The machine used is called a plate shearing machine. The plate shearing machine may be foot powered (or less commonly hand powered), or mechanically powered. The plate shearing machine works by first clamping the material with a ram. A moving blade on the plate shearing machine then comes down across a fixed blade to shear the material. For larger plate shearing machine the moving blade may be set on an angle or "rocked" in order to shear the material progressively from one side to the other; this angle is referred to as the shear angle of plate shearing machine. This decreases the amount of force required, but increases the stroke. A 5 degree shear angle on plate shearing machine decreases the force by about 20%. The amount of energy used on the plate shearing machine is still the same. The moving blade on the plate shearing machine may also be inclined 0.5 to 2.5°, this angle of the plate shearing machine is called the rake angle, to keep the material from becoming wedged between the blades, however it compromises the squareness of the edge of the plate shearing machine. As far as equipment is concerned, the plate shearing machine consists of a shear table, work-holding device, upper and lower blades, and a gauging device. The shear table is the part of the plate shearing machine that the workpiece rests on while being sheared. The work-holding on the plate shearing machine device is used to hold the workpiece in place and keep it from moving or buckling while under stress. The upper and lower blades of the plate shearing machine are the piece of machinery that actually do the cutting, while the gauging device of the plate shearing machine is used to ensure that the workpiece is being cut where it is supposed to be. 

  The design of plate shearing machine tools is an engineering compromise. A sharp edge, strength and durability for the plate shearing machine are ideal, however a sharp edge is not very strong or durable so blades for metal work tend to be square-edged rather than knife-edged. Typical workpiece materials cut by the plate shearing machine include aluminum, brass, bronze, and mild steel because of their outstanding shearability ratings, however, stainless steel is not used as much due to its tendencies to work-harden.

 

   Other types of geometrical possibilities of the plate shearing machine include the squaring shear, angle shear, bow-tie shear and bar shear. All of these have many different uses and are all used regularly in certain manufacturing fields.