Hi Nathalie,

HAVEN Product Page

Errr. which Beverly? (there are currently 3 different sizes, with
vastly different cutting capacities.) Equally, what type of
guillotine? A big floor model, or a cheapo tabletop?

I own both a 12" guillotine, as well as a mid-sized Beverly shear.
(B2 model)

The catch for you is going to be the 5mm thickness. That&#;s nearly
1/4". The big Beverly (the B3) will probably chop through that, but
it&#;ll curl it over as it goes. You can get a strip if you uncurl it,
but it won&#;t come out like a slice of paper.

Speaking generically, the advantage to the Beverly shears are two
(A) they&#;re throatless. Which means you can cut as deep as you like
into a sheet of metal without bottoming out against the throat. This
was handy for me back when I was doing armor. Sometimes the sheets
of steel I was cutting were 8 feet long.

(B) you can cut curves, sometimes surprisingly tight ones, with a
Beverly, even several feet into a sheet of metal. The bigger the
Beverly, the bigger the minimum radius. (They used to make a 'mini&#;
shear called the B-0, which was just about perfectly scaled for
jewelry work. Unfortunately, they don&#;t make it any more, and the
existing B-0&#;s are rare indeed&#;)

For just cutting straight strips, the Beverly isn&#;t what you want,
but it&#;s much more versatile than most shears.

Now on to guillotines: If you&#;re really trying to chop through 5mm
sterling sheet, I don&#;t know of any manual guillotine shear that&#;s
going to do it for you. You&#;d be looking at a hydraulic shear, and
large sums of money. Probably best to send that out to someone who
has such a shear. (Probably whoever&#;s rolling the 5mm sheet for
you.)

So. did you actually mean 0.5mme That seems a bit more plausible.

In that case, if all you want is 8CM strips, a straight guillotine
shear is the right answer to that question. The Beverly specializes
in curves. If that&#;s not what you&#;re doing, it&#;s not what you need.

For whatever that was worth.

Regards,
Brian

Want more information on hydraulic guillotine shear? Feel free to contact us.

Guillotine tips: Getting rid of shearing defects

At Selmach we offer a wide range of high quality sheet metal guillotines, any of which can be demonstrated in one of our UK branches; Whether that&#;s a mechanical guillotine, designed for fast, accurate cutting of mild steel up to 4mm, a swing beam hydraulic guillotine giving greater power, visibility and safety or a variable rake hydraulic guillotine for heavy duty work and an impressively long working life.

Whatever guillotine you choose for yourself or your business, and whatever tasks you need it to perform, they all have one thing in common; they need to be well maintained and used with care, if not then shearing defects can and very often will start to creep into your work.

The term &#;shearing defects&#; is really an umbrella term for a variety of undesirable effects you might encounter during the shearing processes that you and your guillotine undertake, they can include a poor edge quality, bowing, twisting and crooking (errors in general straightness of a workpiece.)

The good news is that all of these defects are avoidable, and here are some of the best tips, and questions to ask yourself in order to avoid shearing defects while using your guillotine.

Are the blades sharp?

Cuts need to be neat and they need to be regular, if they aren&#;t then poor edge quality is an inevitable consequence. With that in mind, checking the blade wear regularly will tell you when the blades aren&#;t as sharp as they used to be.

Chips in the blade

Spotted ideally by a careful inspection or worse; defects in workpieces. Blades can become damaged over time by poor maintenance or just normal wear and tear; good housekeeping is always the best option!
Don&#;t use cheap or poor quality steel

An often overlooked issue can be the quality of the materials you work with. It&#;s important to remember that those which might seem cheapest can often become the ones you end up paying the most for&#;

Oil your blades when cutting aluminium

This tip is more about wisdom and experience as opposed to common sense, if you are shearing aluminium then lubrication is best practice and a very good policy. It is also a great idea to make sure the oil hold-down jacks are not leaking once in a while too. Your blades will thank you, and your end products will be defect-free.

There are one or two other things you can do to make sure shearing defects do not rear their ugly head in your workshop; making sure your backgauge is parallel and datumed, and ensuring the guillotine&#;s squaring arm is set square are both vital. For help and advice on how to perform these tasks on your guillotine or for any other queries, get in touch: click, tap or call us on +44 (0) 346 580,   or get in get in touch via our website.

Published 24th October

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