Good brand for tin snips, please

I have a bunch of work ahead in .025 5052 aluminum. I know well enough to want a good, manual tin snips, not something from HF.

Recommend me a good pair, hopefully under $30.

Thanks

Wiss aviation snips. They have three styles, one for cutting straight ahead, one for right curves and one for left curves. You can order them online and many stores carry them including Home Depot. They sell for $10 to $15 each.

stuart in mn wrote: Wiss aviation snips. They have three styles, one for cutting straight ahead, one for right curves and one for left curves. You can order them online and many stores carry them including Home Depot. They sell for $10 to $15 each.

^This x100. If you catch Home Depot having a sale you can buy the set of 3 for right around $25-30

wiss red, green, yellow.

i use them every day for aluminum work, then at home i use them for my car hobby stuff. they are the only brand i've bought that has not needed replaced yearly.

Wiss FTW

Beside red, green, yellow, there is also a shorter blade/ high leverage version for cutting through heavier gauge metal or multiple layers like duct cleats. Dunno the official name but we called them bulldogs back in my tinner days.

Wiss.

I do not believe this. This may be the first time in the history of the GRM boards that multiple people actually agree on something!

Thanks, folks!

Screw that Wiss crap, you need a water jet. It's the only reliable way to cut sheet metal without risking your fingers.

All this agreeing is making me surly.

I love Wiss. Don't use them anymore.

Craftsman has what appear to be identical, and when they loose their edge, Sears replaces them for free.

I have a set of Ridgids in left/right/center that are about 10 years old. Other than having to snug down the hinge nuts a couple of times they have been trouble free.

They look just like these Craftsmans:

I remember seeing a "youtube" video on the proper use of snips. The "right" & "left" cutting doesn't refer to the direction of the cut but to which side the "waste" side of the cut in on. When cutting a shape from a large piece of sheet metal you make a rough cut and then use the snips to cut to your scribe line.

That's not right.

Left cutting snips (usually red) will cut in a curve to the left (making the scrap on the right); right cutting snips (usually green) will cut in a curve to the right (making the scrap on the left).

jimbbski wrote: When cutting a shape from a large piece of sheet metal you make a rough cut and then use the snips to cut to your scribe line.

Okay, with what tool do you make the rough cut?

In reply to EvanR:

Plasma cutter.

In reply to EvanR:

Just to add fuel to the fire Snap On sells really nice snips probably made by Wiss but hey their Snap On and our rep says that have the same lifetime warranty as all the other Snap On tools.