Trouble with snips?

[Shawnm]

Hi:fficeffice" />>>
>>
I’m a novice metal shaper and I’m having trouble cutting accurate lines with snips. I have shaped some pieces for an inside fender and I need to trim them along scribed lines so I can weld them together. My cuts with the snips just don’t seem good enough and I’m afraid that I’ll distort the panels I’ve made by cutting them, or not be able to cut on the lines.>>
I’m using asset of Wiss with green, red, and yellow handles that was recommended to me ( I got them from Home Depot). I understand the concept of left hand and right hand cuts. The problems I have: First cut in is good, when I push the snip along for the next snip it seems to bind- I can only get about an additional 3/8” to ½” inch of cut. The metal I’m cutting can’t be pushed up and over the tool (especially on the side of the piece I want to keep). >>
I’m using 20 gauge steel.>>
I’ve seen power cutters that look quite nice and I wonder if I should go to one of them, but I don’t know if they work on curved metal, I’ve only seen them used on flat pieces.>>
Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks >>

[neilb]

there are some occasions i turn my red snips upside down and cut the waste off, the snips you have should be fine

any pictures you have of what you are cutting will always help...

[crystallographic]

Originally Posted by Shawnm

Hi:

__________________
Kent

http://www.tinmantech.com

"All it takes is a little practical experience to blow the he!! out of a perfectly good theory." --- Lloyd Rosenquist, charter member AWS, 1919.

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[MP&C]

This should help..... take note of the difference between straight and offset snips and their intended use..



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAOQ...eature=related

[Bluchip]

How much are you trying to remove? Sneak up on it and things go much much easier. If your scrap to be cut off is over 1/2" wide, make a cut that gets you to under 1/2", perhaps 3/8" from your final trim line. That cut can be horrid. Don't worry about it. Now make a finish cut to line. You may even want to take that 3/8" semi-rough cut and make another cut 1/2 the distance to finish. Then take your finish cut. The thin spoilage will curl easily now and the distortion of cutting will be thrown into the waste and not the now stronger work piece. It'll make for a slower going but the control is much better.
If you hadn't already discovered, do not snip all the way to the end of the cutters. You WILL leave a pucker in the material. Making incomplete cut increments of say 75% of the snip edge length will assure less distortion.

[Paul New]

Originally Posted by Bluchip

How much are you trying to remove? Sneak up on it and things go much much easier. If your scrap to be cut off is over 1/2" wide, make a cut that gets you to under 1/2", perhaps 3/8" from your final trim line. That cut can be horrid. Don't worry about it. Now make a finish cut to line. You may even want to take that 3/8" semi-rough cut and make another cut 1/2 the distance to finish. Then take your finish cut. The thin spoilage will curl easily now and the distortion of cutting will be thrown into the waste and not the now stronger work piece. It'll make for a slower going but the control is much better.
If you hadn't already discovered, do not snip all the way to the end of the cutters. You WILL leave a pucker in the material. Making incomplete cut increments of say 75% of the snip edge length will assure less distortion.

This is what I learned also. Make every part with at least two cuts a rough cut to a finish cut and last file to the line

[John Buchtenkirch]

When you make your rough cut try to stay about ¼” away from your scribe line. Too little and the scrap curl will swing in the way of your cut forcing you to stop & bend it out of the way on your final trimming cut, too wide and it gets harder to make the cut. Bend / deflect the sheet as you are making your initial rough cut for an easier cut. Also the style snips I use (see photos) need less sheet deflection than the more traditional style beside cutting tighter circles. Oiling all the joints on the snips helps too. I like cutting with the snips under the sheet for a better view of my scribe line but sometimes I’m accused of being ass backwards . ~ John Buchtenkirch

P.S. I love my Stanley Uni-Shears and try to do as much rough cuts with them as possible. I only buy right & left cut snips, never straight cut.
a snip 15.jpg

a snip 16.jpg

a snip 17.jpg

a snip 93.JPG>>

[CaptonZap]

One other point to consider is that the Wiss snips, which is the brand that Home Depot sells, I think, may come from the factory with the jaw clearance not adjusted right. There is a screw at the jaw pivot point, which can be adjusted so that there is no gap between the cutting edges. If there is any gap, it is difficult to cut thin material without bending the edge. Properly adjusted, you can cut slivers of metal off of the piece.
I tighten the screw up until the jaws do not open back up after being closed. Then back off enough so that the jaws open up. Some snips have a lock nut on the back side, which , when tightened, will affect the clearance, so you might have to play with how much you tighten each side to get the proper clearance. Some oil on all the touching parts helps things. ( Between the blades, and along the cutting edges )
Also, when you buy the snips, you might have to try a few pair before you find some that have the tips of the blade just pass each other when they are closed. They should pass each other no more than a sixty fourth of an inch. (I've had to try half a dozen pair on occasion, to find a good set. The quality control of Wiss has declined over the last 40 years, and the stuff for the mass home market doesn't seem to have to pass any muster) Having the tips meet like that will negate some of the pucker that Bluchip mentioned. Less bypass is better. As the snip pivot wears, that will decrease until the cutting edges align when the blades are closed. Keep the pivot oiled, and that is a long way down the road.
Eventually, with more pivot wear, the tips will not meet, and you will not be able to cut to a corner, but you will also not be able to pucker the end of the cut.

CZ

[Peter Tommasini]

I have been using Gilbows snips for 40 Years and never had any problem with cutting straight lines and you know what??? they still work nicely today
Peter

[John Buchtenkirch]

It seems like everyone with a European background has nothing but praise for Gilbow snips. I’d like to try them myself but every time I look into it there are so many different models offered that I get confused and then discouraged on the idea. I wish some American company would figure out which ones we need for our trade / hobby and then sell them here in the USA. I don’t mind spending $$$ on tools but I hate finding out I bought the wrong ones afterwards......... even more so in this computer age where information is more available. ~ John Buchtenkirch

P.S. Do the Gilbows work well when trimming with the snips under the sheet like I prefer doing
a snip 18.jpg