New Iron Worker is on the way

The new fab kit came in yesterday, with missing parts again of course... Now they are rounding up the rest of it. I went to put the table on and the squared center was off so the bolts wouldn't line up. Someday I'll get it all here and working.

I put the table on the mill and it is straightened up enough to go on and off the machine easily, so that part is done. Wiring is all figured out but 1 safety ground wire for the foot switch that I will know where they want it put today or tomorrow.

On the bright side the protractor is 1/4" thick, accurate, and uses t-slot nuts and hand wheels, it will make those angle cuts fast and easy. They are sending me another for my trouble in fixing the table. It will stay on the punching table instead of switching the one back and forth.

I also welded an 18mm impact socket on the end of the punching guard wrench so I wouldn't loose track of it lol.

I knew it would be an awesome machine once it was all made right. I sheared some 5/8" today and never even heard a strain from the machine, it's a monster for sure. Still a few things to do but at least it is in working order now.

I think it's in the spot it's gonna stay, for now. It has to be somewhere were you can get to all 4 sides. Just have to do a little rearranging in some other places and get everything situated, dad and I started on that today.

Playing with some lighting this morning. I found some magnetic 110V long goose neck led lights on Amazon with 3 lighting levels and they are touch activated on the light. They have double magnets and can be moved around wherever and they can just be wired into 1 leg in the control box. Now I won't have to hunt for a flashlight if the mark isn't so good lol.

I got to looking at the small wires on the plugs and didn't think much of dealing with some tiny wires in there. The I started thinking what if one goes bad, or what if I want to add more lights or other things, or what if I want to run something USB or charge a cell phone with it... No I still don't have a cell phone.

Most of you guys know me well enough by now that something cooler had to be done.

I had something that was a perfect fit on the lathe so I took it and ordered another one for it. It has an on off switch, surge protection, 5 outlets spaced for transformer plugs, and 3 USB ports. I think I may have the only iron worker that has 3 phase, 220V single phase, 120V single phase, and USB outlets all on board the machine and all portable.

Now I just need to find some more stuff to plug into all those plugs lol. Some lazer guides would be nice...

Well not to be nosey or anything but what the heck is that machine for or should i say what do you use it for?............. :cof4 :hungry

Basically it's a machine that can shear metal, punch holes, bend metal all in 1 machine. You can shear (or cut) a piece in this faster than you can even lock it in the band saw vise. It shears flat, angle, round, and square metal. You can make a hole faster than you can set it in the drill press vise or change the drill bit, let alone all of the extra bit sharpening and buying more drill bits as they get damaged. It takes only seconds to shear a piece, make a hole, bend a piece, etc. It basically gets a lot more done in a lot less time and cuts down on consumables like blades, drill bits, etc and pays for itself over time.

I made a quick vid this morning of it. Nothing fancy, just a piece of old steel and no marks to go by so you get the idea.

The 5/8" thick by 2" sitting on the machine is getting ready to be made into slot hitches. This machine will cut them and punch the holes in them faster than cutting just 1 piece on the band saw not counting the drilling and finishing.

Nice to see it working Gene. Congratulations.

I didn't know this was their 1st design iron worker... Now I'm working with the National Sales Manager as a go between with the factory on redesigning the material clamp for the shear that doesn't work like it should. No one at the factory speaks english and his is a little broken but we've gotten used to each other. One thing I will say, they are working hard to make everything right.

You can see in the pics the quick release clamp is a nice idea but doesn't work based on material width and thickness, and once you get the material to clamp where it works you loose your fence that is squared to the blade. It also doesn't clamp all of the material, like if you are shearing something up to 14" which can cause distortion in the metal. The rear stop is easy, it just needs to be longer. They asked me to redesign it and they would pay for the parts and time but I told them I didn't have the time, and they have more access to parts and people to get it done anyway. I gave them an idea of what it should be and they have already started on it. They are however going to run their final design past me then send me prototype parts to try out before they make the change to make sure it's a good fix.

On a good note, I just stuck a piece of cold rolled 3/4" in the original stop bracket to reach where I was working for a quick stop. Then I sheared 1/2 a stick (10') of 5/8' x 2" for the slot hitch tongues (14 of them) in less than 3 minutes. That would be about the same time that it would take to cut 2 of them on the big band saw, I was very impressed.

Punching 13/16" holes in 5/8" thick steel and I can barely hear a strain, what a beast lol. :surprised