Last Update-03/13/2010 01:40 AM        

After spending hours and hours cutting aluminum sheet with snips, my hands were about to give up.  I decided to sell a few of my other toys and invest in a stomp shear to speed things up a bit.  I only live about 3 hours from Springfield, Mo where Grizzly Industrial is located so I decided to drive down there with my kids and take a little "vacation" !

I did take the kids to Fantastic Caverns on the way there and they loved it !

Here is a pic from the East facing west of the tool Mecca itself. The customer service was great and everyone was very friendly and helpful.  Buying a new tool this size for me is like buying a new car and they seemed to share that excitement.

This bad boy weighs 1150 pounds and put the squash on the ol' Dodge's suspension. Any lesser truck (you know, Ford, Chevy, Toyota, etc) would have died! hehe

Ok , the fork lift that loaded this bad boy didn't seem to be available to unload it at my shop so things got interesting.  The box sort of sank into my bed liner making it a little more difficult to slide out.  I wrapped a log chain around the box and cinched it just snug enough to allow a 4 x 4 post to be inserted under the chain and then used to wedge against the trailer hitch to pull it out inch by inch. It slid down these 4 x 4 x .250 thick angles. Worked like a champ!

Here it is, home at last!  Now, how the heck does this box come apart?

Here is what it looks like out of the box , all trussed up and tied snug. 

The shear is painted nicely and the castings seem to be good.  I had to take the hold down clamp off and clean up the rough areas that touch the sheet metal.  I also used mineral spirits to clean the heavy grease of the table and then waxed it to prevent rust.

If you get one of these, do not stomp the shear until you align the blades as detailed in the manual.  My blades were touching as soon as the upper blade was lowered.  10 minutes of adjustment and all was good!

This bad boy should save me from having Popeye arms by the time I'm done with this airplane!