Nibbler shears are designed to work differently to other cutting shears, which often cut in the same way as scissors, with the two blades passing one another in order to slice the material.However, nibbler shears only have one blade which punches upwards through the material to cut out a line.
By punching upwards and cutting out a section of material, rather than slicing through as shears do, the material on either side is not distorted or bent.Shears are more useful when cutting off small excess edges where it does not matter if this excess is distorted.
Nibbler shears are suited to cutting out shapes in both flat materials and around corners (for example, car door frames). By cutting out the material, nibbler shears are able to turn easily and make curved cuts.
Nibbler shears are able to do this due to the cut being made using a number of small punches which join together, in comparison to shears which cut with one continuous slice of the blade.
Nibbler shears cut out a thin section of material to separate the workpiece into two pieces. When working, the blade curls the excess material upwards, preventing it from getting in the way whilst cutting.The gap created (blade width) is usually around 2.7mm (0.1″) wide. When marking out your cut, this gap should be taken into account in calculations for the size of your intended piece. As long as you measure correctly and factor in the cut out material, this should not affect the accuracy of using nibbler shears when compared to other tools.
