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Ironworker Questions

790 views 5 replies 4 participants last post by  tubehead 
#1 ·
I am looking into buying an ironworker for my shop. i think it is going to make my life a whole lot easier and it will allow me to give my work a more"custom" look. I was talking to an old friend who has been building racecars his whole life he had a 90 ton unit and said it was entirely to big. He said you couldn't do sheetmetal with it. I'm not really into much sheetmetal but i guess it would be a plus. I usually like to buy overkill but maybe this time I shouldn't. I was looking at a 40 ton unit that seems compact. mainly all I work with is 3\16 and some 1\4 do you think a 40 ton will be sufficient? or should I go bigger.
 
#2 ·
I have a scotchman porta fab 45 and I love it. Plenty of power for 1/4" plate. I got the 12" brake which is awesome. The only thing I wish it did better was shear...it will only shear about 4-6" wide pieces with the combo tool it comes with. If you want to shear brackets and stuff on an angle there isn't enough room.
 
#6 ·
I have a Scotchman 4014. It has a 12" shear, I'm not sure you can get a 12" shear on the porta fab unit. I can punch a 1" hole in 1/2" plate. The pirana units are nice. They are almost double the price of a scotchman. I'm not sure why you would want to do sheet metal with an Ironworker, thats why they make sheet metal tools.
 
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