"Howard Beel" wrote in message
news
"Jim Wilkins" wrote in message
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"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.
That's good to know if one appears second-hand.
I try to restrict my discussions to price-sensitive home hobbyist
equipment instead of the larger industrial stuff that would do the job
easily, if you have the need, money to invest and space to store it. I
like my 10" South Bend lathe very much, spent the morning on it, but
wouldn't send a newbie out searching for one.
I do have a plasma cutter and a bandsaw that can cut thicker steel to
eyeball tolerance, and if the better accuracy is worth the cost could
use the Maker Space's plasma cutter or have a shop do it.
Bending steel plate is a bigger problem unless I pay for fab shop
time. The 30" 3-in-1 shear/brake/roller can barely manage its rated
capacity.
-jsw