Thanks PM for helping choose new iron worker

I was in the market for a new iron worker and read every post I could find on iron workers over the last few months. I didn't have any questions that weren't already asked, so I just wanted to thank the forum for all the excellent the information, in particular Ries's many comments. I ended up getting a new Geka Bendicrop 50 and we're very happy with the decision, great machine so far. Thanks PM.

Needs pics!! But geka stuff is nice, just watch your fingers!

I don't need an ironworker now, but I could see a need for one in the future. I'm sure a lot of us would like to hear more about your selection process!

It was really a combination of the quality of the machine and features like the x-y table stops, having all stations always setup, and the automatic shear length sensor drove me to Geka. I found that on Geka and Piranha the cost of used was about 75% the cost of new, that's when you can find used ones that aren't beat to death.

We have two production runs that started benefiting as soon as the machine was wired up, plus we do one offs and prototyping and the Geka has already starting paying for itself there as well. So, after shopping the used market for far too long I took a deep breath and bought a new machine.

Care to share ruffly how much??

FYI don't need a iron worker??????, you don't know what your missing, if you do anything involving angle of flat steel strip you need it you just don't know it yet.

Adama, the machine was 15.5k with the both the regular rectangular and the triangle notchers and their tables.

On top of that I bought a couple of other accessories at the same time: two extensions for the length sensor and the large hole adapter shoe/set (up to 4.0" holes.) I really didn't like the idea of being limited on the hole sizes and our production run needed the extra length of the sensor.

Yep the geka that i use to use was bigger (2" round shear capacity), but it too had the large hole adaptor shoe bit, can remember changing it over, Though from memory we mainly used it for a 3" ish long slot. The tooling - punches are not as cheap as drill bits, but its just so damn fast punching holes. With the graduations on the tables its fast and productive to setup too. A iron worker is just one of those tools that’s hard to justify if you already have saws and drilling capabilities, but the time savings it gives you are enormous you do have one, sawing and drilling are just so damn slow in comparison!!

The length sensor was - is a real useful thing, so much faster than using a dumb stop. Lets you just focus on feeding it the strips your cutting. One thing we made - added was a dual height roller in-feed stand, made things a lot easier on larger - full length strips. Lower height for the straight shear, top height to feed the various profile shears. Add a sutable stack of stillages at the rear to catch the cut bits and it was a nice easy yet productive machine.