New and used shearing machines for metal are easy to use and have a quick set-up time. In addition, they don’t cost much to operate, which makes them a smart choice for many metal-working shops.
Bud’s Machine Tools has an extensive inventory of used shearing machines in a variety of sizes and configurations and are likely to have the right machine for your application. If we don’t have the machine you need in our used inventory, we also carry new shears in every size and configuration from producers such as Krras.
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What Is a Shear?
New and used shearing machines perform the process of metal shearing, or cutting a sheet or plate of metal via a set of large, straight blades. In the vast majority of metal cutting machines, one of the blades is positioned downward, as the other blade is secured in a perpendicular fashion. These blades are distanced from each other by a tiny fraction of the sheet thickness. The upper blade is placed at an angle. This reduces the force required to do the full cut from one end to the other. Most of the time, the blades used in metal cutting machines have a square edge. Very few of these machines have a knife edge.
In The World of Machine Tools, Where Does the Used Shear Come in?
In the hierarchy of machine tools, the shear is not usually the first machine tool to come to mind. Unless you are a fabricator, these machines are not on the top of most people’s lists. They are not flashy, they don’t come with a myriad of different functions, their bells and whistles will not fill page after page on anyone’s sales quote. There is only one thing we can ask of a shear, give me a straight cut in my piece of sheet metal or plate steel. That’s it, that’s all there is, a shear cuts a long straight piece of sheet steel faster than any other known piece of equipment. What other type of machine can you think of that can cut, for example, one quarter inch thick piece of sheet steel 10 feet long, and do so in a matter of seconds? Whether it be a mechanical shear, a hydraulic shear, or a hand operated metal shear — just about any design you can think of — they all do pretty much the same job.
What Do We Know About Shears — How Far Back Do They Go?
If you consider the very first iteration of a shearing machine, it is in fact the humble hand scissors. Man’s first attempt at anything even resembling a piece of equipment that can part material in a straight line ends up being in his wife’s hands for the next couple of millennia. History — ain’t it great? The first known scissors appeared in Mesopotamia nearly 4000 years ago which dates them about 2000 B.C. For our exercise, we won’t go quite that far back.
The first automated metal shear that we would recognize today as a model of recent development appeared right after the start of World War II. As was the case for the Bridgeport mill, the Cincinnati surface grinder, and many other machine tools, it took a world war to force the latest development to appear in the production operation. Metal shears would grow up in the 1950s when numerous design ideas began to arrive in the marketplace. Main differences began to make themselves known as some machines were being targeted to specific type shearing job requirements. Sheet metal shears arrived about this time targeted to that specific part of the fabrication industry. Plate shears generally lent themselves towards the heavier plate thicknesses greater than 10 gauge. Not only were these machines making their niche in the market, different basic operating designs also came on the scene. The shear could now be a “mechanical shear," a "hydraulic shear" or an "all-electric shear.” Whoa — the simple old shear was beginning to get a bit less simple. Customers in the fabrication industry were beginning to see used shearing machines appear on the used machine market as the first tier companies were upgrading to the newest designs which fed the used market. Let’s fast forward to more recent times. Today’s modern metal shear for sale has been yet again refined to be even more accurate and as fast as ever. Current day latest designs incorporate numerous safety features all intended to keep the operator safe while operating the shear.
Used Plate Shears Represent Plenty of Capability that Won’t Break Your Budget!
A Lot of Potential Production for Not a Lot of Money
Is there a production manager anywhere in North America that would admit he doesn’t need any more production capability? Be he a chip maker or fabricator of any consequence, today's production manager would kill (hopefully figuratively) to have just one more machine. We have a revolving inventory situation, in that our stock moves quickly and changes often. We present used equipment in an operating condition, usually run and verified by our service staff as to function and accuracy, most of the machines we take in on trade are every day producing machines. Bud's Machine Tools is a total support organization in that we will sell you a proper running piece of equipment. Install it in your facility and proof its operation if the customer desires. We also will be there for our customers in that we have a huge parts department with most importantly, knowledgeable sales assistance’s who competently deliver the right part the first time. If you're in a pinch, pick up a used plate shear machine today from Bud's!
Buy the Right Shear the First Time!
When buying a used metal shear, our technical sales staff will ask details about your application, such as the type of material you are using, the overall length of your largest sheet and the thickness of the material. These parameters will help us determine what size machine you will need. Another consideration is your production volume. If you are processing a high-volume of materials, you may want to consider a shear that has CNC controls to automatically set the blade clearance, cut angle and length. If you only need to occasionally cut sheets, then a low-cost man
ual or motorized shear may be sufficient for you needs. Our knowledgeable staff is experienced in working in a wide variety of industries, that utilize different sheet metal cutting operations. Our staff can advise you on the best machine for your application.
You Need a Used Sheet Metal Shear — Why Don’t You Go to Those That Know?
You know what the problem is with “sheet metal cutting machines” (commonly referred to as simply a “sheet metal shear”)? There are too many loose references bandied about when people discuss these machines. We don’t have enough space in this forum to straighten out and sort all the variations, but believe us there are many.
Invest in a (New) Used Sheet Metal Shear and Get the Edge on Your Competition
This machine is often called a power shear or a squaring shear. Some types of this machine can be operated by electric power. Other types of this machine can be operated by hydraulic power. Yet others can be operated by foot or hand. Some of them can be operated by pneumatic power. At the bottom of the food chain (as it were) is the human-powered hand metal shears. These small machines do a surprising amount of work considering they are a hand operated metal shear of as much as 4-foot-wide capacity. The typical components of a shear machine are a measuring device to position the sheet, stops to secure the sheet, straight-edge blades, and a table with support arms that keep the sheet balanced. Straight-edge blades are usually divided into upper and lower ones. There is a sheet between these blades. Then these blades are pressed against the sheet. This way upper and lower blades cut the material.
With Bud's You Can Make the Cut
This is where Bud's Machine Tools comes in. With our experience in shearing machine installation and real-time operations on the floor, your production is guaranteed. Be it a used shear or new shear, we have you covered for both proper application as well as for your floor support.
What’s the Value of an Educated Customer?
At Bud's Machine Tools we strive to educate our customers on how to run their new used sheet metal shear. We want our customers to be experts in the operation of any piece of equipment in their shop, whether we sold the machine to them or not. We support our customer base in the Intermountain West (and beyond), providing the highest quality equipment available as well as renowned service support. At Bud's Machine Tools we feel like an educated customer is a productive customer who will seek our guidance the next time they need either a fabrication machine or chip making machine, either used or new.
Why Buy From Bud's Machine Tools Anyway?
They tell us we have unlimited space here to answer that question. Sweet. When considering a used or new hydraulic metal shear, electric shears, whatever you call it, knowledge of machine functions is of course important. Experience in installation of metal shears, and the ability to train the operators as to the operation of all machine functions, helps ramp up the learning curve of users and is invaluable to the actual integration of the used metal shear into a production environment. What the heck did all that mean? Here's the short version: You buy a shear from us, we will put it in, make it run, and teach your operators how to make production parts. We’re not done yet — we just sold you the piece of equipment, what about down the road? You buy a used metal cutting shear from Joe Schmo, and everything is fine until one day a loud screeching noise suddenly begins every time you cycle the shear. You call Joe and he doesn’t return you call until you try the next day and get Joe who says "I can get you a service tech next week Friday." Who can wait 10 days to get a machine back on line? At Bud's Machine Tools, we have the tooling, expertise, and knowledge to keep your production going strong.
