shearing question

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I have a question regarding shearing. If a guy had  a 8' shear rated for 3/16" mild steel and he wanted to shear some 2" or 3" wide x 1/4" flat bar how likely would it be to cause damage to the knife? One reason being since it would be a slightly thicker metal and second reason being since it is a short piece of 2" or 3" metal. Don't know if that would even matter or not. I know its better for brakes to have the load spread across the bed so that's why I was wondering if the same sort of thing applied with shearing. Even if the flat bar being sheared was 3/16 which would be within the rated capacity would the short piece have a tendency to cause damage to shear? No round, square, etc shapes, just flat being sheared. Thank you.
Reply:I certainly don't know everything there is to know about shears, but one thing to keep in mind is not whether it will damage the blades or not, but whether the shear has the power to START the cut in material that exceeds the shear's capacity. I have a 1/4 by 10 foot hydraulic shear, and it doesn't have the umph to start the cut in 5/16 mild steel.But as always, the world is a big place, and there is a lot of variety. So good luck! Sent from my E6810 using http://tiny.cc/Forums_reader
Reply:I would contact manufacture and see what they say if still around. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Reply:

Originally Posted by bigcreek

I have a question regarding shearing. If a guy had  a 8' shear rated for 3/16" mild steel and he wanted to shear some 2" or 3" wide x 1/4" flat bar how likely would it be to cause damage to the knife? One reason being since it would be a slightly thicker metal and second reason being since it is a short piece of 2" or 3" metal. Don't know if that would even matter or not. I know its better for brakes to have the load spread across the bed so that's why I was wondering if the same sort of thing applied with shearing. Even if the flat bar being sheared was 3/16 which would be within the rated capacity would the short piece have a tendency to cause damage to shear? No round, square, etc shapes, just flat being sheared. Thank you.
Reply:

Originally Posted by bigcreek

I have a question regarding shearing. If a guy had  a 8' shear rated for 3/16" mild steel and he wanted to shear some 2" or 3" wide x 1/4" flat bar how likely would it be to cause damage to the knife? One reason being since it would be a slightly thicker metal and second reason being since it is a short piece of 2" or 3" metal. Don't know if that would even matter or not. I know its better for brakes to have the load spread across the bed so that's why I was wondering if the same sort of thing applied with shearing. Even if the flat bar being sheared was 3/16 which would be within the rated capacity would the short piece have a tendency to cause damage to shear? No round, square, etc shapes, just flat being sheared. Thank you.
Reply:Don't know if the shear would have the capacity but it's common to cut narrower pieces up against the fence on the left to get them square. I think a lot of shear blades can be reversed if one side wears faster. As far as capacity it's very important to have the right gap between the upper and lower shear blades. I worked in a shop that had a hydraulic shear capable of doing 3/4" plate but they never used it for thicker than 5/8" to somewhat prevent damage to it. It had a lever and lock on the side to set the blade gap for different thicknesses. Worked in another shop where a guy lost his finger under one of the hold down plungers on a shear holding a small piece. OUCH! Insurance paid him 17K.Last edited by Welder Dave; 02-15-2021 at 04:38 PM.
Reply:My steel yard won’t shear 1/4” anymore on a shear rated for it. Too many break downs caused by it. Just cur it with a saw, or an abrasive wheel.
Reply:I have a shear on my iron worker I use the heck out of and I shear all sorts of thicknesses in that thing but it is limited to 14" wide and have bandsaws, abrasive saws etc so lots of ways to cut strap but my question was one more of curiosity since I will soon have the option to purchase a 8' x 3/16 shear and am trying to decide how badly I really need it. There are times I would really wish I had it cause I cant count how many times I wanted to shear something in the ironworker but it didn't fit, so to the plaz table we go to cut it down to size. Or with the plasma cutter on the shop floor. But it wouldn't get used every day so just trying to weigh the pros and cons since my shop is already pretty full of stuff. Thanks for the replies all!
Reply:

Originally Posted by bigcreek

I know its better for brakes to have the load spread across the bed so that's why I was wondering if the same sort of thing applied with shearing.
Reply:Some great information thanks all.
Reply:

Originally Posted by Welder Dave

Don't know if the shear would have the capacity but it's common to cut narrower pieces up against the fence on the left to get them square. I think a lot of shear blades can be reversed if one side wears faster. As far as capacity it's very important to have the right gap between the upper and lower shear blades. I worked in a shop that had a hydraulic shear capable of doing 3/4" plate but they never used it for thicker than 5/8" to somewhat prevent damage to it. It had a lever and lock on the side to set the blade gap for different thicknesses. Worked in another shop where a guy lost his finger under one of the hold down plungers on a shear holding a small piece. OUCH! Insurance paid him 17K.
Reply:Didn't change the blade angle as far as I know. It was like an older version of below. Basically a handle on a shaft with a cog gear. You dropped a swinging lock in the correct cog. It moved less than a 1/4 turn. What was interesting was how far the blade came down at the far end to cut wide plate. It was about 2ft. if I recall. Last edited by Welder Dave; 02-16-2021 at 05:02 PM.
Reply:

Originally Posted by William McCormick

Did that lever or adjustment change the blade angle? Some shears can be adjusted for thicker metals by increasing the blade angle, that would cause thinner metal to be sucked into the blade but allow thicker metal to be cut.