universal ironworker

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good morning, iam going to write my 3rd level millwright exam in a few weeks and have need some help with the welding part. i have never worked with or even been near a unversal iron worker and there are several questions about them on the test. there are some on saftey and the maching functions normally preformed on it. any insite is very much appreciated Bill
Reply:Hello Bill, the first thing you might do is go to some of the manufacturers sites for information on the various models and their functions/capabilities. There are basically two types of ironworkers, mechanical and hydraulic, the mechanical models are pretty much phased out these days and the hydraulic units are predominant. Although, there are still plenty of the mechanical units out there in service. Check out: GEKA, Mubea/Bender, Piranha, Edwards, Buffalo, Scotsman, there are plenty of others too, I just can't remember them off the top of my head right now. They generally punch holes, shear sheet and bar stock, shear angle, T's, channel, round stock, square stock, some have bending capabilities incorporated into their designs as well. Not all machines have the capabilities that I have listed above, some may only have portions of these capabilities. Good luck on your tests and best regards, Allanaevald
Reply:a rule of thumb for punchng holes with ironworkers is to remember the punch to die clearances, always have a 3/32 larger die to punch for punching holes. when punchng thicker plate you might step it up to a 1/16 larger die to punch clearance. never punch though plate larger than the thickness of the punch you are useing and make sure the die is not upsidown. working in a fab shop i have seen some guys grab the same size die to punch and the punch shatered. if you ever get the chance to use them they a a great aset to any shop just respect the machine or the machine will bite back and you wll be missing a digit.If you like my stuff you can find me on Facebook.  https://www.facebook.com/theangryanv...ngryanvilforge