Swing Beam Shears

The swing beam design originated with lighter capacity shears imported first from Europe and is used by many other countries including the United States. This is most likely due to the fact that it can be designed and made cheaply to use in the smaller capacity shears.

In the swing beam system, the upper blade travels in an arc thereby causing the angle between the moving and stationery blades to change during the cutting process. The entire upper blade carrier pivots on two bearings (one on each end frame) in such a manner that the angle of the top blade varies as the cut progresses. All of the horizontal forces of shearing are transmitted to the two bearings on the end frames.

Since the entire front section of the upper blade is unsupported, it is weaker than the guillotine system and more prone to deflection and vibration during ram travel. The drive system and blade carrier are typically lightweight, therefore the system requires the use of an eccentric adjustment to change the blade clearance for every workpiece thickness.