congrats on your new shop !

I am fairly adicted to having grinders to work with ..
mainly bench grinder and angle grinder ..I have a Makita with 200,000
miles on it that I just love.
that and a wire brush wheel ..
and a polisihing type grinder wheel ...I can go just nuts.

for cutting ..I use hack saws n' saber saws.
A band saw is always a luxury ..and nice to have for sure.

Dust..I'd make a dedicated corner with small walls around it ..
even fan blowing outside if it's that big a deal.

I doubt I'd ever use a big sheers like that.  I'd use a saber saw to cut
anything very thick.
I tend to 'hand form' a lot .....whether sawing metal, filing edges, or
hammering to shape.
Defenitely 'by hand' a lot though ..very rewarding.
I only use a hand sheers on sheet metal .

lucky you have house AC power !
right now I am off-grid using all rechargable battery power tools. Have
to manage the juice use all the time ..it's fun.

I wouldn't be buying any big sheers like that unless I thought I would
use it almost constantly.
In decades of making stuff I've never wished I had one.

and ultimately ..
for more than cutting and welding ..you need ox-accetylynn.

Scott .

On 5/2/2014 6:46 AM, Neil N wrote:
> Hi all.
>
> Finally signed a lease for a new Vanagon "shop" space. Reasonably
> sized: 21' x 18' x 8.x' high garage. I'm allowed to MIG weld, cut
> metal, but ventilation may be an issue.
> A cut-off wheel in angle grinder throws a lot of dust.
>
> Do budget oriented metal shears generally last long enough for NON
> commercial use?
> eg: http://www.kmstools.com/magnum-12-hand-shear-3035
> The thickest metal I work with so far, is 1/8" though I wonder if a
> shear like that would actually cut it.
> What about cutting 1.5" or 2" box steel?
>
> I don't have an O2-acetylene set up.
>
> Would a band saw suffice for cutting sheet, plate, box and tube material
> but not throw as much dust as a cut-off wheel?
> Other tool suggestions are welcome! I would not run a compressor.
>
> I don't foresee a lot of fabrication. And since 110 VAC to garage is
> on a shared breaker, this may negate any real future fabrication work
> beyond cutting and tacking parts in place. Still. It would be fun to
> learn of things like intake manifold alterations, copying diesel
> vanagon carriers, etc.
>
> Thanks much,
>
> Neil.
>
>
>
> --
> Neil n
>
> Blog: tubaneil.blogspot.ca
>
> '88 Westy http://tinyurl.com/c8rlw6p
>
> '81 VanaJetta 2.0 "Jaco"  http://tubaneil.googlepages.com/
>
> Vanagon VAG *Gas* inline-VR Engine Swap Group:
>
> http://tinyurl.com/d7gd5ej
>