Surrounded by the latest lasers, cutters, and press brakes, we sometimes overlooked, one of the most useful machines: the ironworker. With an Ironworker you can shear, notch, form, and punch holes in steel plate. If you currently saw, drill or bur steel plates on other machines, you might be wasting valuable time and money. For there versatility at relatively low-cost alone an Ironworking could be worth considering.

Punching

Using inexpensive punches and dies available in round diameters and other shapes, most ironworkers are designed for punching bar stock and heavy plate.
Of course, the punching you perform will depend on the tonnage of ironworker you select.

Notching.

The notching station usually has a rectangular coper, but you can change over to a triangular notcher, a pipe/tube notcher, bending attachments, or special tools like an attachment to notch a radius in flat bar. All these tools save time, eliminating the need for sawing or burning and the material cleanup that goes along with it.

Shearing.

Some machines come with an electrically activated cutoff gauge for shearing plate, angle, channel, and bar stock, so you won’t have to lay out and mark each part you shear. Once the gauge is set at the desired length, you need only slide the material and make contact with the gauge. This activates the shear without needing to step on the foot pedal. Such a setup increases cut accuracy and usually can be performed by one person.

Bending

Some ironworkers have bending stations as standard features. This means you can form heavy materials such as flat bar and angle on the ironworker and, in so doing, without an press brake. A bending station on the ironworker in some cases can help relieve capacity constraints in the press brake department.

The Ironworker With Automation

Adding full or semi automation to an Ironworker can greatly increase productivity in punching and shearing. For the punch station positioning works in both the X and Y dimensions.
A CNC positioning table effectively eliminates manual layout and increases accuracy to levels that you wouldn’t expect from an ironworker. At the shearing station, a CNC shearing and feeding system can shear flat bar into programmed lengths and quantities.

Sunrise Ironworkers

As the Swiss army knife of fabrication, the ironworker introduces a range of possibilities and at Lister Machine Tools we are proud to provide Sunrise Ironworkers. Sunrise Hydraulic Ironworkers are designed with multiple functions to save labor, time, energy and cost. This allows Sunrise to meet the diversified needs of the metal fabricating industry. Maximum efficiency and long life is guaranteed by using the latest manufacturing methods. Each work station is equipped with specially designed hold-downs to ensure safety while providing precision and ease of use. These ironworkers are the most economical and efficient machines in the industry for the manufacturing of metal products.
Sunrise ironworkers and punching machines come standard with a low pressure tool alignment mode. The operator can use the JOG mode to run the machine in low pressure and low speed for tool alignment, blade changes and maintenance operations. This greatly improves operator safety and prevents tool damage in case of mis-alignment.

For more information please see Sunrise Ironworker brochure or contact us to discuss the best Ironworker solution to suit your needs.