Nippers and Snips Reviews

This is a simple lite wieght portable brake that works as expected. Great for retro fits.

Great tool for the handyman. Works great for my part-time business.

I use this small and not to heavy break for HVAC duct work. I can carry the brake by myself and can do pretty good work with it.It's devinitly not a toy and does a great job, when you only have to use it once in a while. For every day use, you need a big break in your shop for better speed and accuracy.

The only flaws I have found is the rubber strip that prevent scratches on the leading edge of the brake is not pinched in place so it slids out of the track, the tape on the brake fades to the point it can not be read, the hindge points are made of steel and rust in time, the locking pins for the handles need to be replaced with latch pins. The balls rust and make it almost impossable to remove them.

Bender works great for light duty bending. I would suggest the next model up for bending 28ga. painted flashing. Machine came damaged from shipping, but tapco sent parts to repair. Good customer service, a little slow but they are very good to resolve the problem. Also suggest the pro cut off, sidewinder and snapstand. Thanks Tapco.

This is a great affordable tool for those who need a portable bender. It's not just a siding bender. I've used it to make copper drain pans as well. You can't go over 16 guage, but the results are consistant and two people can bend a full 3X10 sheet of copper into just about any configuation. The 19" throat is not high enough to work like a pan brake, but you can compensate by figureing out the bends from the center out. Easy to keep in adjustment and two people can move it with ease. The Pro Cutoff is a keen accessory that will give your cuts nice edge.

These end nippers are excellent. I use my set to snip copper and steel rivets to size for leather and metal work. The 14" handles make this task a breeze as opposed to the hand cramping frustration it can be with lower quality or shorter nippers.

If you're a sheet metal worker and install ductwork for a living, this tool is a must. It is definitely an unconventional use for these nippers, but boy do they work great. Slip and drive connections are no problem with these wide-jawed, long handled babies. Just spread the jaws wide, slip them over the drive cleats, and use the long handles for all the leverage you need to pull the joint together. And once you pull the handles together, you can hold the joint together by holding both handles with one hand while using the other to make the connection. They may be called nippers, but we call 'em "duct pullers" because that's just what they do!

Ever want to reuse old wood work in a restoration project? This tool is a must. It is well constructed from hard steel and it's length allows for great leverage. I use this tool to pull finish nails out the backside of a peice of salvaged wood trim. Typically nails can be pulled this way leaving an unmarred finish side. Simply grasp the nail close to the surface of the backside of the trim and rotate the tool bringing the nail up and out of the wood. It works great!

The Sidewinder makes feeding coil stock a breeze. It eliminates any wrinkling and the need to feed the stock out of the box. The coil carriage. The Pro-Cutoff tool is a must when using the Sidewinder. The Pro-Cutoff will cut the stock about two inches past the end of the brake so allow for this when cutting stock to length. The only caveat is the additonal weight at the end of the brake, especially with wider coil widths and lengths. The additional weight will on ocassion allow the operator to lift the left end of the brake off the ground but is only noticeable when bending stock at near the full length of the 10'6" brake. Changing the stock is a snap so much so that I am considering additional coil cradles to allow different color stock or a second coil to be finish side up or down to be left loaded. The coil cradle simply lifts off and it is relatively simple to change coils. After using this tool I would not want to go back to the old way of handling coil stock.

I am a professional building contractor that has been using the sidewinder for 3 years now. Not only does it save time in cutoffs, it keeps my coil stock clean and dent free. I could not imagine ever going back to the old method of unrolling the coil on a bench or even the ground and scoring and bending to cut. A very worthwhile investment for any serious mechanic.

I've had the sidewinder for two years now, I don't know how I managed without it.I have had no problems with the sidewinder,a great investment.

Well constructed, durable. Malco is always great quality. However, I think that the Malco 12" Andy snips are a little more practical & easier to handle, unless you have pro basketball player-size hands. With 14", it's difficult to open the cutting surfaces far enough. With the 12", I can actually cut more per snip because I can open them farther.

This product good to stock, it is a snip that can cut heavy metals. I worked in a sheet metal shop in the past and we had some other different kids of snips they were heavy and aquired to use but the boss picked up one of these and it worked great it was light weight easy to work with in the shop and out on the work site, installing duct work, it was also nise that that you could replace the cutting knives when the got marred up. it is great when you only have to carry one set of snips when you work with tin and stainless steel. I would recamend these for the peson that works arould different metals and tins. this fit my hands very comfortable.

I used the Pro Cut-Off for the first time and was amazed at how easy and distortion free it cut the material on the brake. It absolutely eliminates ANY need for knifing the material on the brake. I have seen a number of brakes with knife damage on the hinges. Since my Pro III brake was new and I did not want to "dork it up". Seen too many of these brakes damaged in this fashion. Seems odd that one would spend $1200+ dollars on a brake only to drop a utility knife into the hinge of the brake time and time again.

I purchased the cut off tool. If for nothing else the Cut-Off tool is much faster and cleaner than the knife method. I would definetly recommend the use of the tool for anyone who has a brake. My only concern has to do with Tapco showing hanging the Cut-Off tool on the storage/coupler nut on the end of the brake. I was a bit suspiscious of using this method ans instead use a small table next to the brake to hold the tool and other misc items, e.g. pencils, sample profiles, paper pad with measurements, gaging blocks. etc. This tool gets my shiny side up recommendation.

I purchased both the Sidewinder, and the Pro Cut-Off at the same time, I'm glad I did, it sure speeds the operation up. I have found nothing wrong with this tool, I highley recommend it.

Bought these to replace a 3 year old set that got stolen. Even with 3 years medium use (I am an electrician) they were almost as good as new.

I have owned these snips for over 10 years and they have served me well in many home renovation and construction projects. As old as they are, the grips are still comfortable and they are still sharp... and nowhere near ready for the trash bin!

I highly recommend this tool.

I found these snips to be an excellent tool, good quality at a reasonable price.

I use this tool mainly for making brick moulding profiles. As recieved I found the screw that holds the dies in place keep falling out or would screw itself so tight it would jam the dies. I had to install a flat washer to act as a thrust bearing and apply Loc-Tite blue to the screw. The way the case is moulded requires you to have to spend time screwing the dies in or out to get it into position to use it each time. And time is money.

THIS TOOL IS A TIME SAVER AND EASY TO USE. MAKES TIRMING DOORS AND WINDOWS A BREEZE.