Cutting, notching and punching bed frame angle iron with ironworker

[MichaelP]

Has anyone attempted it on a regular basis? I have a bunch of old bed frames I use to make carts, posts, stands, tables, etc. from. As we all know, the mystery (=sh!tty and unpredictable) alloys often require use of abrasive wheels or flame/plasma vs. saw blades to cut the frame.

I'm going to get a Uni-Hydro 45-ton ironworker (3" angle capacity), and wonder if it's too risky to use it to cut, notch and punch holes in bed frames (the angle iron there is usually well below 3"). I'd hate to damage the cutting/notching blades and punches.

 

[cvairwerks]

Blades and punches in iron workers are wear items. They can be sharpened or simply replaced.

 

[jack stand]

I'm not 100% sure that I've had any on my iron worker being so thin, but I'd think that would be the reason not to be concerned about it.??

 

[slodat]

From what I’ve gathered over the years from various comments on the internet, bed frames are something of a spring steel..

I wouldn’t hesitate to put it in my ironworker. That’s what’s it’s for- working iron.

 

[Firebrick43]

From what I’ve gathered over the years from various comments on the internet, bed frames are something of a spring steel..

I wouldn’t hesitate to put it in my ironworker. That’s what’s it’s for- working iron.

Iron is not spring steel. All the ironworker manuals I have seen say they are only for mild steel/A36

 

[slodat]

Umm okay.. I use my iron worker almost exclusively for copper and aluminum. Carry on.

When working with hydraulic powered machines punching, bending, shearing, etc… a good amount of common sense, and understanding of the process, machine, and tooling is important.. of course.

 

[Firebrick43]

Umm okay.. I use my iron worker almost exclusively for copper and aluminum. Carry on.

You have a scotchman not a uni hydro

For soft materials it’s a matter of die clearance not die hardness that is a problem with spring steel.

My guess is that uni hydro doesn’t make reduced clearance die’s with sharper cutting edge geometry or their machines can’t hold the dies in position to deal with the reduced clearance that custom dies for softer metal require.

The manual for your scotchman states that it’s accurate enough for just 1/64” clearance in the dies if the material allows it.

When working with hydraulic powered machines punching, bending, shearing, etc… a good amount of common sense, and understanding of the process, machine, and tooling is important.. of course.

I agree. Which is why I pointed out and gave screenshots of several manufactures not recommending spring steel.
Scotch man doesn’t recommended it either unless it’s annealed

 

[Old tool guy]

For holes, could you use a hydraulic punch like electricians use?

 

[Firebrick43]

For holes, could you use a hydraulic punch like electricians use?

They are very limited on the thickness they can do and you have to drill a pilot hole for the center stud first.

 

[cannuck]

I am a novice ironworker (just got a 75 metric tonne Mubea, installed but not yet running) - but I have punched and sheared a hell of a lot of material with other tools. Bed frames can be anything from A36 to custom hard alloys, but think you will find that harder materials punch and shear much nicer than soft (especially gummy stuff such as 5k Al). Generally speaking: the thicker and harder the material is, the greater the die clearance. You need to go to a punch and die website and use clearance calculator to get the right answers, as we can only generalize at best.

As you probably already know: punches for iron workers have a center pilot so once you have machine set up to center punch in die (actually die around punch) you just lay out your holes with a center punch and put the point in center of punch in the mark/dimple

(on edit) looking through the thread does your intended punch not use standard 2" tooling?????? I would strongly suggest buying something used that does.

 

[cmandp]

If it were me and I was spending time, money and effort on buying and installing an ironworker, I wouldn't use mystery metal with it. Sounds frustrating if the material properties and results are changing constantly.

I'd think you'd be way ahead just buy a known alloy of steel bar stock, that's a small cost compared to the machine.

 

[txvwnut]

At some point in the bed frame manufacturing process a hole has to be made and I bet it was made with a punch press type of machine. Any of the iron worker type machines that any one of us could buy would most likely make a hole or a notch in bed frame mystery steel as it would probably be well under the max working capacity of the machine.