"Jim Wilkins" wrote in message
news
"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 17 Jan 2017 19:41:28 -0600, Ignoramus24879
wrote:


I would be too scared to be int he vicinity of that cold saw.

I think I just might make a guard for the blade, y'know?


Out of curiosity, have you ever made anything out of steel plate that's
too thick to bend with hand tools?

My limited facilities for cutting and bending it strongly restrict what I
can design and build. The blade guard for my bandsaw lumber mill is wood.
This is the only inexpensive flat stock bending tool I've found and it's
limited to 4" width:
http://www.eastwood.com/4-inch-metal-bender.html

1/8" steel appears to be the limit for the Enco 8" bench shear, and it
distorts one side. If you are shearing a strip from a large sheet the
strip may have to be on the distorted side.

-jsw

I bought a hand held nibbler that has a 1/4" capacity (mild steel) on ebay
back in the day when they were cheap. I made an adaptor to attach a couple
of 1" linear bearings to the nibbler, kinda looks like a radial arm saw
setup
but for steel. I get nice cuts that with little edge distortion. I can zip
thru
8 foot of 1/4" plate in a few minutes. Takes up a lot less room than a
wysong shear, less noisy to. When not in use it breaks down for easy
storage and takes up little room.

Best Regards
Tom.