tin snips > Ian

tmbg · Post by **tmbg** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 5:24 pm

started looking at the sample control surface project last night, first step was to cut the stiffeners out of the supplied angle using tin snips. Apparently, I'm not well versed in the usage of tin snips, cause I mangled them pretty badly :/

I guess I'll be doing those parts on the bandsaw!

captain_john · Post by **captain_john** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 5:54 pm

Cut them exceedingly PROUD with the snip and then take them down with the belt sander and a coarse belt.

CJ

JohnR · Post by **JohnR** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 8:12 pm

Well, here is how I cut all of my stiffeners. In order to make it work I had to remove the guard so it is not OSHA approved.

I would not really recommend anyone else do it this way as you could remove a finger rather easily, but it worked for me. Then all I had to do was hit them with the ScotchBrite wheel.

jim_geo · Post by **jim_geo** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 3:24 am

John ya make me smile

. I did the paper cutter thang myself some of you all might remember it. Those pix are still here somewhere including my favorite ones of trimming those stiffeners on my 10” Delta Unisaw. I soon realized that some of the stiffeners have to be left handed and can’t be done on a paper cutter. Well can’t be done at least by me. After all the experimenting I finally broke down and used my bandsaw. Frankly I got over the pioneering spirit pretty soon after that and have been a disciple of the bandsaw ever since. At least a small cheap bandsaw should be on everyone’s gotta have list.

jim_geo · Post by **jim_geo** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 3:43 am

Ah here they are a couple little blasts from the past.

aparchment · Post by **aparchment** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 12:00 pm

I zipped through mine on the band saw with a 1/2" metal cutting blade. Then I fine tuned the cut on the belt sander and finished up with a polishing wheel in the hand grinder. Worked like a charm.

Snow day today! I should be able to get some work done on these darn tanks later.

Antony

dons · Post by **dons** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 5:08 pm

I have to admit I did the rough cutting of all my practice kit and emp stiffeners with the red/green snips, then used a belt sander. I did find you had to the use the snips carefully (and the right colour), but the most important thing was doing a little bit at a time, don't try to cut to the finished line (or close to it) on the first snip or you would end up with too much bending in the metal. After all that, I went and bought a cheap bandsaw and a high tooth count blade, it is a whole lot less abusive of the metal around the cut than snips.

Lorin Dueck · Post by **Lorin Dueck** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 5:22 pm

I did what CJ & aparchment said:

Cut them proud on a band saw, used a belt sander to shape, scotch brite wheel in the drill press to finsih - and finally a hand wipe with a scotch brite pad.

No pain no fuss!

Lorin D.

cnpeters · Post by **cnpeters** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 8:15 pm

When you cut with snips, cut grossly proud (like a half inch or so), then make a second cut closer (maybe 1/16-1/8"). I always find the smaller side of the cut (the scrap in this case) easily curls out and causes minimal deformation of the main piece you want to keep. Even with that said, I still was able to cut stiffenrs with red or green 1/8" off first cut without problem, then use the Delta bench sander belt to get close (only seconds needed), straighten any edges with the disc, then to the scotchbright wheel for final cleaning up. All stiffners were straight and clean, and it became very fast.

JohnR · Post by **JohnR** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 9:16 pm

Jim, maybe you are the one that gave me the idea to use the paper cutter. I saw it some where and thought I would give it a try. Woked for me!