The Ironworker - An Engineering Wonder

Whether the fabricator's shop is large or small, the Ironworker is the backbone. The Ironworker isn't a single machine; it is five machines united into an engineering wonder. It has much more versatility than most people would imagine. The five working sections that are involved in the make-up of this machine are: a punch, a section shear, a bar shear, a plate shear, and a coper-notcher.

A number of the cheaper ironworkers are constructed to employ a fulcrum where the ram shakes back and forth, making the punch go into the die at a small angle. This normally leads to the erosion of the punch and die on the front rims. The higher quality machines integrate a ram which moves in a direct vertical line and employs modifiable gibs and guides to guarantee a constant traveling path. That gives more life to the tooling, and allows the punch to penetrate the die right in the middle in order to capitalize on the machine's total tonnage.

The bar shear generally comes set with slots for round and square bars. Reliable makers have made it easy to remove and replace blades with a channel, T-bar, and Jr. I-beam. To reiterate, the slides or rams of these better quality machines move vertically, and there is no rocking back and forth as with some cheaper models.

The section shear has the greatest cross sectional area out of the five working stations and that is where the high quality kinds will outshine the cheaper ones due to their higher capability and flexibility. As an example, when you have a section shear with 6" x 6" x 1/2" angle dimensions, the superior products will let the operator exchange the knives and substitute them with up to 6" channel knives. The machinist can add in the multi notched knives with many notches for smaller parts or put in flat bar knives with extra capacity in depth over the regular plate shear. This can be very appealing to conveyor system's manufacturers, whose operations require the cutting of a great deal of channels.

The plate shear must have a slide which moves up and down, too, so that the fall off pieces don't distort or bend. Many inexpensive ironworkers are equipped with a rocking ram, and are unable to shear a flat bar without causing it to deform excessively. An angle of attack can go anywhere from a small 7 degrees to a larger 13 degrees of rake. A high quality ironworker has a blade set at an angle of 2.5 degrees of rake. The difference this makes when it comes to shearing a good number of flat bars is enormous.

A rectangular coper is standard equipment on most ironworkers. The rectangular coper enables the cross joining of angles when you are coping the leg of angle iron. When you wish to build a frame, you should substitute the coper with the triangular notching accessory so that as you notch the arm of an angle, you can turn it to ninety degrees to make a frame. You have to make certain that the notching device has an even edge, so when you turn the angle, the substance flows smoothly and doesn't rip.