USED SHEET METAL MACHINERY

If You Need a Notcher, Flanger, Roll Form Machine or Bender — You Have Arrived!

If you were ever in need of any of the types of machines listed above, what kind of business would you be in? If we were to list a couple more of the kinds of equipment used in this type of work, you would have guessed it right off. How about a used sheet metal brake, a folding machine, press brake, sheet metal shear? You guessed right, we would be talking about a company in the sheet metal fabrication business. Owing to the fact that there are almost as many variations of the term "sheet metal fabrication" as there are machines specific to their design, the list of different types of sheet metal fabrication machines is considerable, no doubt about it. If we are going to run with this concept, you would have to include, let's see — an automobile body panel is said to be made out of sheet metal, right? Okay, so you would have to include those gigantic body panel hydraulic presses, that when chained together using progressive dies can produce a finished body panel by the time the part comes out the other end. These integrated presses, mostly served by robots, where re-positioning or re-orienting of the panel is necessary, can be hundreds of feet in length. That would be one end of the spectrum of sheet metal benders; the complete opposite end of that spectrum is where we find a whole world of hand-operated sheet metal fabrication tools. (I've got a question, did the hand tool of a specific task — say like flanging — beget the machine of the same title or was it the other way around?)

What Is the History of Sheet Metal, When Did It all Start?

Should we pull a Ronald Reagan on ya right now? Remember when he would look up with a little twinkle in his eye and say, "I'm glad you asked me that question," and then proceed to explain like a comfortable old grandpa why we need to obliterate Communism, etc.? Well, we're going to run with that. Funny you asked, as there is quite a history behind and around sheet metal right from its inception. As it was back in the early 1800s, if you made a considerable discovery or came up with an invention that was worthy of note, one had to be quite secretive about such a discovery right through the process of getting the thing patented. You see there were a lot of people in those days that had no problem stealing another’s idea or invention. The best example of this was later in that century when two household names battled over what kind of electrical power was America going to run on by the names of Westinghouse and Edison. Lots of skulduggery going on behind the scenes, but let’s get back to sheet metal.

The Inception of Sheet Metal Helped to Write the History of the Twentieth Century

The history of sheet metal pretty much follows the history of steel itself. For a couple hundred years man had been able to cobble together a mild steel mix referred to at first as "wrought iron." Since those early attempts to produce steel, man had not been able to mix enough at one time to make steel the go-to material that it is today. Then in steps a gent from central Pennsylvania by the name of Henry Bessemer. Old Henry took care of the problem of not being able to make enough steel at one time by inventing a blast furnace unlike anything of previous design. The Bessemer blast furnace would mix as much as 50 tons a batch of anything you wanted to make in it. Once the word got around about the availability of steel, its use throughout our society began to skyrocket. As the amount of steel in use began to increase so did the metal fabrication equipment designed to work it. In the case of sheet metal availability, sheet metal was a bit late to the party as the mills experimented with different processes to produce steel that thin. Numerous attempts to create and consistently run the first rolling mill dated back as far as the early 1600s. Around about the 1850s a company brought a sheet of mild steel to the show that was some 6.3 meters in length and one meter wide. This sheet was 11 mm thick or roughly 7/16-inch thickness. Innovations began to come quick and in a hurry! There was, it seemed, an explosion of new equipment meant to work this new sheet metal product. Soon sheet metal was showing up on building roofs, side panels, metal boxes of all description. Sheet metal had finally arrived.

What Kind of Sheet Metal Machines Are There, and Who Has Them?

Let’s say you wanted to race motocross at the highest level and compete with the factory teams peg for peg and win the world championship. Wouldn’t you go to a specialist that concentrates on ultra-sophisticated souped up dirt bikes capable of winning a championship? Of course you would — ya gotta have the best hardware you can get your hands on. Well, that is where a company like Bud's Machine Tools comes in real handy. With our knowledge of all things fabrication and extensive experience with fabrication machines, our ability to offer our customers either used machines (if that’s all their budget allows), or new machines (if our customers prefer) is second to none. Over the considerable number of years we've been involved in the fabrication machinery sales business, we have encountered just about everything imaginable when it comes to installation of new or used fabrication machines. Additionally, we do not disappear or abandon our customers after the installation. We offer both stock parts and tooling as well as items from certain aftermarket suppliers of tooling with whom we have dealt with for decades. We will support your machine long after the newness begins to fade. Bud's Machine Tools — where the customer always comes first!

Used Sheet Metal Brakes from Bud's

The addition of sheet metal brakes and leaf brakes to your shop will really improve your manufacturing options. Custom bend jobs including channels and box forming can be added to your production capabilities. Additionally, finishes such as hemming can be done on these machine, enabling you to create finished products that don't need to be sent out for additional processes prior to delivery to your customer. As you expand your tooling stock, radius nose bends and other curved finishes can also be produced on your shop floor. The sheet metal bending power to be found in the used leaf brakes available from Bud's Machine Tools is a great way to improve your in-house capabilities and production options and buying quality used machines will protect your bottom line.

For Used Sheet Metal Brakes (Leaf and Box and Pan Brakes) Where Do You Go?

In the day of the highly sophisticated computer-controlled machine tool serviced by robots, one can come to appreciate the simplicity of the manual mechanical leaf brake (often called a straight brake) and the pan brake (sometimes referred to as the box and pan brake, or a finger brake). What do we mean by "manual mechanical" anyway? Well, as suggested in the opening sentence, we now live in a modern tech-filled world where almost nothing is manually operated anymore. So it seems kinda odd that you would find thousands of these machines spread all across our great nation. Why the popularity of manual brakes? What’s so good about these simple machines? The answer is "just about everything about them." They are "man-powered," which takes the likelihood of breakdown pretty much out of the equation. The brakes, due to a clever counterweight design, are almost effortless to operate. Some of these brakes are as wide as 12-foot-long with a capacity of 12 gauge and lighter. Many of these simple brakes can deliver as much as 120 degrees angle of bend from the horizontal plane. A great feature of these used sheet metal brakes is their capability to do corner bending, and in fact (in some instances), they can do a four-sided boxes, all by hand! The mechanical metal brake, whatever style fits your need, can increase your production and decrease the number of times you might have to go outside your company for outside services.

Our Metal Fabrication Machines Include All Types of Used Sheet Metal Brakes

At Bud's Machine Tools, brakes are our specialty. This is especially so with press brakes and any decedent of an automated press brake, but we cut our teeth selling leaf and finger brakes in the sheet metal market. We stock them new or used and have inventory going in both directions day in and day out. On our website we list the current machinery on hand at any given time. If you see something you like, please call us right away to confirm the availability of that exact machine. As equipment comes and goes sometimes it’s somewhat difficult to keep the machines on our website current. Over the years we have seen just about every kind of bending machine that has been in a production environment! Sometimes the lexicon of sheet metal brakes gets a bit convoluted. People from different parts of the country, like the West Coast, call the same type of brake a different name than say a guy from the Northeastern part of our country. Regardless, we have seen them all: straight brakes or leaf brakes or hand brakes; pan brakes or box and pan brakes or finger brakes. Over the years we have sold machines as small as an 18-inch bench brake up to a 12-foot brake with the capacity of 12-gauge steel.

Advantages of Used HVAC Equipment

We offer common types of used "H.V.A.C." (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) equipment, including Groovers, Collar Machines, Elbow Machines, Nibblers, Stitch and Spot Welders, Cutting Tables, Roll Formers, and Coil lines. Used machines are a good way to reduce operating costs and the burden on business budgets. By purchasing used HVAC machines, sheet metal shops can maintain fabrication costs without having to escalate the prices on their services and products. Another feature of purchasing used, refurbished machines is ready availability and therefore minimal loss of customer orders due to down time. Rather than reinvesting in new equipment for HVAC ductwork fabrication at higher costs, used equipment is available for budget-conscious business owners. When it's time to replace existing equipment, please review the products we have in inventory, then call us for a price quote. One or our expert sales staff will provide details on pricing and specifics on brand -name equipment. We offer a complete line of used fabrication equipment, so don't delay — call today.

HVAC — A Cornerstone in Metal Fabrication

HVAC fabrication equipment is a major part of most sheet metal fabrication businesses. When any of these machines need to be replaced, the cost can create major budget problems. This is especially true if the sheet metal fabricated is for custom-engineered projects that require compliance to a specified engineering design. There are two common types of materials from which HVAC ductwork may be fabricated: aluminum and galvanized steel. In many industrial processes, HVAC equipment needs to be fully compatible to create custom HVAC systems with non-standard configurations. To the untrained eye, HVAC ductwork may appear to be a relatively horizontal network of ducts connected to the heating/cooling unit(s), but it is usually much more intricate than that. HVAC equipment is used to create a ducting network with a plenum (a dedicated space in the structure of the building for HVAC) and multiple elbows, straight and/or curved pieces of ducting, depending on the location and design of the ductwork. For sheet metal fabricators, this can mean purchasing several major types of HVAC equipment. This equipment is used on a regular basis to fill customer orders. Over time, the equipment begins to wear and requires immediate replacement. And that's where Bud's comes in.

HVAC Job Security for the Next Two Hundred Years?

You heard that right folks, a major fabrication industry magazine recently did a survey of some 1000 environmental and civil engineers with this main question: What is the future of heating and cooling our spaces as we progress further into the twenty-first century? Regardless of whether we are referring to single-family homes or humongous commercial factories, it was agreed that they all will require some form of ductwork. The group however was somewhat split on how the air of the later 21st century would get from point A to point B. Many opined that the material that most duct work of the future would be made of would no longer be steel. So ductwork will still be here for several more generations, and then perhaps we’ll do it some other way.

Doesn’t Buying a Used HVAC Fabrication Machine Make Sense?

Purchasing used sheet metal tools, sheet metal equipment or sheet metal fabrication tools, whatever you call them, makes sense for a variety of reasons. First, and perhaps the most important reason, for say a new start-up business, or a company just starting a new capability, is cost. Used metal fabrication tools are a bargain when compared to the cost of new machines. The beautiful thing about these pieces of equipment is that they are relatively simple machines to maintain or even rebuild. Fresh dies and tooling, along with readily available replacement parts, keep these producers going year after year. With all the variations in the different means of sealing the ductwork, plus the differing corner types and assorted flange types, one’s head may begin to spin slightly before the realization hits you! You better get some help! You better talk to someone who can help you sort through all the different styles of used HVAC fabrication machinery and see if you can figure what will work the best for you.

What’s Out There I Can Choose from, What Should I Need?

In the world of HVAC, the kind and size of the jobs you intend to go after really dictate what types of sheet metal benders and follow-on production machines you’ll need. If you were talking about a company big enough to handle large high-rise projects you would need the utmost in production output, on the other hand if you’re specialty is residential installations, then your needs would differ considerably from the hi-rise guy. At any one given time, Bud's Machine Tools could have several different used HVAC machines in inventory, ready to ship out. We often have a “smattering” of different machines on hand, from Pittsburgh seam closers to coil lines, to corner insertion machines. If Pittsburgh is not your bag do not fret, could we help you to look at a drive cleat seam former? Don’t like that look? How about Acme double seam or Whisper-Loc seam forming machine? We see a fair number of these and similar ductwork seam forming machines come through our facility on a regular basis. Among the other assorted pieces of equipment and specialized HVAC machines we will see on a frequent basis are: Corner-Matics, benders, brakes, A.G. rollforming machines, collaring machines of various sizes, power vises, punchers, groovers, cleaters, pipe makers, pin spotters. These are just a small sample of the different and widely varied assortment of the more well-known duct making machines that we've had come through our door in the past. One thing you should do, if you see a machine on our website that you are interested in, you should call or e-mail us just to make sure we still have that machine in stock. We do from time to time, no matter how we try to stay current, have a machine get purchased and another customer take up interest in it before we can tag it as sold.

Who Do You Trust to Sell You Used HVAC Fabrication Machinery?

Bryan "Bud" Jorgenson learned the art of machinery sales at his father Roger's side. Roger Jorgenson built his reputation in the Intermountain West by following a simple principle: extend more service and support than your customer expects. At Bud's Machine Tools we try to follow that example as the next generation continues the tradition of meeting customer needs with the best in new and used metalworking equipment. We have spare parts or know where to get them A.S.A.P. Our part department also sells the best quality aftermarket spare tooling for those machines that require replacement tooling. We have a full complement of highly qualified service engineers at our disposal that can come to your facility and repair your machine onsite (and on short notice if necessary). Always choose Bud's Machine Tools, where you can get the right machine at the right price with the right support, each and every time.

All Things Sheet Metal

Frequently we will also have in stock larger accessories that go on different larger fabrication machines. Sheet metal machinery will often have the capabilities to support these major accessories such as slitters, perforators, and optional punching or notching add-ons. On occasion, we will have full sets of press brake tools, sometimes the upper set, sometimes the lower die, or both. Hand tools will sometimes find their way into this category. It’s frankly surprising to see what kinds of hand tools are or have been used throughout the years. We’re talking a hand tool equivalent for just about any kind of modern sheet metal fabrication tool or machine tool that is currently in use today. How about shears? There are hand nibblers in use every day. What about brakes? There are hand powered and operated small brakes and folding machines. Any of these items could end up here.

Okay, I Bought a Sheet Metal Fabrication Machine — What Happens Next?

Well, hopefully you brought it from Bud's Machine Tools. If you did, here is what happens when you grace our presence with your trusted purchase order. First your P.O. is put into our system by a group of dedicated folks who have done these activities for years, not months. Your payment is received and booked immediately. The trucking company is called and scheduled for the pick-up of your chosen machine. Your machine is then carefully loaded, likely onto a flatbed trailer (unless requested otherwise). Now our commitment to complete customer satisfaction does not stop there. At the customer’s request, we will install the machine tool, level it, conduct training for all shifts, and not leave our customer's place of business until all associated parties are up to speed. Our goal is to make sure every customer is very satisfied with both our products and our service. Bud's Machine Tools — Where we put the customer first, each and every time.