I'm still building my horizontal stab, but I'm to the point where I need to use my shear to cut the 4130 sheet for the ribs. The stomp shear looks ok, but I never cleaned it since I bought it. It came from a road construction sign shop in Anchorage and has seen some pretty hard use. All the places that had grease were packed with metal shavings and things were a little loose. I cleaned up the top and as I was looking at the back I saw a few issues that needed attention.
I knew the treadle had been repaired, so that means some hard use. It had only cut aluminum, but after a while that can wear a machine down. After I took it all apart, I'm glad i did. There is a LOT of metal gunked up with the grease and some plastic guide bushings were just gone. Also, a couple of the links that drive the return spring on one side were toast...elongated and cracked. So I made a couple of new ones. I need to get some Delrin so I can make some replacements for the ones that were destroyed. The blades really should be sharpened, but I'm afraid to find out how much. Those blades new are VERY expensive (around $1K) and I'm not sure there is anyone in Alaska that can sharpen them. I'll find out Monday.
