Next Kevin shows his Evo 380 chopsaw. He’s built a little roller table so he can bring stock from outside in through a door right onto the cutting table.
If he’s cutting smaller metal that he doesn’t want to run through the chopsaw or bigger, wider metal plate that won’t fit in the chopsaw, Kevin gets out his plate shear, which sits right next to the chopsaw. He can even use the backstop on the Evo chopsaw when he’s cutting with the plate shear.
Next Kevin shows his Tennsmith jump shear. They call it a “jump shear,” or sometimes a “foot shear,” because you slide your metal up under the blade and then step or jump on the pedal, which drops the blade and neatly cuts the metal. How it cuts depends upon how thick your metal is and how dull your blades are. His shear is rated to 16 gauge, no thicker.
Another handy shear Kevin has in his art studio is a Beverly shear. It’s great because it’s a throatless shear – you can cut curves and circles with it, both inside and outside. Kevin shows how easy it is to cut a curve. You can trace a pattern on your metal and just cut it out like you’re using a big pair of scissors. His number 2 Beverly shear is rated to 16 gauge, but the number 3 is rated to 1/8″.
The nice thing about all of this cutting equipment, says Kevin, is that it cuts nice, straight, even lines with sharp corners and edges – except when you mess up. Then you have a bench grinder!
That gives you a peek into Kevin’s metal-cutting area of his studio. Kevin’s next free video will be about his shaping tools.
He’s about to go back to work, but you might want to stick around another moment to see Kevin Caron wrestle his plate shear ….