I have a little Scotchman ironworker. It shears structural steel stock fine, but
it hasn't ever worked on sheet metal (gap too big). Today I removed the lower
bar shear blade, cleaned it, cleaned behind it, and shimmed it out to close up
the gap. Now it will cut sheet metal, except in the middle. There is apparently
a wear spot in the middle, because when the blades are closed the gap in the
center is about .005" larger than elsewhere. It would make sense, because that's
where most of the flat bar gets sheared.

Seems like I could grind the vertical face of the blades until they clean up,
adding shims to replace the material ground off. I hate to think of what a new
pair of shear blades would cost from Scotchman!

I'm wondering if my plan will work. Anyone else try this? It wouldn't just be an
issue with an ironworker shear, could be about any guillotine or scissor type shear.

If this does work, then I'm going to have to find someone with a bigger surface
grinder than I have, mine's only 12" and the blades are 14" long.

Grant Erwin
Kirkland, Washington

I seem to remember someone posting a message that said that the gap
should be larger when cutting thicker material. Can't remember who it
was. You might see if you can find more information on that before
adjusting the gap to near zero.


Dan

Grant Erwin wrote:
I have a little Scotchman ironworker. It shears structural steel stock fine, but
it hasn't ever worked on sheet metal (gap too big).
Grant Erwin
Kirkland, Washington

The manual says to set it to a gap of .005" everywhere, doesn't distinguish
between thin and thick stock. I am working with some thin (18ga?) sheet metal
right now and need to cut it cleanly and don't have a Beverly shear so I'm using
the ironworker. It isn't hard to take a shim out afterwards if I need to.

GWE

wrote:

I seem to remember someone posting a message that said that the gap
should be larger when cutting thicker material. Can't remember who it
was. You might see if you can find more information on that before
adjusting the gap to near zero.


Dan

Grant Erwin wrote:

I have a little Scotchman ironworker. It shears structural steel stock fine, but
it hasn't ever worked on sheet metal (gap too big).
Grant Erwin
Kirkland, Washington

"Grant Erwin" wrote in message
...
I have a little Scotchman ironworker. It shears structural steel stock
fine, but it hasn't ever worked on sheet metal (gap too big). Today I
removed the lower bar shear blade, cleaned it, cleaned behind it, and
shimmed it out to close up the gap. Now it will cut sheet metal, except in
the middle. There is apparently a wear spot in the middle, because when the
blades are closed the gap in the center is about .005" larger than
elsewhere. It would make sense, because that's where most of the flat bar
gets sheared.

Seems like I could grind the vertical face of the blades until they clean
up, adding shims to replace the material ground off. I hate to think of
what a new pair of shear blades would cost from Scotchman!

I'm wondering if my plan will work. Anyone else try this? It wouldn't just
be an issue with an ironworker shear, could be about any guillotine or
scissor type shear.

If this does work, then I'm going to have to find someone with a bigger
surface grinder than I have, mine's only 12" and the blades are 14" long.

Grant Erwin
Kirkland, Washington
at a shop i worked at we would send blades to machine shop to be ground on 2
edges to remake a "square" edge on the blade.

Just asking in case: Some shear blades can be reversed so that four
different edges can be used before the blade has to be sent out for
sharpening. Others I have experienced have two edges and unfortunately some
have only one edge. Are yours reversible???
Randy

"Grant Erwin" wrote in message
...
I have a little Scotchman ironworker. It shears structural steel stock fine,
but
it hasn't ever worked on sheet metal (gap too big). Today I removed the
lower
bar shear blade, cleaned it, cleaned behind it, and shimmed it out to close
up
the gap. Now it will cut sheet metal, except in the middle. There is
apparently
a wear spot in the middle, because when the blades are closed the gap in the
center is about .005" larger than elsewhere. It would make sense, because
that's
where most of the flat bar gets sheared.

Seems like I could grind the vertical face of the blades until they clean
up,
adding shims to replace the material ground off. I hate to think of what a
new
pair of shear blades would cost from Scotchman!

I'm wondering if my plan will work. Anyone else try this? It wouldn't just
be an
issue with an ironworker shear, could be about any guillotine or scissor
type shear.

If this does work, then I'm going to have to find someone with a bigger
surface
grinder than I have, mine's only 12" and the blades are 14" long.

Grant Erwin
Kirkland, Washington

Good thinking, Randy. Sadly, my bar shear blades aren't reversible. The angle
shear blades are, though.

I think I'm going to try sharpening these blades. I don't see what I have to lose.

GWE

R. Zimmerman wrote:

Just asking in case: Some shear blades can be reversed so that four
different edges can be used before the blade has to be sent out for
sharpening. Others I have experienced have two edges and unfortunately some
have only one edge. Are yours reversible???
Randy

"Grant Erwin" wrote in message
...
I have a little Scotchman ironworker. It shears structural steel stock fine,
but
it hasn't ever worked on sheet metal (gap too big). Today I removed the
lower
bar shear blade, cleaned it, cleaned behind it, and shimmed it out to close
up
the gap. Now it will cut sheet metal, except in the middle. There is
apparently
a wear spot in the middle, because when the blades are closed the gap in the
center is about .005" larger than elsewhere. It would make sense, because
that's
where most of the flat bar gets sheared.

Seems like I could grind the vertical face of the blades until they clean
up,
adding shims to replace the material ground off. I hate to think of what a
new
pair of shear blades would cost from Scotchman!

I'm wondering if my plan will work. Anyone else try this? It wouldn't just
be an
issue with an ironworker shear, could be about any guillotine or scissor
type shear.

If this does work, then I'm going to have to find someone with a bigger
surface
grinder than I have, mine's only 12" and the blades are 14" long.

Grant Erwin
Kirkland, Washington

Grant Erwin wrote:

Good thinking, Randy. Sadly, my bar shear blades aren't reversible. The
angle shear blades are, though.

I think I'm going to try sharpening these blades. I don't see what I
have to lose.

You might want to stop by your local printer
and ask him where he gets his blades sharpened
and how much it costs.

Printers have great big shears for stacks of
paper and have to get the blades sharpened
regularly.

Jim Stewart wrote:
Grant Erwin wrote:

Good thinking, Randy. Sadly, my bar shear blades aren't reversible.
The angle shear blades are, though.

I think I'm going to try sharpening these blades. I don't see what I
have to lose.


You might want to stop by your local printer
and ask him where he gets his blades sharpened
and how much it costs.

"Costs"? Me, spend money? Actual US currency? That's to be avoided at ALL COSTS.

:-)

GWE

"Grant Erwin" wrote in message
...

If this does work, then I'm going to have to find someone with a bigger
surface grinder than I have, mine's only 12" and the blades are 14" long.


Depending on the blade material, you could weld up the blade where you need
more material and grind it flush with a surface grinder or die grinder. Rod
can be (very) expensive, however.

Regards,

Robin

Robin S. wrote:

"Grant Erwin" wrote in message
...

If this does work, then I'm going to have to find someone with a bigger
surface grinder than I have, mine's only 12" and the blades are 14" long.



Depending on the blade material, you could weld up the blade where you need
more material and grind it flush with a surface grinder or die grinder. Rod
can be (very) expensive, however.

I'm not sure what these blades are, but they seem pretty hard and also pretty
tough, as they eat mill scale all day.

I have a 3rd blade that came with my (old, very used) ironworker. This blade was
obviously used but the guy never threw it away. I set it up on the diagonal of
my 6x12" chuck and I've been taking passes on it. There were some heavy wear
spots about 5" long and I've got that spot down to about 1/16" but it seems sort
of deepish and I don't know if I have the willingness to grind off another .010
just to see pretty all the way across. I haven't even tried grinding the face
(the 2x14" side), I've been working on the top (the 1/2x14" side).

As Harold says, tool steel sure grinds a lot better than mild. Also, I have
found to my amazement that my little K.O. Lee 6x12 grinder can indeed take a cut
..002" deep if I limit it to .025" feeds.

GWE

This same subject just came up in the neighborhood last week. I don't
know for sure what the guy did, but I suggested that he find someone who
sharpens saw blades as a business. There's a guy around here who does
it and he has tooling to sharpen planer blades that are as much as 36"
long. Seems to me that he could do your job.

Pete Stanaitis
----------------------------

Grant Erwin wrote:
I have a little Scotchman ironworker. It shears structural steel stock
fine, but it hasn't ever worked on sheet metal (gap too big). Today I
removed the lower bar shear blade, cleaned it, cleaned behind it, and
shimmed it out to close up the gap. Now it will cut sheet metal, except
in the middle. There is apparently a wear spot in the middle, because
when the blades are closed the gap in the center is about .005" larger
than elsewhere. It would make sense, because that's where most of the
flat bar gets sheared.

Seems like I could grind the vertical face of the blades until they
clean up, adding shims to replace the material ground off. I hate to
think of what a new pair of shear blades would cost from Scotchman!

I'm wondering if my plan will work. Anyone else try this? It wouldn't
just be an issue with an ironworker shear, could be about any guillotine
or scissor type shear.

If this does work, then I'm going to have to find someone with a bigger
surface grinder than I have, mine's only 12" and the blades are 14" long.

Grant Erwin
Kirkland, Washington

Thanks, Pete. Up around Seattle we now have about 150 people on the rolls of our
local metalworking club, many of whom are old friends by now. I won't have any
trouble finding someone with a much better surface grinder than I have. I
appreciate it.

GWE

spaco wrote:
This same subject just came up in the neighborhood last week. I don't
know for sure what the guy did, but I suggested that he find someone who
sharpens saw blades as a business. There's a guy around here who does
it and he has tooling to sharpen planer blades that are as much as 36"
long. Seems to me that he could do your job.

Pete Stanaitis
----------------------------

Grant Erwin wrote:

I have a little Scotchman ironworker. It shears structural steel stock
fine, but it hasn't ever worked on sheet metal (gap too big). Today I
removed the lower bar shear blade, cleaned it, cleaned behind it, and
shimmed it out to close up the gap. Now it will cut sheet metal,
except in the middle. There is apparently a wear spot in the middle,
because when the blades are closed the gap in the center is about
.005" larger than elsewhere. It would make sense, because that's where
most of the flat bar gets sheared.

Seems like I could grind the vertical face of the blades until they
clean up, adding shims to replace the material ground off. I hate to
think of what a new pair of shear blades would cost from Scotchman!

I'm wondering if my plan will work. Anyone else try this? It wouldn't
just be an issue with an ironworker shear, could be about any
guillotine or scissor type shear.

If this does work, then I'm going to have to find someone with a
bigger surface grinder than I have, mine's only 12" and the blades are
14" long.

Grant Erwin
Kirkland, Washington

On Tue, 14 Feb 2006 17:24:56 -0800, Grant Erwin
wrote:

The manual says to set it to a gap of .005" everywhere, doesn't distinguish
between thin and thick stock. I am working with some thin (18ga?) sheet metal
right now and need to cut it cleanly and don't have a Beverly shear so I'm using
the ironworker. It isn't hard to take a shim out afterwards if I need to.

GWE

While I cannot speak for your iron worker..I have been doing
repair/adjustment work on various bigger shears over the past month or
so. I just did a repair job and an a full tune and tweak on both an
Amada 1/4" and a Standard 1/2" plate sheer (both with 12 foot blades)
and the specified clearence was .003 for stuff down to 16 ga, and then
..002-001.

Gunner


wrote:

I seem to remember someone posting a message that said that the gap
should be larger when cutting thicker material. Can't remember who it
was. You might see if you can find more information on that before
adjusting the gap to near zero.


Dan

Grant Erwin wrote:

I have a little Scotchman ironworker. It shears structural steel stock fine, but
it hasn't ever worked on sheet metal (gap too big).
Grant Erwin
Kirkland, Washington





"A prudent man foresees the difficulties ahead and prepares for them;
the simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences."
- Proverbs 22:3

Grant Erwin wrote:
I wound up grinding my bar shear blades on an 8x18" surface grinder over at a
friend's shop (thanks, Ken!), just on the top. I got the gap out by first
bolting the blades in and then holding a ground straightedge against the
vertical face and testing with feeler gages to see where the gap was. It turned
out that my upper bar shear arm's blade pocket is slightly out of flat, so I put
a shim behind it in the middle, now my ironworker shears sheet metal fine.

Looks to me like ironworker bar shear blades can be sharpened OK on a surface
grinder just fine, several times in fact.

Happy ending, just thought you guys would like to know.

GWE

I have a little Scotchman ironworker. It shears structural steel stock
fine, but it hasn't ever worked on sheet metal (gap too big). Today I
removed the lower bar shear blade, cleaned it, cleaned behind it, and
shimmed it out to close up the gap. Now it will cut sheet metal, except
in the middle. There is apparently a wear spot in the middle, because
when the blades are closed the gap in the center is about .005" larger
than elsewhere. It would make sense, because that's where most of the
flat bar gets sheared.

Seems like I could grind the vertical face of the blades until they
clean up, adding shims to replace the material ground off. I hate to
think of what a new pair of shear blades would cost from Scotchman!

I'm wondering if my plan will work. Anyone else try this? It wouldn't
just be an issue with an ironworker shear, could be about any guillotine
or scissor type shear.

If this does work, then I'm going to have to find someone with a bigger
surface grinder than I have, mine's only 12" and the blades are 14" long.

Grant Erwin
Kirkland, Washington

cogratulations, properly adjusted you can get a mighty fine shear out of
those little machines.