I've managed to squirrel away a few bucks for some tool upgrades and additions in my shop and I am looking to purchase a shear either throatless or a plate shear I haven't decided on whihc type yet but my main question to you guys is what do you feel is the better tool Woodward Fab or Baileigh or possibly another brand? I know it might sound kind of hokey but I want American made. With very few exceptions I still feel Americans make the best tools. It takes me time to earn and save up my money and I want to get the best for my buck so your input as always is appreciated.
A Beverly is my pick. Look on ebay and such.Try and get a extra set of blades and dont cut what its not made for!!
Shear it cleverly on a beverly. I'd recommend the B2 model. Don't even bother with off brands. They are the best and the original. Also not a bolt cutter so don't treat it as such and it will be good to you for years to come!
You'll never go wrong with a Beverly. I had a harbour freight shear and it was okay, but the blades eventually chipped on it. I bought a new B2 Beverly and it makes me smile every time I use it. You won't be sorry, and its probably your only choice if you want American made. Don't be afraid to buy a used one, if you can find one. I looked for a used one for years in my area and never found one. Read up the history on the Beverly shear family and that will make you smile as well. One of the last of the made in the U.S.A. companies, mom and pop operation. We should all support them.
Another vote for a used Beverly. I patiently waited for months to find a deal on one. Found a very lightly used B-3 on Craigslist that sat largely unused for years in a machine shop. The ad had been listed less than 30 minutes. I called, was there within 20 minutes and nabbed it for half the price of what a new B-1 costs.
If you are going to make cuts in large sheets, it is Pexco, if it is small sheet or curves, Beverly. All the others fight for last place. Used them both in aircraft and automotive for way too many years. Not for them, but for this old bag of bones!
It depends entirely on what you intend to use the shear for. If you want a Beverly type shear, and fully understand its limitations, then a Beverly is the only one to buy. The offshore copies have too much slop in the operating mechanism to ever give satisfactory results. I've got a pretty fair fab shop with a couple Beverly shears, 4 different sheet and plate shears up thru 1/4" x 12 ft, and several brakes from small up thru 175 tons x 12 ft. Obviously, for straight cuts, speed, and ease of use, the sheet or plate shears can't be beat. But straight cuts is all they're good for. For curved cuts in 16 ga or lighter sheet metal, the most versatile and easiest to use tool I own is a Makita JS1602 electric shear that cost about $285. It will easily make all sorts of curved cuts that are near impossible to do on a Beverly shear. It can be carried to the work for cutting a pattern from a large sheet on a table where the same work on a Beverly would require one man to guide and cut and a 2nd man to support the sheet. Lazze has a video showing the use of an earlier model of the same shear at http://www.lazzemetalshaping.com/in...uct_id=261/category_id=5/mode=prod/prd261.htm In my own shop, if I had to choose between having a Beverly shear and having the Makita, the Makita would win hands down.
What do you think about the makita js1601? https://www.blackrocktools.com/makita-16-gauge-straight-shear-js1601.html
Problem with that type is the large minimum radius. Spec says 9 7/8" minimum radius which means you can't turn it tight enough to cut a circle smaller than 20" diameter. The 1602 will easily cut a 4" diameter circle. Most things you cut with a shear like this will have some radius cuts, and a good amount of them will need to be tighter than the 1601 can cut. The 1602 also works better when you're fitting up some pieces and find you need to trim another 1/8" off an edge. The 1601 will do it, but that type tool works best when making a full width cut that keeps the forces balanced on the blades. IMO, the best feature of the 1602 is the carbide insert cutting blades. Each blade has 8 cutting edges. I've probably made 250 feet of cuts with mine, mostly in 16 ga hot rolled, and the first set of edges still cut like new, with 7 more new edges still to be used. A set of new blades is about $40, but unless a person does something to break them, the original set would probably last the typical hobbyist tin bender 10 years or longer I've got a Stanley Unishear, which is an old tool that cuts in a similar manner to the 1602, a Kett shear that cuts like the 1601, and a Bosch nibbler. I haven't used any of them since I bought the 1602. The Bosch nibbler is great for cutting things like metal building siding and roofing panels that are ribbed, but for flat sheet work its extremely difficult to keep it following a layout line unless you use some sort of straightedge as a guide. Obviously, a guide will work on straight lines, but you still have to freehand it on curves and that's tough to do. Once you've spent a half hour getting used to handling the 1602, you can follow straight lines and curves as easily as you'd follow them on paper with scissors.
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