More on Ironworkers: Scotchman Vs. Uni-Hydro

Not to belabor this subject, but I do have one more question as I get closer to a machine that I can afford:

The Uni-Hydro supposedly differs from the scotchman (45-14 vs 5014CM) in one important way, which is that shearing and all other actions are purely vertical and therefore create less deflection on the material (basically, they supposedly leave a cleaner better cut). Does anyone have experience with this? is it true, or just sales/marketing? and as far as the machines go, any opinions on one versus the other?

Thanks again for your indulgence,
Gal Bar-or/Wilson WY

I'm not familiar with a Uni-Hydro so I can't really compare but I do have a 1980 5075 Scotchman. The 50 is tonage and on mine the 75 I believe is 7.5" depth on the punch throat. The 5014 should be 50 ton 14" shear.
I have no problem with my shear cutting straight. I have the 14" shear on mine. I have cut 1/2" X 6" and was amazed, it cut it like it was butter! I expected to hear/see a large BANG! But nothing. Same with punching, 1/2" hole in 1/2" steel and barely a bump. Same with angle. I know a guy with a Edwards 55ton and when he is cutting angle or punching I can hear the bang 200 feet away. I don't know why his is so noisy but it can't be good for the machine.
If you need close to precision cuts you need to set up guides to keep material square. And if you are running parts you need to set up a stop to get fast cuts. I sometimes clamp my metal to the feed table to get a cut that I want. Not because of movement but to guarranty the cut I want.
I've said it before in other posts, I'm very happy with my Scotchman. When I got it 4 years ago I called them about an owners manual. They sent me one with a parts break down for free. They still have parts support for mine too.
I had a Buffalo Mechanical Ironworker before this one and they charged me $60. for a so called manual that wasn't specific to my model and had a lot of useless crap info thrown in. I was happy the day I bought that machine and much happier the day I sold it! Who wants to count their fingers after everytime they step on the peddle.

My buddy has the Uni-Hydro and I don't think you'd be disappointed with it. We shear a lot stuff on it. His has the in-feed and out-feed tables on it.

The following comments are included to be complete and not meant to disway you in any way. I don't like the in-feed stock clamp on the shear. Takes too long to adjust and too many times you shear without adjusting it and wish you hadn't. The pedal is too small and always in the wrong location. His got un-osha'd to a wider pedal that wraps around the side.

IF you are buying used what about tooling? I would go with the machine that came with more tooling.

starbolin