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Shearing

Shearing is a metal fabricating process used to cut straight lines on flat metal stock. During the shearing process, an upper blade and a lower blade are forced past each other with the space between them determined by a required offset. Normally, one of the blades remains stationary.

The shearing process characteristics include:

Its ability to make straight-line cuts on flat sheet stock
Metal placement between an upper and lower shear blades
Its trademark production of burred and slightly deformed metal edges
Its ability to cut relatively small lengths of material at any time since the shearing blades can be mounted at an angle to reduce the necessary shearing force required.

The illustration that follows provides a two-dimensional look at a typical metal shearing process. Note how the upper shear blade fractures the metal workpiece held in place by the workholding devices. The sheared piece drops away.

Shearing process - illustration

Typically, the upper shear blade is mounted at an angle to the lower blade that is normally mounted horizontally. The shearing process performs only fundamental straight-line cutting but any geometrical shape with a straight line cut can usually be produced on a shear.

Metal shearing can be performed on sheet, strip, bar, plate, and even angle stock. Bar and angle materials can only be cut to length. However, many shapes can be produced by shearing sheet and plate.

Materials that are commonly sheared include:

Aluminum
Brass
Bronze
Mild steel
Stainless steel

Shear types - illustration

The shearing process uses three types of tool systems. They are used for shearing:

Sheet metal and plate using a squaring or bow tie shear
Angle materials using and angle shear, and
Bar stock using a bar shear.

View an overview of shearing services any of the metal forming processes offered by Advantage Fabricated Metals, or view a full table that matches the metals to the metal fabricating services we offer.

For more information about Advantage Fabricated Metals and the metal forming, metal fabricating, and welding services we provide, please fill out our contact form or call us at 1-815-323-1310.

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