The Sheet Metal Shop .Com

Sheet Metal Machinery Talk - slitter question
drizz1234 - Jan 21, 2008 - 02:02 PM
Post subject: slitter question
because of budget and a small shop size i was wondering if skipping a 8 ft shear for now and buying a slitter to use with my 52" shear would work for me? i never had an opertunity to use one and i dont cut a lot of big pieces.i few 8 ft ducts here and there but mostly 4 or 5 ft duct.
BobLuland - Jan 22, 2008 - 12:56 AM
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drizz I ran my shop for fifteen years with a 16ga slitter and my hands as a shear. Worked just fine. Then I got old and lazy and learned how to spend money on automation but now matter how much I spent. I came down to a neanderthal with a hammer in his hand. On the other hand if your going to purchuce a second hand shear be cautious. If those castings have cracks theres no replacing them if its from 70 and down. Shears are the one thing that are insanly priced for what you get. Bob
MattM - Jan 22, 2008 - 02:15 AM
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We only recently last year put aside a slitter that sat between two 11 foot tables and had a four foot base pad to run metal across. The reason we retired it was because the schetchl 10' shear we got six or seven years prior was that much handier.
drizz1234 - Jan 30, 2008 - 02:34 PM
Post subject:
what do you mean by strech?
MattM - Jan 31, 2008 - 01:21 AM
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Schetchl is a german manufacturer. You probably heard of Schetchl's Autobrake 2000 product, too. Roper Whitney resells their products here in the states under their own Roper Whitney badges.
rothalion - Feb 01, 2008 - 02:10 AM
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Schechtl sells under Roper's name? What? Is this since the Roper switch to Cadalac (sp) that took place mid last year. My Roper Auto Brakes are nothing like the Schectls. Neither is my Roper Shear which is the third one I have used over the years.
I'm confused! I saw both at conventions...Is this new? And why would Schechtl just not sell with their own name? Again is this the whole roper/cadilac union? I'm not very happy with my current Auto brake 2000. Its about 2 years old and while it was possibly mis handled before I returned to work I wonder about its quality. My original was a better machine. This one is just well quirky! Enlighten me please!

Oh about the slitter...if at all possible eliminate it and get a shear. Slitters are just so slow. For our shop unfortunatly speed and production take precedent.Sad
MattM - Feb 01, 2008 - 03:10 AM
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I'm not sure about the Roper Whitney-Cadillac issues. I just know we have an Autobrake 2000 that was manufactured in Germany by the literature yet is sold by Roper Whitney here in the states.

One tip to using a sheer like the Schechtl. We set up a heavy duty cart with nice smooth wheels (castered on one side, fixed direction wheels on the opposite) that is approximately 8' long and around 40" wide that sits even with the sheer's platform. This allows one man to load all the stock he needs from the shelves, cut stock, and put the stock up on the Autobrake. You preferably want the brake set up directly across from the sheer with plenty of room to spin a cart around end for end. (The sheer catches the drop on a fixed-wheel cart that runs in-out from underneath the sheer directly back at the operator. If the brake is straight out then one man can pull the cart over and unload it himself easy enough.) This allows one man to resupply the cart and sheer stock sizes while another man runs the brake. For that kind of money you don't want the machines idle.

And rothalion, I agree the newer Autobrake 2000 computer is a pile of confusion. I like the nice layout of our older model that is a simplified display of 8 program lines. (You can actually do a 100 lines using this layout, just the last line is used to view all of the lines past #7.) The only advantage of the newer Windows XP-based model is the ability to save programs on a flash device and build them at a workstation. Quite frankly it only takes five minutes to program the most complicated programs on our older model using our handbook. I can't imagine the number of distractions you'd run into trying to lay out the same program on a desktop and the transition time necessary to cold swap flash cards.
Gladwin-Omaha - Feb 01, 2008 - 04:12 AM
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Matt, your Autobrake 2000 was made by Cidan and sold under Roper Whitney's label. Cidan has since branched off on their own here in the states.
MattM - Feb 02, 2008 - 04:15 AM
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Maybe it was made by Peterson, but Cidan was just formed in the 2007 year according their company info. Smile

It looks very similar to some of their products. Perhaps it was made by a subsidiary. Or maybe the reason so many manufacturers are making similar products is because the parts are all coming from the same locations. Surely there were more than 1,000 of these machines made per year. One thousand is the total production of all heavy equipment that Cidan seems to produce at an annual rate; according to the information on their website. But its really not important. I do like both machines we use because two men do what three or more did previously as far as slitting, layouts, and fabrication.
Behappy - Feb 17, 2008 - 03:34 AM
Post subject: slitter question
drizz1234 wrote:

because of budget and a small shop size.


I have "concerns about stuff made overseas" but......
Is the tinknocker stuff so bad???

What I mean will a Tn slitter last until we get bigger to invest in something better???
Gladwin-Omaha - Feb 19, 2008 - 10:11 PM
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I would be cautious with those slitters. We have had a few customers who purchased those strictly based on price and have had to replace them.

"The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten"
Behappy - Feb 20, 2008 - 01:30 AM
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Gladwin-Omaha wrote:

I would be cautious with those slitters. We have had a few customers who purchased those strictly based on price and have had to replace them.

"The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten"


Thank You for your honesty!
Mctinner - Feb 29, 2008 - 01:30 AM
Post subject:
MattM wrote:

Schetchl is a german manufacturer. You probably heard of Schetchl's Autobrake 2000 product, too. Roper Whitney resells their products here in the states under their own Roper Whitney badges.


Matt, I have read many of your post and they seem to be very imformative. This is very interesting, so I did some research or attempted to. It looks like an awsome machine for sure, i'd love to see it in real time. What bothers me a bit is the fact that they sell you as it is manufactured by Roper Whitney when infact it seems to be an import...not saying all imports are all bad, but why hide it.

http://www.machinestock.com/site/msdata ... 77&lang=uk

If you watch their Autobrake2000 video on their website - they make full claim to the design? Did they really design this machine?

They also claim Roper Whitney doesn't sell machines that come preassembled from other sources?

Why also is the image of the orion on their video still Windows95? Is this the latest software they use with this autobrake.

They say "Importers salesman come and go" This is kind of a strange statement? I don't care to get into import /export arguments, but if you're going to import machinery and wipe your name over it, that's a slap in the face for the Americans that are put out of work from the onslaught on imported machinery.

I'd like to see pictures of the production line of this Autobrake in their plant?
klingfab - Jun 02, 2008 - 01:11 AM
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You need to look in to a shopmaster by engle sheetmetal, It has two slitters on a 4x10 or 5x10 table. You use magnets to hold down the metal and the slitters travel down the table on a track, one in either direction. It also has a notcher on the end for noching straight duct and other patterns, It also has three racks built under it for storage of three different metal gauges, each shelf will hold at least 70 sheets of metal. I use mine all day for straight duct, fittings, drain pans, shrouds, 10' hanger straps.
the more you use it the more stuff you will figure out how to make on it. totally worth every penny!!!!!!
MattM - Jun 03, 2008 - 05:50 AM
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Mctinner,

I only heard it hearsay about a year ago when we needed to move our autobrake, never could confirm it. On their website Schechtl claimed to manufacture their machines, which in Germany is a claim you can only make under the strictest sense. R-W website claims "Based in Rockford, Illinois, Roper Whitney manufactures most of its products right here in the USA..." In today's world 15% stateside assembly is all you need to badge Made in the USA, a much lower standard. Schechtl seems to own the technology on the computer, the servo table, and the foot pedals common to the products.

Examine the max family machines from a few years back and their accessories, programming pad, and the general assembly sure look identical to the R-W's autobrake 2000 family from the same time period. Today they look somewhat different on the machines, but still are awfully similar to outright dismiss the idea. R-W nowadays has their "Kombi" blade - a patent protected invention - which is not on the Schechtl machines.

Other than what I've heard in hearsay I can offer no proof. Hell, I could be wrong. Smile
rothalion - Jun 11, 2008 - 04:41 AM
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Wow weird stuff. My Roper won't do some of the stuff a Schechtl will do. Like the material table being able to pull back allowing work to be inserted withouy flipping. Also the Schectl I saw allowed for adjustment end to end to compansate for lack of squareness in work, or as I have to do brake a piece off of two sides.... The back guage fingers are completely different or at least ther e were when I saw the machicne...they popped out if the backguage crashed(which should not happen often) and could be popped back in. The Roper just annihalates the fingers. I prefered the Schectl.

As for Roper Auto brake 2000 I hate this computer beast I have now! It beats the hell out of a hand brake physically but its flakey. The programming is flawed and the save sequences are redundint. I also don't think it stands up to its claim to be a 16 Ga. machine. I like the non computer screen version better. Sure its a bit more head work for the operator but who cares...it was stronger more accurate and had better adaptabilty for repetitive proraming.
MattM - Jun 14, 2008 - 04:28 AM
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Are you adjusting the clearance of the blades to match the thickness of the metal? You have spindles at either end to move the lower jaw in and out. I believe for 16 gauge you set it around '3.5' and its around '2.5' on the 22-26 gauge materials. It is critical you set this clearance or you'll mangle the jaw mechanisms.
Mctinner - Jun 18, 2008 - 11:11 PM
Post subject:
MattM wrote:

Mctinner,

I only heard it hearsay about a year ago when we needed to move our autobrake, never could confirm it. On their website Schechtl claimed to manufacture their machines, which in Germany is a claim you can only make under the strictest sense. R-W website claims "Based in Rockford, Illinois, Roper Whitney manufactures most of its products right here in the USA..." In today's world 15% stateside assembly is all you need to badge Made in the USA, a much lower standard. Schechtl seems to own the technology on the computer, the servo table, and the foot pedals common to the products.

Examine the max family machines from a few years back and their accessories, programming pad, and the general assembly sure look identical to the R-W's autobrake 2000 family from the same time period. Today they look somewhat different on the machines, but still are awfully similar to outright dismiss the idea. R-W nowadays has their "Kombi" blade - a patent protected invention - which is not on the Schechtl machines.

Other than what I've heard in hearsay I can offer no proof. Hell, I could be wrong. Smile


Thanks Matt !
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