KAKA INDUSTRIAL Manual Metal Cutter Tool, 5 inch HS-5 Compact Plate Shear for Sheet Metal and Bars - Garage Toolbox Size

I have been helping my friends with a project and the materal of choice is 4130 Chromoly sheetsteel in various thicknesses. To slice or shear some of the sheets my friend has a 8ft industrial foot/stomp shear. The thickest Chromoly sheet they would cut with the shear was 0.23 thick and that took 2 average size guys to shear the the sheet. The thoughts of trying to shear anything thicker was out of the question. One day there was a small accident involving the tip of a shoe/toe getting pinched with foot bar. I did a little research and found the KAKA 12" Sheet Shear and the fact it had the capability of cutting 3/16" steel sheet, I figured if it can handle material that thick it should be able to cut/shear 0.23 Chromoly sheet with no problem. The shear arrived and we temporarily mounted on a bench and proceeded to cut/shear the 0.23 Chromoly sheet with no problem or resistance. We were needing to make a bracket with 0.90 Chromoly sheet and decided to give it a try. It took a bit more force to cut/shear the 0.90 Chromoly sheet (needed to grip the end of the handle) but this KAKA 12" Shear handled it with no problems or no indication of dulling or damage to the cutting blades. Myself and all of my friend are very pleased with this product and would not hesitate in either buying and recommending someone who is needing to cut metal sheets up 3/16" thick to buy this item.

I'm very happy with the quality of this metal shear. It's cuts sheet metal perfectly. I even tried it on some really thick stuff and it cut that too. I should have bought one of these years ago!

Excellent quality tool and well worth the price under $100.00 seems like a more expensive tool to me. For heavy gauge sheet metal this is a must have. Order one you won.t be disappointed

I've been using this for a couple of weeks now and have some suggestions. MOUNTING: As others have said, you need to mount this because it's not very stable. I mounted it to a big piece of 2' long x 12" wide steel channel that weighs about 50 lbs. This works for most jobs, and when I need to cut something thick, I can stand on the channel and push the lever, or get a friend to stand on the channel. Mounting to the floor would certainly work but doesn't allow moving it around or storing it easily. INFEED TABLE: It needs an infeed table. I mounted a piece of 4x4 angle iron by removing and replacing the 4 bolts holding the lower cutting plate. These bolts are metric and I needed to replace them with - M12x1.75 x 35mm. CLAMPING: The provided holddown is pretty worthless. WIth the angle iron infeed table, you can use vise-grip clamps to clamp your metal to the angle iron. I'm contemplating trying to attach a mounted bench holddown clamp. CAPACITY: Cutting 16 gauge steel is easy. 14 gauge is practical, but takes some effort. 12 gauge is not very practical - you really need a big hydraulic shear for this. I can't imagine cutting 1/4 inch mild steel with this. Cutting 1/8" aluminum is also practical. Presumably 1/8" brass and other soft metals would work just as well. I think 1/4" aluminum would be a stretch, but haven't tried it. Overall, this is a decent shear for the money but it takes a bit of tinkering to get it mounted and usable. And don't expect to be able to cut metal as thick as they advertise.

I just received this and I’ve got to say I’m very impressed. Came very well packed in styrofoam- no damage of any kind. The 8” plate shear is very well built and will even cut little slivers off aluminum. I bought it mostly for aluminum but it is very sturdy. I have other saws for cutting steel so won’t need to cut more than 12 gauge. It is top heavy so definitely needs to be bolted to a bench or stand. Highly recommended and I’d definitely buy again.

This is a beautifully constructed shear that is sharp enough to cut a piece of tissue paper and powerful enough to cut 16 gauge stainless sheet stock. For sure, one must securely bolt it to a bench or table top to be able to fully realize its shearing power. The 5 inch size is just right for myuse, as I imagine the 8 inch would dwarf my workbench. It is constructed of 7/16, 5/8 and 1 inch thick plate, and is approximately 9 inches long,9 inches high (not including the handle) and 4 inches wide while weighing 20 pounds...certainly hefty for its size.I was able to make longer cuts than 5 inches by "walking" the sheet stock through the shear, but 16 gauge stainless appears to be my limit ofuse for this shear.Great product at a very good price!Thank you,

Great value.

If I were going to wish for anything more, it would be a 90 degree fence and a stock stop.I use mine to make parts for my homebuilt airplane project.