Nibblers

[turael]

Have any of you guys used nibblers for sheet steel and aluminium - and what do you think of them?

In particular talking about the drill attachment type: http://newstyledirect.com.au/store/images/D/nibbler-pic3.jpg

Any advice on using one to make a straight cut, aside from obviously clamping a guide rail?

Also, it's Friday.

[madbung]

Yes I use them, no problems & easy to use.

Draw line, have a steady hand....

[r32.34]

They are a god send, especially when making long cuts and usually wind up alot neater than using Snips, theyu do come at a price though i think a set of electric makita ones would set you back around 600 bucks although im not too sure about they pneumatic ones I think they may be considerably cheap. We prodominently use battery powered ones on site but the price for those escalates again.

they will usualy cut upto about 1.2mm stainles steel and as long as you have a steady hand will do a very nice job

[WGNC-34]

When u are fitting sunroofs the are the only way too cut a hole in the roof skin because they leave very little damage, I only use a guide line and with practice u can get it pretty well spot on everytime just takes a steady hand. I've used numerous battery operated and corded brands they are all pretty well similar but in terms of regular use you get what u pay for, Bosch is my favorite ATM

[turael]

I ended up buying some $50 cheapie from bunnings that attaches as a drill piece - aside from the drill getting in the way, it was fairly easy. Must be high on crack though cause my lines were pretty shaky. Also found out that using some lube to cool the nibbler is the way to go, or it gets very hot and if you're going through aluminium the pieces will start sticking in the nibbler.

I was cutting sheets of ally and ended up using a grinder and zapping it on some steel to clean out the ally gunk every few metres. Nibbler is still great though and has a permanent place in my workshop.

I'm still picking half-moon pieces of aluminium out of the bottom of my shoes.

[Triptych]

Used a nibbler pretty much daily at my work but as you said the half moon cut offs are annoying as well and we would spend more time in clean up then actually doing a job. If its non complicated straight lines your mainly doing (which is what we normally for access panels into sheet metal at work) we swapped over to some straight shears which means no more half moon cut outs just long curly pieces of metal from the line you cut.