In-Depth Look - Techna Shear ™

Patented hand portable face planer for Plastics, Copper/Aluminum alloys, Wood and Composites

History

Techna Shear™ (formerly known as Turbo Shear™) was invented and patented in 1993 by the owner of BRER Technical, who was at the time, working as an engineering consultant to the industrial fiberglass industry. It was originally developed as a material removal system, as aggressive as slag-blasting yet more environmentally friendly. Marketing began in 1995 and thousands of units have been sold. Most of them are still in regular use.

Construction

Techna Shear™ is a precision carbide milling-cutting head that is designed to run on an air or electric angle grinder (not included). Each part is CNC machined from steel and aluminum bar stock and steel components are used at critical stress and wear points. Various parts are heat-treated and all aluminum is coated with a premium hard anodizing that dramatically reduces wear.

The two precision mating parts allow rapid change-out of inserts and eliminate all small parts normally used to hold carbide inserts. We have video records of routine insert changes in the field in less than 1.5 minutes without tools. Once tightened onto the shaft with the standard spanner nut, it is essentially one piece and cannot come off or apart under normal operation.

(Tools with safety brakes or air tools with high compression must be strictly avoided because they can cause screw-mounted heads to "inertia" off during forced deceleration.)

Techna Shear™ weighs only about 7.5 lb. and is 18" long, on our normally recommended Makita 9005B grinder. This is about 1/2 the weight of a large electric angle grinder and only slightly heavier than a small, 5" abrasive unit. Techna Shear™ inserts are unique 5/8" rounds with 8 indexing locations. When dull, each insert is turned one "notch" to present another sharp surface.

Uses

Some uses include marine and industrial fiberglass laminate and gel-coat removal, heavy wood removal and aluminum foundries.

Benefits

In most cases, Techna Shear™ is between 2 and 5 times faster than the most aggressive abrasive grinder and yet remains controllable. Industrial fiberglass users have found that when compared with abrasives, the shear profile produces a superior bonding surface for adhesives and coatings because it is non-clogging, clears away contaminates and leaves a microscopic fiber pull on the surface.

The larger, non-floating dust makes it popular among microchip factory ducting installers, where an absolutely clean work area is essential.

Dust Microscopy using 16-grit abrasive

Dust Microscopy using Techna Shear™

Cost vs. Payoff

Techna Shear™ is an expensive sander, but is reasonably priced when compared with other milling cutters for metal machining; especially when considering the secure and patented body design that utilizes two precision-machined body parts to hold the inserts. This tool has a long established history of saving money. The Case Histories page lists the documented results at customer facilities.

We often hear comments like, "I planned for 4 days of grinding but was through it by the first afternoon." A foundry, cleaning parts with a heavy parting line recently paid its investment off in two days by increasing parts per day from 14 to 32 and by cutting the cost of abrasives by 2/3. The employee was happy with reduced weight and dramatically reduced cleanup.

Techna Shear™ has consistently paid for itself in days or weeks in labor and within months in abrasives— and then goes on putting money in the owner's pocket for years. In some cases, such as gummy or wet surfaces, it is simply the only method that will work.

One customer recently used Techna Shear™ to restore the entire teak deck of the Battleship Missouri because it could remove the historic, scarred surface without removing unnecessary thickness in localized high areas.

We keep the cost of Techna Shear™ down by not selling through local distribution. But we realize that you need to try it out before committing to its purchase. For this reason, we have sold every Techna Shear™ with a one-week, "no questions asked", money back guarantee. Put it on your Visa and only pay if it works for you. We know it will!