how it's done... (how I was taught).




Thanks for reading...

[Ol'fogasaurus]

IMG_2189 copy.jpg

I have a set of three of them, one for the left cutting, one for the right hand cuts and one for straight ahead. The grip color is an indicator while the shape, side the cutting blade is on are different.

There are also air powered shears also.

Lee

[Ol'fogasaurus]

https://lifehacker.com/aviation-snips-a ... 1684150936

Since I forgot I got curious and found this. It determines what the color in the handles mean.

Lee

[Tom in PA]

Thanks for the vid. I've given up on caring about which way an adjustable is used after seeing many videos of them being used/abused the right and wrong way without a significant difference in outcomes. I still do mess up the tin snip thing to this day so hopefully this can get me out of the dark for good on the subject:-)

[Bruce.m]

https://lifehacker.com/aviation-snips-a ... 1684150936

Since I forgot I got curious and found this. It determines what the color in the handles mean.

Lee

did you watch the you-tube video posted above?
According to it, the colour coding has nothing to do with cutting in a curve. It determines which side of the cut stays flat and which side curls up (the waste side).
All of which was news to me but makes perfect sense & partly explains why I’ve always made a rough mess with snips.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

https://lifehacker.com/aviation-snips-a ... 1684150936

Since I forgot I got curious and found this. It determines what the color in the handles mean.

Lee

did you watch the you-tube video posted above?
According to it, the colour coding has nothing to do with cutting in a curve. It determines which side of the cut stays flat and which side curls up (the waste side).
All of which was news to me but makes perfect sense & partly explains why I’ve always made a rough mess with snips.

That is weird! I Iooked up the the shears using the same search and got below. I then hit this URL and all I got was what you see below plus a picture of the shears... but no video:

"Cutting curves in sheet metal is difficult. The material is awkward and unforgiving, as well as extremely sharp. There are three types of aviation snips that are designed to make three different cuts much easier.
Yellow handled snips are made to cut in a straight line. They can also cut wide curves and are ideal for flat pieces of metal. Green handled snips are designed to make straight and right (clockwise) cuts and are perfect for right handers cutting duct. Red handled snips cut best straight and to the left (counter-clockwise). You can use any of the snips in either hand but they will only perform well when cutting in the direction they were intended for.



Look for offset snips as they keep your hands up and away from the sharp metal and always wear leather gloves when handling and cutting metal and aluminum. Milwaukee makes a great two-piece set, and this three-piece set from Wiss is extremely popular. For lower budgets, this three-piece set from Tekton is only $14."

The other thing that was weird was that it wouldn't let me copy the dialogue until I finagled things around. Sorry about the problem.

Lee

[Tom in PA]

The video seemed to make a lot of sense. I didn't realize snips were only designed to have 1/4 inch or so of waste. That explains why I've struggled in the past...

[SCOTTRODS]

Tom... that was one of the first things I learned when we hit the Sheet metal in A&P school too. There's a tool for cutting a sheet to the size you need. It ain't aviation snips... LOL I wish I had a Beverly throatless shear, but I make do with a pair of standard Shears and a 52 inch Stomp shear.

[GS guy]

My good buddy Bill! Bill did most of the welding on my chassis and is a crack welder and very gifted general fabricator. He's the kind of guy you want to take in (and memorize if possible!) every snippet of knowledge he cares to share whenever you're around him - super nice guy too. Always has some cool race car or hot rod stuff going on in his shop. He lives about 15 minuted down the road from me. Bill has more talent with a torch and hammer than most of us can do with a box full of tools! You should see his Batmobile!
I now see I've been mis-using my aviation snips all this time - trying to hack my way through sheet metal like they are some kind of hand shears.
Jeff

[SCOTTRODS]

My good buddy Bill! Bill did most of the welding on my chassis and is a crack welder and very gifted general fabricator. He's the kind of guy you want to take in (and memorize if possible!) every snippet of knowledge he cares to share whenever you're around him - super nice guy too. Always has some cool race car or hot rod stuff going on in his shop. He lives about 15 minuted down the road from me. Bill has more talent with a torch and hammer than most of us can do with a box full of tools! You should see his Batmobile!
I now see I've been mis-using my aviation snips all this time - trying to hack my way through sheet metal like they are some kind of hand shears.
Jeff

You've gotta believe that Bill has seen you use shears and is what I deem a very wise man. A wise man will just watch and let things be. Sometimes you just have to do that, maybe not to hurt a guy's feelings, or sometimes to make sure you don't leave others thinking you "know it all"... and maybe other reasons at times... but knowing "when" and "when not" is the wise man's thing. I felt it in my best interest not to argue with a guy who professes to be a "17 years long Journeyman Sheetmetal mechanic". I know I'm getting old and sometimes mis-remember things, but some people don't know that about themselves... or never was what they claim. We also have a "Journeyman Welder" at the shop, that I believe is an *OK* welder... Since I have never been a welder I bow to that. But since I *HAVE BEEN* a Sheetmetal tech for several years and also have some formal training with the tools...I decided to check into my memory... and it was correct this time.Basically be aware that the word "Journeyman" is a smartazzes way of telling you they are smarter than you... even though they are not.

There are also different quality of snips for different brands. WISS used to be the go-to brand around here... but lately I have found a few sets of these in shops (where I work) that are almost new and won't "grab" the metal to allow you to maneuver and cut properly. I am left believing they're possible Chinese made for WISS.

I am kinda interested in a couple of brands I have seen some info on - Stubai which if you spend the time can get them all over the place, and Freund or Erdi Can be had fairly easily. I kinda see them all as "Luxury" tools at this point, since I have an older set of WISS snips. But If I were going for some offset models, I would definitely consider these 3 brand names.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

This has turned out to be an interesting post string for general "how to" information. I finally figured out where the Video was and watched most of it. It is interesting to see the view from the manufacturing side of the house, not just the engineering side of the house. The final outcome is supposed to be the same but it is the getting there that is often the difference.

I've had the shears I posted pix of for so long I don't remember where I got them from but it could have been from HF. A lot of the tools you get now days (as if you didn't know) originate from off-shore which is not to say they are good or bad but just the same with different brand names applied.

Good posting string guys!

Lee

[theKbStockpiler]

Other than the blade design only allowing one direction of a turn ,their is not a lot to know about them.

Rights cut right as in if the tip of the blade if pointing away from you will allow them to be moved towards the right. The handles will naturally go the opposite direction and some users reverse the names of the snips because of this.Greens are rights.Reds are lefts. Straights are actually lefts. From memory you have to exchange which side of the metal is flexed up and or down to get the jaws of the snips in the cut when switching directions. I never used straights because they are redundancy if you use both rights and lefts. Rights will lift the right side piece of metal when cutting and vise versa for lefts. This is important to make it easier. If you want to just cut a sliver off of the edge it helps to angle the jaws when cutting. It actually helps.

Wiss products are usually made from good steel but the offset types are of a bad design and don't allow much leverage. Malco is the snapon of metal tools, but are expensive and don't last any longer. I don't usually prefer them. Milwaukee brand is the modern version of the Sears or Midwest brands. They have a lot of leverage. I think the Harbor Freight ones are a good design and hold up okay but I have not used them as much as the others. The off brand ones at home centers look exactly like the HF ones. For the money the HF ones will not disappoint.

[SCOTTRODS]

Other than the blade design only allowing one direction of a turn ,their is not a lot to know about them.

Rights cut right as in if the tip of the blade if pointing away from you will allow them to be moved towards the right. The handles will naturally go the opposite direction and some users reverse the names of the snips because of this.Greens are rights.Reds are lefts. Straights are actually lefts. From memory you have to exchange which side of the metal is flexed up and or down to get the jaws of the snips in the cut when switching directions. I never used straights because they are redundancy if you use both rights and lefts. Rights will lift the right side piece of metal when cutting and vise versa for lefts. This is important to make it easier. If you want to just cut a sliver off of the edge it helps to angle the jaws when cutting. It actually helps.

Wiss products are usually made from good steel but the offset types are of a bad design and don't allow much leverage. Malco is the snapon of metal tools, but are expensive and don't last any longer. I don't usually prefer them. Milwaukee brand is the modern version of the Sears or Midwest brands. They have a lot of leverage. I think the Harbor Freight ones are a good design and hold up okay but I have not used them as much as the others. The off brand ones at home centers look exactly like the HF ones. For the money the HF ones will not disappoint.

Really there *is* a lot that people don't know about them - demonstrated by your first two paragraphs. If you watch the video I posted on the original post, you could learn a thing or two if those two paragraphs are what you believe. Seriously, the reason I posted the post was because of someone who stated almost what you did about them, and claimed to be a journeyman sheetmetal mechanic for 17 years or whatever... I actually took the time to learn more than he did, and maybe more than you about these types of snips. (In my original post I edited it to make the LINK more bvious to get to the video... evidently that was problematic for some.)
Because you always used something *that way* doesn't make it right. The Snip education is free if you take a couple of minutes to watch a free video that demonstrates great use information... otherwise you might find it preferable to keep on keepin' on doin' what you always did, where you could gain some efficiency and maybe some precision in your sheetmetal tool usage. But please, whatever you do, don't go on proliferating this "Knowledge" you just laid down, as it is nothing more than the same ol' crap that made me post about it in the first place. It's hogwash.

[theKbStockpiler]

I'll reply to any specific aspect of cutting sheetmetal if it's asked. I'll bet that the presenter in the video is trying to sell classes so he has to convolute the topic to justify the money and time you will spend.