James recently mentioned being unable to buy a Milwaukee M18 cordless 14 gauge double-cut shear, model 2636. In his comment, James wrote:
Anyone know what happened to Milwaukee’s M18 14 Gauge Double Cut Shear (2636-20)? I went to order one last night, but it doesn’t seem to be available anywhere anymore. Everyone lists it as backordered with either no ETA, or a January/February 2020 guesstimate. The Acme Tool website doesn’t even list it at all. Quietly discontinued?
I checked around and found the same, that the shear was out of stock and either listed as either being backordered or with a Q1 2020 ETA.
In my opinion, this would usually be an indicator that a) a new or updated model was about to be released, or b) Milwaukee encountered a supply issue that was holding up production. Since there weren’t any new shears announced at Milwaukee’s NPS19 new tool show, it was more likely that a supply issue was holding up production. Supply issues are rare, but do happen on occasion, especially with more specialty tools.
We reached out to Milwaukee, who responded with the following:
Over the past several months, Milwaukee has experienced sustained supply disruptions with components of our M18 14 Gauge Double Cut (2636-20/22) and M18 18 Gauge Single Cut Shears (2637-20/22). We are diligently working towards a solution but due to these complications, these items will be placed on long term hold. These models will be available again in Q1 of 2020. However, both our 18 Gauge Double Cut models (M18 and Corded) will still be available.
So, there you have it. M18 14 gauge double cut and 18 gauge single cut shears won’t be available for a couple of months, but there are still supplies of 18 gauge double cut shears.
Supply disruptions are rare, but they do happen.
Buy Now(M18 18 gauge shears bare tool via Tool Nut)
Check back:
Buy Soon(M18 14 gauge double cut shear kit via Tool Nut)
Buy Soon(M18 14 gauge double cut shear bare tool via Ohio Power Tools)
Although unfortunate, it’s noteworthy that Milwaukee is upfront about the supply disruption and how long of a delay it might lead to. At least potential buyers have answer. There have been very numerous times over the years where a reader says “I can’t find [some tool] that I want to buy,” I can’t find it either, and brands only tell me “it’s only temporarily out of stock,” sometimes for months if not longer.
Update
If you need to get your hands on one, our CPO contact informed me that they still have 3 kits in stock.
Buy Now(2636-22 shear kit via CPO)
