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At this point your cutter is basically done. After using it the way
that Joe had designed, I realized that it was a little hard on the hand.
That is when I reversed the location and moved the knife from the top to the
bottom of the base.
Joe's design with cutter on top. |
My design with cutter on bottom. |
Now all you need to do is to add a lever in order to make it cut easier.
I picked up a piece of Slotted Angle Galvanized Steel about 24"
long. I cut the piece down to 16", rounded the sharp corners
on the ends and then attached it using the bolt that holds the knife to
the rear brackets. This long lever gives you the extra force
needed to make cutting the shingles easier. Note that you
may need to clamp the base to your bench to keep it from tipping
up.
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The last thing I noticed was that the Slotted Angle handle would hit
the guide brackets when you brought it down and did not allow you to cut all the
way through the shingle. So, I put a 3/16" x 1 3/4" round head
bolt through the top of the handle. It sticks out of the bottom of the
handle about 1" and is held in place using washers and nuts to attach it to
the handle. The bolt is located so that it presses down on the knife just
behind the button the extends the blade. Now this bolt pushes down on the
knife when I am making shingles and keeps the handle from hitting the angle
brackets. As a final touch I picked up a blue rubber cap that just fits
over the head of the bolt. It servers no function but to keep the bolt
from scratching the knife. I think the cap is really made for covering the end of
tubeing or something.
Well, that's how I made my Shingle Cutter and it works pretty good.
Hopefully I did not put you to sleep and you have found something interesting
and worth while in this article.
The picture to the right is of the tools I used to make my cutter but
they are definitely not all necessary.
If you decide to make one, please let me know how it turned out and
if my article was of any help.
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Remember, "If the Women Don't Find You Handsome They Should at Least Find you
Handy!"
Johnny F.
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