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by Peter Brett - September 2007
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01444 440188
01444 440188
Cut Flooring Without Dust and Noise
With laminate floors, my usual method of cutting to fit is the powered mitre saw and a specialist laminate -cutting hand saw, so I was interested in the possibility of a dust free solution that the Probilt Magnum Shear offered. Dust underneath and around the laminate floor site is a real nuisance because it gets between the floor and the laminate and gets trodden through the house. Avoiding most dust usually means cutting pieces of flooring away from the worksite and then the fitting, the bending over and constantly getting up and down slows the job and, in my case, takes a fearsome toll on my knees.
The principle of the Magnum Shear is simple - it uses a guillotine action to cut various types of flooring materials thereby avoiding dust. Being relatively light (lighter than a cordless mitre saw) it can be positioned near the job and moved when needed. Using only human power to operate it, it is not dependent on having an electrical power source nearby. There is of course the Green Agenda to consider. The Probilt is as “green as can be”, its carbon footprint is pretty well only the cost of its manufacture.
Setting up the device is very simple because all it needs the user to do is to attach the castors on the back edge and the handle. Although the Magnum Shear is easy to lift, the castors do help when moving it around on smooth surfaces. Fitting the castors and handle is done in a few minutes, and once done needn’t be repeated.
On the Magnum Shear that I was sent to try out (they come in different sizes for different uses) the aluminium side fence was already in position on the high density polythene sheet base, that has a high resistance to impact and delaminating. The base is well supported by aluminium side rails and there is a built-in handle to help when moving it around.
One of the main advantages of the Magnum Shear when it comes to meeting Health and Safety Regulations is that is a mechanical device and therefore does not need 110V current on site. It has no motor, is not noisy and therefore its users do not have to wear ear defenders, dust masks or other safety equipment. Possibly the only thing that would be sensible is a pair of knee-pads, and most workers who spend a lot of time on their knees use them.
Of course there is the danger from the shearing blade, and it would slice a finger off as neatly as a piece of flooring. But the blade is tucked out of the way, and it would have to be some accident to get one’s fingers near it.
I have used other types of guillotines, for example for slicing thick quires of paper accurately, and watched a picture framer slicing accurate wafer thin slices from the edge of a mitred frame to get the perfect 45 degree angle, so I know that in principle, guillotine actions can work well. But I was a bit trepidatious about trying it on a 150mm wide, 12mm thick piece of engineered oak flooring and getting a neat result. I need not have worried. Before there were six pieces of waste wood lying on the floor I had already worked out that the Magnum Shear does what it is supposed to do easily and with no fuss. Ordinary laminate flooring is cut almost without effort and even standard tongue and groove softwood flooring is sheared off neatly and accurately.
As I developed more familiarity with the tool I found that I could work very quickly with it to achieve straight, neat shearing cuts every time. There is also a bit of a technique to be learnt. The handle, in order to develop the leverage necessary to cut easily, is quite long and has quite a long travel, a bit over the 90 degrees from start to finish. So I had to learn to start the cut on my knees, reaching out at a stretch with my arm and then pulling steadily down with a slight roll of my body to finish the cut with the handle quite low down at knee level. I think a steady technique is necessary, particularly if you were working all day with the tool, because it is, after all, muscle powered.
Marketing and selling the Magnum Shear Range is an interesting challenge. Individually the tools are quite expensive for a single end user to buy, certainly a great deal more expensive than a cheap Far Eastern corded mitre saw. But Probilt is not targeting the home user market, it is much more interested in the potential for hire usage and corporate sales to large flooring contractors. These users will be able to afford the initial cost of the device, but will also be able to capitalize on its low maintenance needs, low Health and Safety demands and its ability to cut flooring of many types, including some of the High Tech rubber and composition tiles and carpet tiles. In other words, those materials where a Stanley knife won’t quite do!
The hire and industrial users are also the ones who will demand speed and accuracy and minimal interference with the job in hand. So the Magnum Shear’s noiseless and dustless operation is a huge bonus. Day to day maintenance seems to consist mainly of checking that the blade remains razor sharp. Spare blades are readily available and easily replaceable, and a honing stone is supplied as part of the kit so that users can keep their blades razor sharp.
An optional Super Blade allows the tool to cut hardwoods. This has a working life of a minimum of 5,000 cuts but has to be professionally sharpened.
On that basis the Magnum Shear seems to have all of the attributes necessary for a good hire or contract tool. In my experience of it, it has proven ability to do what is asked of it day in day out, and it is simple enough and strong enough to have a long working life. It is well made from high quality materials, so even the demanding hire trade should find that it lasts the distance. There is simply not much that can go wrong with it!
Interested? Use the ToolBusiness and Hire Reply card to find out more.
Independent Review by Peter Brett
Airstream Communications