home made fret tang nibbler?

[jim simpson]

Stew-Mac has a fret tang nipper that I'm lusting after. There was a cheaper version on Ebay. I found a posting showing how to make a nipper from a $10 Radio Shack nibbler.
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=266441

The nibbler from Radio Shack looked just like the one on Ebay.
Has anyone tried modifying the nibbler to a fret tang remover?
I find the manual method of removing the tang a bit tedious and time consuming.
I just purchased the segmented Stew-Mac fret slot saw and am very happy with it. I was able to drive a fret into my old Gibson neck without disturbing the binding.

[amowry]

I've used the Radio Shack nibbler on around 70 instruments, and it works fine. It works best with 0.080" or wire, not so well with the small traditional mandolin wire (I'm not sure if the Stew-Mac one works well with that either).

[jim simpson]

Thanks Andrew - that's encouraging. I will be using it on med. and larger wire.

[Rroyd]

I've used a Dremel moto-tool with the supplied cutoff wheel to trim fret tangs, with the moto-tool clamped solidly, and holding the fret wire; it's easy to get a very clean and accurate trim.

[Joe Mendel]

These are a bit pricey, but work exceptionally well on larger fretwire. They don't do so well on smaller wire.
http://www.allparts.com/Fret-Nipper-p/lt-4247-000.htm
Plus, the cutters are replaceable, though I've never had a need to replace them.

[jim simpson]

Rroyd,
Sounds like a good solution and low cost alternative. I went to Radio Shack hoping I could pick up a nibbler to modify but they are only available online. I was in the mood to work on my refret so I used a dike to nip away the amount of the tang and then used my mini disc/belt sander to take down the extra material. The frets tended to get a little warm but it got the job and I had the neck refretted in no time. Hand filing the fret ends took most of the time. I leved the frets with levelling bar, will have to recrown a bit then make a new nut.

Joe,
That is an impressive nipper (and pricey!).

[Rroyd]

Jim,
I just kept a can of cold water on hand to dip the fret every few seconds to deal with the heat issue, not just for comfort, but because I wondered whether the heat might cause some sort of annealing and affect the durability of the finished fret, so I didn't let them get very warm.

[Joe Mendel]

Whoops, I posted the wrong link, here's the right one: http://www.allparts.com/Fret-Tang-Nipper-p/lt-4246-000.htm

[amowry]

Jim, if you have an Ace hardware near you, they may also carry a nibbler. In fact, it's the same one that Stew-Mac sells, just without the notch for the fretwire filed. It's a little more expensive than the Radio Shack one, but not nearly as expensive as the modified Stew-Mac version.

[Larry Simonson]

When I was fretting I discovered that the Stew-Mac nibbler needed some machining before it could handle traditional mandolin frets. So I devised a fret vice that held the fret and had a couple of limiters to prevent over filing. I just inserted the fret so it hung out a binding width and filed the tang till it hit the limiters. Worked very well.

[barrangatan]

I did a couple of amateur refret jobs earlier this year, and I simply held the fret wire down and filed off the tang on each end. By the end of it my hand was cramping up from struggling to hold the little fret wires in place. Good to know that there are better, and still affordable, tools out there for the 'weekend warriors'.

[Dick Hutchings]

I've used a Dremel moto-tool with the supplied cutoff wheel to trim fret tangs, with the moto-tool clamped solidly, and holding the fret wire; it's easy to get a very clean and accurate trim.

That's the way I did my first fret job. I've since bought the SM nibbler and I much prefer it. No setup, noise, heat or dust. It's also very fast.