Today’s tech tip for you is on how to use aviation or “tin snips” properly. Aviation snips are made for cutting sheet metal with accuracy and ease and have been around for many years. There are many different jaws and types of cutting surfaces on tin snips but they all basically work the same. Today Mike Phillips from Phillips Hot Rods and Custom shows the differences in tin snips.
A quick overview of what the left and the right mean when you use your snips. The “right” or green handled snips means the trim is going to come off to the right. The red handled or left side snips means the trim is going to come off to the left. So contrary to common belief it doesn’t mean the left and right snips are only for left or right hand cuts.
A neat trick is if you’re using the green handled tin snips that means the waste is going to come off to the right so it’s going to come off up to the right. If you turn them upside down the waste is also going to come up off to the right but you can now use these on the left side of the panel. The trick is it’s not going to come off up to the right. The right ones upside down are going to come off the bottom of the left. This comes particularly in handy when you’re working on the car and body and the waste or the snips are getting in the way you can turn the opposite set upside down and make it go the other way. You can also use them upside down to make a cut the other way without distorting the metal and having to go get the correct snips.
A good sharp set of left and right cut aviation snips is extremely important in any garage or shop that does sheet metal work. They make the most accurate cut possible and allow you finely trim panels on the fly. See our entire line of tin snips HERE.