Same old drill, brand new tool

By Jenny Yu.  

Malco’s drill attachment, the TurboShear® Rotary Panel Cutter, makes jobs more ergonomic and efficient. 

In this Roofing Road Trips® episode, Austin Cash, senior new product development engineer for Malco Tools, spoke with Karen Edwards about one of the company’s newest innovations: the TurboShear® Rotary Panel Cutter.  

Malco has produced its TurboShear line of products for over 20 years, starting with the TS1, the first drill attachment shear. “That was a big engineering feat that improved ergonomics in the field. You take the hand snip out of the contractor, and you give them something that allows the drill to do the work,” Austin said. Since then, Malco has stayed committed to simplifying and improving the end user’s experience while expanding their product line to fulfill more applications. “We work on taking drill attachment solutions and making it so contractors can implement our products onto an existing tool they already own and have a new solution, a new tool.” 

The newest tool contractors have at their fingertips is the TurboShear Rotary Panel Cutter, a drill attachment designed to cut ribbed metal and vinyl roofing and wall panels with ease. “The thought process was, let's take this rotary shear, and it will roll over the panel as a drill attachment, which is our bread and butter,” Austin shared. “It's going to allow contractors to make those cuts more efficiently.” 

Compared to the traditional TurboShear, which offers a scissor action, the Rotary Panel Cutter showcases a rolling action, like a pizza cutter or can opener. “We have a stationary, non-driven disc on the bottom that freely spins, and then we have our drive wheel on the top,” Austin explained. “That drive wheel has serrations with gripping features, so that's what grabs the material and helps pull you up over those contours.”  

This self-advancing feature, along with its 22-gauge cutting capacity, allows for more efficient and precise cuts while also providing ergonomic benefits. “What you're doing is truly controlling the path that the tool is on,” Austin elaborated. “You don't have to hold it up because the material will naturally support itself. And then, you don't have to actually apply any forward pressure; the tool will, as you pull that trigger, naturally pull itself through the material.” 

This tool has already received raving reviews from customers who have used it to meet job site challenges, such as performing angled cuts at 45 degrees with precision. With the TurboShear Rotary Panel Cutter, the possibilities are endless. “Everyone uses these tools a little bit differently,” Austin said. “We try to design around known cases as well as we can, but the first time you put a tool in the contractor's hand, they might do something that you never thought of.” 

Listen to the podcast to learn more about the many uses of Malco Tools’ new TurboShear Rotary Panel Cutter!