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I'm a thimkin' that I "NEED" a Nibbler type tool. I used one many (MANY!) years ago that was easy to use and worked very well, but I have no idea what brand it was or what it cost back then or what one just like it might cost today.
I see in the MicroMark catalog that they have two Nibbling tools and a small Shear that is somewhat similar to a Nibbler.
If one were using these tools to cut one piece of sheet material into two pieces, the Nibblers remove material in short little snippets and the Shear strips out one long continuous strip. The Nibblers take either a 1/4-inch or .132-inch wide (depending on which Nibbler) cut of individual snippets from the material, the length of the snippets at most would be 3/32 inch long (the depth of the punch). The shear appears to cut a .1-inch wide continous strip (not that the strip would be in any sort of usable condition). Aside from the scrap kerf material all of these tools should leave the two pieces with decent edges and not-curled or warped like cutting with tin-snips.
The least expensive is a Manual Nibbler (#81477 $12.30). It looks like it would require a 3/8- to 1/2-inch diameter hole to start an inside cut and it takes 1/4-inch wide cuts at a max of 3/32 deep per nibble.
The Powered Nibbler (#81556 $144.95) makes a .135-inch wide curf, but the depth of cut is not listed. I think it could cut a smaller inside area because it looks like it could probably need only a 1/4-inch starting hole.
The last item is the Metal Shear (#60662 $15.10). It is like two pair of very short scissors that share one blade, thus it makes two cuts at a time, one on each side of the kerf, (making that strip I mentioned above). It also looks like it could cut an inside area from a 1/4-inch hole (or possibly smaller).
The Manual Nibbler advert says it has a comfortable grip, but the picture does not look like a comfortable grip to me. The Powered Nibbler looks to be small enough to grip easily, but I wonder if the ease of use and accuracy is as the pictures in the advert imply. The Metal Shear has a vinyl grip handles and looks a bit more comfortable than the Manual Nibbler.
The Manual Nibbler is designed to be inserted from below the work piece so you can sight down along the punch to see where to cut. The Powered Nibbler appears to be used from above the work piece which may make it harder to make exact on the line cuts. The Metal Shear appears to be usable from either above or below the work piece. The Nibblers can probably make an 90-deg. inside corner very easily, but the Metal Shear would probably not make as good of an inside corner.
They all appear capable of cutting the same thicknesses of soft material (brass, plastic) up to 1/16-inch (.0625") thick, but the Powered Nibbler and the Metal Shear specifically mention steel, 1/32-inch (.03125") thickness for the former, and 18-gauge (.0478") for the latter.
I have no "plans" to make anything that would wear my hand out making cuts so the Powered Nibbler is not of extreme necessity on that point alone. Still, I would buy it, except I balk at a price that is 10 times the price of the other two.
Anybody here used these tools?
Anybody used any two of them and can then give me an experiencial compareson of them?
Is the Powered Nibbler all that much better? Is the Manual Nibbler or the Metal Shear "better" for some reason or other?
I see in the MicroMark catalog that they have two Nibbling tools and a small Shear that is somewhat similar to a Nibbler.
If one were using these tools to cut one piece of sheet material into two pieces, the Nibblers remove material in short little snippets and the Shear strips out one long continuous strip. The Nibblers take either a 1/4-inch or .132-inch wide (depending on which Nibbler) cut of individual snippets from the material, the length of the snippets at most would be 3/32 inch long (the depth of the punch). The shear appears to cut a .1-inch wide continous strip (not that the strip would be in any sort of usable condition). Aside from the scrap kerf material all of these tools should leave the two pieces with decent edges and not-curled or warped like cutting with tin-snips.
The least expensive is a Manual Nibbler (#81477 $12.30). It looks like it would require a 3/8- to 1/2-inch diameter hole to start an inside cut and it takes 1/4-inch wide cuts at a max of 3/32 deep per nibble.
The Powered Nibbler (#81556 $144.95) makes a .135-inch wide curf, but the depth of cut is not listed. I think it could cut a smaller inside area because it looks like it could probably need only a 1/4-inch starting hole.
The last item is the Metal Shear (#60662 $15.10). It is like two pair of very short scissors that share one blade, thus it makes two cuts at a time, one on each side of the kerf, (making that strip I mentioned above). It also looks like it could cut an inside area from a 1/4-inch hole (or possibly smaller).
The Manual Nibbler advert says it has a comfortable grip, but the picture does not look like a comfortable grip to me. The Powered Nibbler looks to be small enough to grip easily, but I wonder if the ease of use and accuracy is as the pictures in the advert imply. The Metal Shear has a vinyl grip handles and looks a bit more comfortable than the Manual Nibbler.
The Manual Nibbler is designed to be inserted from below the work piece so you can sight down along the punch to see where to cut. The Powered Nibbler appears to be used from above the work piece which may make it harder to make exact on the line cuts. The Metal Shear appears to be usable from either above or below the work piece. The Nibblers can probably make an 90-deg. inside corner very easily, but the Metal Shear would probably not make as good of an inside corner.
They all appear capable of cutting the same thicknesses of soft material (brass, plastic) up to 1/16-inch (.0625") thick, but the Powered Nibbler and the Metal Shear specifically mention steel, 1/32-inch (.03125") thickness for the former, and 18-gauge (.0478") for the latter.
I have no "plans" to make anything that would wear my hand out making cuts so the Powered Nibbler is not of extreme necessity on that point alone. Still, I would buy it, except I balk at a price that is 10 times the price of the other two.
Anybody here used these tools?
Anybody used any two of them and can then give me an experiencial compareson of them?
Is the Powered Nibbler all that much better? Is the Manual Nibbler or the Metal Shear "better" for some reason or other?