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- Nov 23, 2017
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Now you need to get yourself a box and pan brake...
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Should I Get This Manual Sheet Metal Notcher?
- Thread starter Susan_in_SF
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- notcher sheet metal sheetmetal
- Joined
- Jul 18, 2017
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- 407
Thanks everyone, for your honest and frank answers. I apologize for the long delay. Caught a bug that kept me sick in bed all week long.
Well, I asked you guys since I questioned if I should trade, and I got my answer, lol.
I am trying to make room in my shop. I think I will put up a post of extra woodworking/metalworking books I can sell for cheap. No more buying stuff.....
Susan
Well, I asked you guys since I questioned if I should trade, and I got my answer, lol.
I am trying to make room in my shop. I think I will put up a post of extra woodworking/metalworking books I can sell for cheap. No more buying stuff.....
Susan
- Joined
- Feb 8, 2014
- Messages
- 11,176
Susan, you need more room. 
I know of a nice place that is coming up for sale a few miles from me. Nice house, 2 nice shops, one is 2400 sqft currently a machine shop, 2.5 acres. Asking is going to be about $650K, a good value in this area.
I know of a nice place that is coming up for sale a few miles from me. Nice house, 2 nice shops, one is 2400 sqft currently a machine shop, 2.5 acres. Asking is going to be about $650K, a good value in this area.
- Joined
- Oct 31, 2014
- Messages
- 444
If this is your first foray into sheet metal then I think a notcher is the wrong tool to start with. This is just an opinion based on how often I use my sheet metal tools.
Either a shear or a finger brake should come first, probably the brake. You can cut sheet metal with snips but making good, repeatable bends requires the brake.
Next is the shear - for making long, (or short) straight cuts quickly, squarely and accurately.
A punch (a turret punch if it's in the budget) is the next handiest thing, especially if you're doing electronic stuff with chassis and panels. You could buy a ton of Greenlee radio punches in the sizes you need but they're slow going compared to a Rotex or Thor. (and by the time you find and buy all the individual manual chassis punches you will need you've spent the equivalent of a used manual turret punch.) The stepped drill bits are a good interim solution but invariably on the last hole you drill either the material slips or the drill goes one step too deep and you get to start over.
Once you've got those then adding a notcher to simplify making clean and square corners on boxes would make sense. It takes a bit of fussing to get the notcher set up for an accurate cut and unless you're doing short, repetitive production runs the snips are much faster.
So, on my list, the notcher would be the last thing you'd need. This happens to be the order of tools I acquired. What a coinkydink!
And yes, you need more room. We all do.
Stu
Either a shear or a finger brake should come first, probably the brake. You can cut sheet metal with snips but making good, repeatable bends requires the brake.
Next is the shear - for making long, (or short) straight cuts quickly, squarely and accurately.
A punch (a turret punch if it's in the budget) is the next handiest thing, especially if you're doing electronic stuff with chassis and panels. You could buy a ton of Greenlee radio punches in the sizes you need but they're slow going compared to a Rotex or Thor. (and by the time you find and buy all the individual manual chassis punches you will need you've spent the equivalent of a used manual turret punch.) The stepped drill bits are a good interim solution but invariably on the last hole you drill either the material slips or the drill goes one step too deep and you get to start over.
Once you've got those then adding a notcher to simplify making clean and square corners on boxes would make sense. It takes a bit of fussing to get the notcher set up for an accurate cut and unless you're doing short, repetitive production runs the snips are much faster.
So, on my list, the notcher would be the last thing you'd need. This happens to be the order of tools I acquired. What a coinkydink!
And yes, you need more room. We all do.
Stu
- Joined
- Nov 23, 2014
- Messages
- 2,632
I have one of those 6" x 6" 16-gauge notchers and use it quite a bit, but I do a lot of work with sheet metal. I bought mine from Woodward Fab in Michigan for around $600 as I recall. I've not seen a Jet first hand, so would be guessing to say "they're all the same from China".
That being said, it's not my "go to" sheet metal too. I make some stuff that has inside angles so the notcher is great. But I use my Tennsmith shear and Diacro finger brake a lot more than the notcher. By the way, the notcher will do in inside corners of boxes, but you still need to fold them up. That's where the finger brake comes in handy.
Personally, I'd hang onto your lathe and find some ready-made boxes off Amazon, eBay, etc. You can buy a lot of sheet metal boxes for the price of the notcher. You'd be getting the short end of this deal, that's why he's so interested in doing the swap.
Bruce
That being said, it's not my "go to" sheet metal too. I make some stuff that has inside angles so the notcher is great. But I use my Tennsmith shear and Diacro finger brake a lot more than the notcher. By the way, the notcher will do in inside corners of boxes, but you still need to fold them up. That's where the finger brake comes in handy.
Personally, I'd hang onto your lathe and find some ready-made boxes off Amazon, eBay, etc. You can buy a lot of sheet metal boxes for the price of the notcher. You'd be getting the short end of this deal, that's why he's so interested in doing the swap.
Bruce
- Joined
- Jul 29, 2014
- Messages
- 2,844
I have a DiAcro 6” notcher. True, I don’t use it that much, but when I do, it solves a problem that no other tool I have will.
Yes, perfect 90 degree internal corners, of course, but it is also an excellent nibbler and can shape odd sheet metal pieces quickly. My “quest” is to expand the range of capabilities in my shop...with a small box brake, 24” DiAcro sheer, and this corner notcher, most sheet metal projects are doable. I would dump redundant equipment, like 3.5 lathes, to pick up a new function.
Yes, perfect 90 degree internal corners, of course, but it is also an excellent nibbler and can shape odd sheet metal pieces quickly. My “quest” is to expand the range of capabilities in my shop...with a small box brake, 24” DiAcro sheer, and this corner notcher, most sheet metal projects are doable. I would dump redundant equipment, like 3.5 lathes, to pick up a new function.
- Joined
- Jul 18, 2017
- Messages
- 407
Thank you Jim. I am a single mom on a fixed income. Before buying any property, I first need a sugar daddy ;-)Susan, you need more room.
Everyone needs a manual sheet metal notcher, I would be single and lonely but for mine.
It helps to break the ice at parties.
Nothing works as well as a conversation that begins with the sentence "I have an ACME model 1244326-4 1/4" capacity sheet metal notcher, what do you have to offer" (-:
I have worked in the machine shop business for 30 years and the one simple rule that took years to discover is.
Never discuss what you do for a living in a general social setting, no one will understand or have any interest at all.
If you work in a business that the general public uses daily you will be asked far too often for free advice, if you are a cable data installer, a roofer, a carpenter, a lawyer, an insurance broker, a realtor, a Cop, an auto mechanic, a cook, a plumber, an arborist, a concrete contractor, a landscaper, a mortician (what do I do with the three dead bodies chained to the water heater in my basement for instance) , a doctor, or a dentist, these are services that the vast majority of consumers understand.
Anything beyond this is nonsense.
.
It helps to break the ice at parties.
Nothing works as well as a conversation that begins with the sentence "I have an ACME model 1244326-4 1/4" capacity sheet metal notcher, what do you have to offer" (-:
I have worked in the machine shop business for 30 years and the one simple rule that took years to discover is.
Never discuss what you do for a living in a general social setting, no one will understand or have any interest at all.
If you work in a business that the general public uses daily you will be asked far too often for free advice, if you are a cable data installer, a roofer, a carpenter, a lawyer, an insurance broker, a realtor, a Cop, an auto mechanic, a cook, a plumber, an arborist, a concrete contractor, a landscaper, a mortician (what do I do with the three dead bodies chained to the water heater in my basement for instance) , a doctor, or a dentist, these are services that the vast majority of consumers understand.
Anything beyond this is nonsense.
.
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- Joined
- Feb 8, 2014
- Messages
- 11,176
I would invite you to share my shop, but with two tool hoarders under the same roof we wouldn't be able to get in the door.
