Air saw vs nibbler vs shears

[slosh]

Looking to purchase some cutting tools for rust repairs... which one would people recommend out of air shears, air saw or air nibbler? Haven't had experiance with anything other than a grinder, but I need to repair rust in footwells of truck which is too tight for grinder. Down the track I'm also planning to shorten the tub of a hilux. Thanks for suggestions.

[simcoe]

depends on the thinkness of the metal but grab a pair of left and right snips for the thin stuff and where it's double skinned just use a grinder.
a di grinder bit is very nice for smoothing things up!

[want33s]

They each have their uses....
*Shears are good for cutting large sheets but are a bit messy.

*Air saws as in pnuematic hacksaws are good for cutting small bits but painful if you need to cut a whole sheet.

*Nibblers are awesome for intricate shapes but you don't want to use one on a door or quarter panel cause you'll end up with millions of little 1/4 moon slithers that rust really quickly.

* My favourite for cutting is a 5" grinder with a slitting saw on it. (1mm thick disc)

If I had to pick just one it would be the grinder.
Jas.

[ajsr]

having owned a panel shop, i'd say buy a air hacksaw and a 100mm grinder.
while you are buying the grinder but a shitload of 1mm cutting discs and a backing to use those brown fiber disks they are the shit for smoothing welds and sharp edges.

[locktup4x4]

I use this electric shear for most of the fender trimming, making half doors and any other body panel trimming.

Jason

[Harb]

I have all of them and probably the best option is, as said, the good old 4" angle grinder with those 1mm cutting discs....they are soooooo good compared to the normal cutoff discs and are just fantastic for panel work.
I have used a Jig saw as well, and a power shear like lockup4x4 has pictured is good if you have big long cuts with no backing panels to cut through...

[Hekta]

1mm grinder discs are teh

[80's_delirious]

grinder with 1mm discs

rust will ruin shears and nibbler in no time. both also need a fair bit of room to operate them, probably more then the grinder.

nibbler can distort panels slightly too.

air hacksaw is good for small cuts, but slow for long cuts.