Cutting Sheet Roofing Material

[markinoz]

have a look at the malco turbo shears. from bnd australia. various versions, air powered, or attach to battery brills. cheaper and some say better than the others already mentioned

[Bushmiller]

have a look at the malco turbo shears. from bnd australia. various versions, air powered, or attach to battery brills. cheaper and some say better than the others already mentioned

I checked this one out. Two sellers on ebay charging $129. One has postage at $10 and the other has postage at $20. A local supplier in Toowoomba could get them in at $184 (he said he couldn't buy them for the $120 I thought they might be). Amazon has them at $73.85 plus postage at $16.16. No wonder people become aggravated at inflated prices being charged in Oz.

This was all for the Heavy duty Turbo model.

Nevertheless a very serious option. Thank you.

Regards
Paul

[rod1949]

I have a Twinner 6", its the first and dearest (probably best) of the twin blade machines that are now flooding the market. Like you say they are noisey but probably the best way to go.

[rhancock]

I can't offer any useful information, but I nearly bought a nibbler nearly 10 years ago, and decided I could manage without, and I was right, I did manage, but I've spent 10 years, struggling and ripping, and cutting myself, when a nibbler would have paid for itself a thousand times over.

[elver]

Snip and rip. Seriously its the simplest way to go. Just try it, you'll never use tin snips again. Once a roofer showed me and I thought it was some trick - but it's simple, just snip and rip!

[Bushmiller]

Thanks Elver

I will probably give it a go, but I suspect I can really only use the technique for trimming the ratty ends. If I am trying to cut a 9m sheet in half it is going to be difficult to pull hard enough and get an even pull to create a square cut.

I can see that there is a good deal of stooping involved and that for me nowadays creates a little bit of an issue. I try to avoid stooping if possible .

I also note that the video posted by Cliff (post #2) uses old galvanised iron rather than modern zincalume. My understanding is that only the coating changed when BHP developed zincalume, but my impression (which is quite likely wrong) is that the steel is more rigid (more high tensile). So does that rip by hand as easily?

I suspect that I will have to use a cutting device of some description for cutting the sheets in half, but may be able to use the "snip and rip" method for the ends. However the latter depends on my aging joints, some of which are not that old .

Regards
Paul

[elver]

Works on zincalume and colourbond.

[bsrlee]

Some of the cheaper nibblers that use a power drill to operate are rubbish - I bought one a few years ago and it lasted only a few inches. Basically the eccentric that operates the reciprocating action is a non-ferrous casting with a 3/4 closed notch that is supposed to operate the ram. Well, the ram just pulls out, stretching & breaking away the thin ends, chuck it in the bin time.

I've seen some much more expensive ones being demonstrated at the WWW shows in years gone by, but they never let you see the guts of the device, and the price they were asking was as much or more than a 'brand name' dedicated nibbler that could handle roofing iron (I wanted something much more serious).

[Bushmiller]

Some of the cheaper nibblers that use a power drill to operate are rubbish - I bought one a few years ago and it lasted only a few inches. Basically the eccentric that operates the reciprocating action is a non-ferrous casting with a 3/4 closed notch that is supposed to operate the ram. Well, the ram just pulls out, stretching & breaking away the thin ends, chuck it in the bin time.

I've seen some much more expensive ones being demonstrated at the WWW shows in years gone by, but they never let you see the guts of the device, and the price they were asking was as much or more than a 'brand name' dedicated nibbler that could handle roofing iron (I wanted something much more serious).

I suspected as much with the drill attachment types. Having said that, yesterday I ordered a Malco Turbo shear which fits on a drill. We will see .

Thanks to all of you for your input.

Regards
Paul