[jamestan]

Hi everyone, what do you think is the dream machine to own for metal fabrication shop?

[keebler303]

Obviously depends on what kind of fabrication but a nice welder is probably required for most any fabrication.

Lots of guys drool over "ironworkers". I'd have little use for one.

A forklift is hard to do without once you have had one for a while.

nice band saw
Plasma table
shear
break
roll
punch press
mill
lathe
grinder
drill press

What kind of fabrication are you planning?

Matt

[underthetire]

A iron worker is great for smallish shops.

[fatal-exception]

Yeah, depends on what your specialty is, but if your doing structural steel, something like the PythonX is kind of the dream machine. We don't have one in our shop, but we do have a MDL1000 CNC beam drilling machine Ocean Avenger Beam Drill Line. That machine has cut our fab time way down for anything that needs holes.

If this was my shop, I would definately have a CNC plasma table, maybe not for all the plate work we get outsourced, but it would be nice for quick turnaround jobs.

It all depends on what you do....

[packrat]

The best thing you can have for any type shop is a creative mind between your ears.

[jamestan]

Thanks for the input guys, i am less of structural, doing mostly general fab work for marine & engineering industry, stuff like transformers , gangways, reducers etc. Have most of the stuff that Matt mentioned, but i am looking to upgrade the shop in the tech department, cnc lasers, cnc lathes , robotic arms for welding, along this line.

[fatal-exception]

The best thing you can have for any type shop is a creative mind between your ears.

I couldnt disagree with you more. Job shops do what the drawing says period. How you get there is up to you, but theres no creativity as far as the parts are concerned.

[Shane1234]

I couldnt disagree with you more. Job shops do what the drawing says period. How you get there is up to you, but theres no creativity as far as the parts are concerned.

I disagree with this statement. without half a brain in this business, you wont be able to fab without making a profit. you are over-looking the simple fact that not everyone can be creative on how to do the job better and faster, hence why some shops fail and some survive and some grow.

[wizard]

Obviously depends on what kind of fabrication but a nice welder is probably required for most any fabrication.

Lots of guys drool over "ironworkers". I'd have little use for one.

I've noticed this myself. Frankly I've always considered iron workers crude machines but I guess sometimes quick is the answer.

A forklift is hard to do without once you have had one for a while.

nice band saw

Depending upon the fabrication specialty a vertical band saw can be very useful in addition to a cutoff machine.

Plasma table

Plasma is good but often a water jet is better

shear
break
roll
punch press
mill

I can't imagine any serious shop getting buy without a Bridgeport. Most of the shops I've worked with have dozens lined up though a small shop can get buy fine with one or two.

While a Bridgeport is nice, a shop focused on frames that need accurate alignment can benefit much from a large horizontal or vertical mill. They are often used to machine welded on pads on frames or even to square up steel tube prior to welding. Obviously such a machine is highly optional based on exactly what one fabrication specialty is. In many cases it is like the fork lift you mentioned, once you have one it will be used often.

lathe
grinder
drill press

Here are some other thoughts.

An overhead gantry crane can be of huge advantage with machinery arranged properly to take advantage of it. Supplement this with smaller boom cranes to load smaller machines.

A fab shop should have a surplus of welders! Things can come to a halt or slow down quickly if one breaks down or you are in a position to benefit from using several at once.

Drill presses are of course very useful but for large drilling a radial arm machine is in order.

Stationary machinery is nice but don't dismiss the hand or portable tool possibilities. A line boring machine might be in order for example. Aids for oxy or plasma cutting are very useful. Like everything above you need to fit the tools to your expected workloads.

Sand blasting or wheelabradtor type machinery is very useful to prep for coatings. This is especially the case if your goal is to fab for the marine industries. Along side of this a painting booth maybe in order.

What kind of fabrication are you planning?

Matt

You ask what might be the most important question. Every time I see questions related to "fabrication" inevitably there is no indication at all as to what fabrication industry is being talked about. One guy might be thinking steel gates while another sky scrapers, in between we have people fabricating machine frames and trinkets for the tourism industries. And of course everyone considers himself an artist.

[allthumbz]

Great list! Anything else? (Chop saw, etc?)


Nelson

[TechGuy5002]

Manual Vertical Mill, with power feed and power drawbar
Manual Lathe
CNC vertical Mill with at least a fourth axis.
CNC Lathe
Workstation with commercial CAD/CAM Software
Surface Grinder
End Mill Sharpener
Sheet Metal Brake
Cold Saw
WaterJet table
Heat Treat Furnace
Powder Coat Oven
Small Casting Furnace to produce cast alum.\Iron parts
Lots and lots of accessory\tooling for the above.
Low cost but skilled machinists to do the hard stuff for you!

[Bob La Londe]

Whatever machine you could use, but don't have.

Practicality rules though. For example:
I'ld like to have a nice high speed CNC mill with an autotool changer, but for the price I can buy two or three similar machines without a tool changer, and I gotta be honest... Having two machines running and changing tools manually will produce a lot more than just having one machine running for most of the work I do in 3D.

A manual mill is nice to have. I use mine all the time for quick and dirty work. Funny since my first machine was a CNC mini desktop, and my second machine was a CNC mini desktop...

Actually since I am just an HSM hack, I'ld just like to get all my machines running and dialed in at the same time, and finish all my conversion projects. LOL. Then of course I'ld have to build or convert more machines. ROFL.

[Coxsteve]

My approach my seem strange at first but when considering Rules and Regulations as well sometimes it is more important for instance to put in a Paintshop because possibly if left too late new regulations may make it cost prohibitive to add one later or maybe Local Authorities may only allow existing operators to continue with a ban on any new operators due to EPA or other Regulations being brought into force locally.

That is thinking outside the square basically to show that all aspects have to be considered and that looking into other operators and Regulations in your area will also affect plans at times,Often subcontract can be a better option but at other times bringing outsourced jobs in house is worth the effort,Just remember to cover all aspects such as the ones above not just the Machinery and or tooling.

[surfside]

5 inches between the ears.

[keebler303]

5 inches between the ears.

Would 127mm be just as good?

[surfside]

Would 127mm be just as good?

Exactly same beast!