Comments on: Harbor Freight 16-Gauge Air Nibbler

By: fred

fred — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 19:27:49 +0000

These comments are certainly correct about the debris generated by a nibbler. We use Kett tools - and follow-up with a magnetic sweeper in the shop. That still leaves errant pieces scattered about - and does nothing for aluminum and SS debris. We have a Billy Goat vacuum - but the sharp little chips can easily damage things - so sweeping up manually is still what’s needed. I’d appreciate any ideas that others have about controlling this problem. Maybe - we should move to plasma cutting for everything ??

By: T

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 18:33:59 +0000

Power nibblers are the devil’s tools. Those little half moons will stick in shoes, toes, paws, tires, and a whole lot of other things. Maybe they’re nice if you have a dedicated space where you can contain the mess, but in a general purpose shop? Hell, no. I’ll find another way to do it.

By: Rik

Rik — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 10:30:51 +0000

I bought one of these several years ago for about $15. The day I bought it, I used it for about 3 hours cutting about 20 circles out of 18 gauge steel. I kept it oiled through out the process. The cutter broke on me before I finished. I admit that I had been using it hard. I tried to buy a replacement bit both online and in the store but it was not available anywhere even though the instructions listed it as a replacement part. In the end Harbor Freight exchanged it for a new one so I could finish the job. I also purchased a second one that day just in case I broke another before the job was done.
On the Plus side, the nibbler did a fine job of cutting the steel. It felt similar to using a saber saw.
Now I’ll agree that for the price you can consider these disposable. However, it’s a real Pain in the ass when your tools break in the middle of a job and you have to stop everything to go buy a new one. If your going to use your tools for a living I would highly recommend investing in good tools not Harbor Freight .
One last point, be very very careful of those quarter-moon pieces. It realy does create thousands of them. And they will stick in the soles of your shoes. I didn’t realize this and walked back into my house, across the hardwood floors, and heard the sound and realized immediately it was scratching my floors. It took me 20 minutes to pull all the shards out of my shoes.