My throatless shear has malfunctioned.

[fghthty545y]

I got the throatless shear from Harbour freight/Central forge, and I can't adjust the blades. One of the adjustment screws will just not go in. (It's sticking out.)
As is, it cuts 20ga like butter, but that's not why I bought it.
Do you think my Central forge throatless shear is deffective?

[hrolf]

Yep. It doesn't say "beverly" on the side

[Marco-borromei]

Out of the box, they need some adjustment. Can you post pictures with the arm up, half way through, and down?

Have you tried oiling the adjustment screw? Removing it and the blade to check for obstructions?

When you move through a full range of arm motion, is there a consistent blade gap? Did you now you need to adjust the blade gap for different metal thicknesses?

[knitebee]

Remove the screw, figure out what oddball sized screw it is, run a tap through to clean it up, then reinstall. Better yet drill out the hole and re-tap it for a slightly larger standard thread (I use regular hex head bolts on my Beverly, makes it quicker and easier to adjust blade gap than a little easy to strip allen or slot ended set screw).

[raito]

'Metric' is not oddball.

[Sean Powell]

I re-tapped my holes deeper as well. You may want to check that there is sufficient clearance for the tip of the tap to travel through. The surface that the blade sits on was interfering on mine. I used a broken tap as a bottoming tap but dremmeling a little clearance for the tap wouldn't hurt either.

The HF shear is SOMETIMES good right out of the box but often will need a little field modifications. I think that's true of almost all larger tools and some smaller. I have trued up the cutting angle of ever table, chop and band-saw I've ever worked with and frequently check them before critical projects.

The front blade keeper likes to spin on tightening and could use an extra anchor point. The blade keeper occasionally comes up too high and will scrape the workpiece. The set-screws I got had rounded tips and one liked to lift the plate so I ground it flat. The cutting edge should sit flat on a piece of glass but have a relief bevel below it. If not straight it can be lightly ground true.

It's a good tool, not great, but good, especially for a hobbiest like myself. Unless I need to make money off my tools I'm not likely to invest in a beverly. What the HF can't cut the jig-saw can. What the jig-saw makes a nasty racket of is why I'm not a profesional.

P.S. once trued up they are great for cutting raw-hide and solebend as well.

Sean