Sheet Metal Machinery Talk - OOOOOOweeee, I'm in love with Beverly!!!!!! (shear that is) steve2 - Feb 18, 2008 - 08:44 AM Post subject: OOOOOOweeee, I'm in love with Beverly!!!!!! (shear that is)
Wow, what a tool!!!
As a lot of you know, every year at this time, I build an elaborate water feature for a landscape design firm's booth at the local home and garden show. It also seems that each year's project requires the addition of a new tool. Last year it was about getting a circle cutter and a set of rollers. Well, this year's feature is an arching form about 10'w X 4+' h. I'll post a pic soon so you can get an idea of what I mean when I say I had these long curving shapes to cut out of 24oz. copper. I knew the usual method wasn't going to get it so I started looking around. That's how I met Beverly.
I needed to be able to cut a distortion-free curvilinear line accurately and end up with a cut that I wouldn't have to file and futz with a whole lot. And most importantly not have to be squeezing snips! Three-jaw shears...not in my experience. Free hand on the rotary cut circle shear? Naw. I saw a post mentioning something called a Beverly shear so I Googled it and I was lost to the Sirens' call. I could never go back. She was all I could think of. I ask around, I bored my friends with details of her lovely graceful form and her ease of use. Finally I wrote to Stickman and ask if I should satisfy my lust for a Beverly. His resounding yes drove me over the edge. I made the call. I had to have one and I wanted my Beverly to be brand new. Never having felt the caress of another sheety's hand. Sure it was expensive, I thought, but man o man I had no idea that what I was going to get would be money sooooo well spent.
I know alot of the work alot of you all do out there in the real world is done by machines. If however your work requires much snip cutting and pattern work (especially guys like you kwhord ), I want to tell you to get a Beverly shear as soon as you can. Make one of these the NEXT tool you invest in. It will pay you back in time saved over snips in no time and make you money from then on. This beauty cuts 24 oz and leaves a edge so clean and burr free that I don't even have to file it. I can in fact run my finger along the edge without worry. How wild is that? More importantly, if I would have had one of these beauties 10 or 15 years ago, I know two things would be different. 1) I would still be able to use my thumbs, and B)my daughter would be named Beverly.Bud - Feb 18, 2008 - 10:21 AM Post subject:
Wow, nice post - almost thought I was going to have to put a rating on the post - this site hasn't seen a love story to many times like this one:)
I look forward to the pictures - Thanks!Stickman - Feb 18, 2008 - 04:58 PM Post subject:
I told you Steve....just wait until you have been with Her a few years MattM - Feb 19, 2008 - 02:00 PM Post subject:
Awww, c'mon, 24 oz cuts across a 10' sheet aren't all that bad if you pop a few Alieve.
Be careful with them 'Beverly' shears, they can take off a finger real quick. We use ours for cutting multiple layers of metal. It cuts through four layers of 24ga. like a hot knife through butter.Stickman - Mar 04, 2008 - 06:16 PM Post subject:
Speaking of Beverly shears......I would like to know how other users mount them. As you know...cutting a large pc means you need some support for the pc. And if you have limited bench space as I do.....you hate to bolt the thing down to the bench. My solution was the old cream seperator stand, which is heavy cast and then a pc. of pipe with flanges to get the exact height of my tables ( or bench, which is used for everything in my shop). The weight keeps the shear solid and makes it very portable. You can then turn it to whatever way works best for your pc to rest on the table. Idealy it would nice to have a 4x8 bench just for it steve2 - Mar 04, 2008 - 07:22 PM Post subject:
Stickman, you are just too cool! That whole cream separator thing is perfect. It's funny how a person is reflected in their work shop. I'm not talking about the weekender's deserted shop, but the shops that are used to make a living. Especially those of guys like you and I who are mostly the only ones working in them. Your shop is a thing of beauty. A shop of dreams. If there was a show on tv that did shop make-overs like they do with homes my shop would look like yours. For about 3 days!!!!!
As to the original question, I haven't even removed my Beverly from the original piece of plywood that it was shipped on. I couldn't decide how I thought it would be best to mount it. As you said, who wouldn't like a whole table dedicated to it, but space is even limited in shop heaven it seems. So I thought about it as long as I could before I just has to put the thing to use. I clamped it to my bench and began cutting. Now I was cutting 24oz copper with a B1 Beverly so I had some pretty easy going. (Because of the ease of cutting, I've customized the handle on mine. I found an old folding leaf handle extention from my box and pan brake and since it fit perfectly on the Beverly, I cut it down to about 10 inches long and have used it in place of the longer original handle. This shorter handle gives me the ability to lean over the thing and cut from any angle without having to get my body out of the way of the swing of the handle. Is a sawed off Beverly legal?)
In using it tho, I came to like to clamp it to the bench on one corner of the aforementioned plywood base and swing it to whatever position I needed to keep the cut pieces on the bench as I cut them. That single-pivot swing also got worked into a smooth fluid motion as I cut those long arched pieces for that garden water fountain I mentioned in the other posts. As I pulled the handle down through the cut, I would swing the Beverly slightly. This was easier and smoother than trying to swing the long pieces of metal, because as you get to the end of a cut on a long piece, the far end has to move alot to move the end you are cutting. The part you're holding also gets shorter as you cut so your lever gets progressively shorter and the effort to move the metal along the cutting line becomes progressively harder (read aching thumbs).
So to summerize, I just clamp mine to the bench with a Vise-grip or one of those Irwin clamps and start cutting.
Too cool tho Stick, that separator thing.tnbndr - Mar 06, 2008 - 01:18 AM Post subject:
I fell for Beverly off of Ebay about a year ago and it is probably the best investment and most frequently used tools that I own. I am watching ebay because I am going to own one of each size!!!!
Handiest tool around.energystar - Mar 06, 2008 - 11:16 AM Post subject:
Where can I get those work tables? Nice.
