cutting sheet metal

I want to get started fixing the sheet metal on my windshield and need to cut new panels out of 18 gauge sheet metal to be welded on the bent square tubing frame.
As you all know, it's mostly straight but there are several curves.
I'm looking at two tools so far and my budget is maximum $50.
I'm planning on going to Harbor Freight today to buy some tools and would pick one of these up also if they sound good.

What does everyone think of these metal shears?
I haven't used one of these before.
Do these make clean curved cuts? If so, How tight of a radius?
This also looks like it would give me better control of the cuts?.
I'm also assuming that I can use some kind of straight edge to guide it for straight cuts.


What about a nibbler? I haven't used one of these also. It seems like this would handle curves better than the shears above but I don't know.
Can a straight edge be used to guide this for straight cuts?


I also have a jigsaw. In terms of speed, how much faster are the two tools above over the jigsaw?

So far I've been using my angle grinder with a cut-off wheel to cut sheet metal.
It works but there are several things I don't like. One is the metal dust produced.
I prefer to work inside the garage but stored in there also are books, magazines, cardboard boxes, and misc products made of paper that get a good sprinkling of metal dust.
Also with a cut off wheel, I always use the grinder wheel afterwards to clean the edges, especially curved edges, and that produces more metal dust kicked in the air.
I would like to do less edge clean up because frankly, it's not fun for me.

Thanks

 

the hand sheer is your best bet for curved cuts. not sure what radius but any tight bend is gonna have some distortion that can be worked out with a hammer later.

the nibbler is great for odd shaped cutout areas in the middle of a sheet or working up to a line but useless for cutting a long line.

the cutoff wheel is useful for long straight cuts but heats the edge of the sheet where cut and can give you a warp to play with.

for shorter cuts both curved and straight, I always use a set of left and right snips.

$.02

 

The nibbler is nasty, in the respect that the pieces that it spits out, are very sharp, and get stuck in the bottom of your shoes. if you use one of these, it's best to do the nibbling over something that will catch the little steel fingernail clippings.

Like anything else, you get what you pay for. I had a nice Makita 16 ga. nibbler. It worked very well, and you could easily get replacement punches, and bottom dies for it. But the Makita's are like $350.00, or so.

If you buy a cheapie, keep your fingers crossed.

I actually sold my Makita nibbler, after about 10 years for $110.00 buy-it-now. It was sold in 1/2 hour!

 

Thanks for the input

I ended up buying the shears. It was on sale for $30 and was worth it. The cuts were pretty clean and fast. I was fabricating the new sheet metal for the windshield. I wanted to work with the scrap sheet metal I had stocked and none of them were big enough pieces. So I ended up dividing the entire windshiled frame into four parts and will just weld them together.

 

I admire your gumption! Keep us posted!

Rich.