That is a perfectly understandable question. But to be candid, it’s also a pretty ignorant one – at the very least, it’s a question asked before taking all the facts into account. Consider at least the following:

• Accuracy. If you don’t read any farther into this blog post, you will at least have hit the single most important factor to consider, bar none. Sure, you could go with a gently used mechanical press brake over a CNC hydraulic press brake, which is technically a faster machine. But that mechanical press brake won’t have CNC back gauging and a range of other digital features to give you first part accuracy. And that rocker arm press brake may sound like a good deal, but as we covered here, it just can’t compete with a closed-loop CNC press brake.
• Labor. Newer machines such as plate shears have a number of features designed for simpler operation, meaning reduced training needs and, in some cases, reduced head count as well.
• Reliability. Be honest: you’re replacing that old turret punch for a reason. You can go with that cheaper machine, but depending on where they cut corners to get that lower price, it could come back to bite you in the form of increased maintenance costs.
• Safety: Many machines lack more modern safety features, putting your employees at risk. And new machine or not, a workman’s compensation claim – or worse, wrongful injury or death lawsuit – can be awfully expensive, not to mention damaging to your reputation.

If you prefer to buy a machine requiring a lot of coddling, shimming dies here and there to make do, go right ahead. But realize that if time is money (and in the manufacturing world, it absolutely is), then all that futzing with a substandard machine isn’t merely time spent, but money spent as well – money in the form of increased down time, more hassling and testing to produce the part you want, and higher labor costs.

Look, we’ll be very blunt: South Coast Machinery does not compete on price. If you want the low-cost machinery provider, look elsewhere. But we do compete very aggressively on quality, and we have no problem saying we offer some of the very best CNC metal fabrication equipment you’ll find anywhere. And every single SCM customer has found that paying up front for quality machinery ends up paying for itself over time.

In summary, we’ll answer the question with one of our own: How expensive is it to go with the low-cost option?

Obviously, every situation is unique, and ultimately you know your situation better than anybody. But here are a few things to keep in mind as you weigh your decision.

• How soon may I end up replacing this machine or switch to something of a different size? If you’re looking at a hydraulic press brake, and there’s a better-than-even chance that you will want to replace it or upgrade to a bigger model within a few years, then leasing may make more sense. It’s kind of like a car: when the lease is up, trade it in for a new one or something that is a better fit for your needs.
• If this is a long-term deal for me, how can I get a better deal? If you’re looking at a waterjet cutting machine, you know they don’t come cheap. Right now, financing has never been cheaper, and plenty of manufacturers are very willing to cut deals.
• I think there are opportunities to expand my business, which is why I want this machine, but I want to minimize my risk. Then leasing may be a better option. Understand, if you discover after the fact that you really do want to buy that turret punch, you’ll end up spending a lot more money than if you had just bought it on the front end, but you might just need to consider that the price you pay for trying to limit your exposure.

Again, there are a lot of variables to weigh which may be unique to your situation, but these three issues seem to come up fairly frequently.

On the face of it, it sounds like a good deal, as the manufacturers claim to provide a lower interest rate. But as always, look closer. The process goes something like this:

1. The manufacturers heavily mark up the machine prices.
2. The manufacturers use some of the excess money from the sale to buy down the interest rate.
3. The manufacturer then sells the loan to a third-party financial organization.

Doesn’t this sound kind of like basic Enron math?

Folks, as the American financial system is learning the hard way, you can’t get something for nothing. An in-house “company finance” offer may sound appealing, but all they’re doing is robbing Peter (you) to pay Paul (themselves).

Let’s start by looking at why this approach was developed. When you really push a waterjet cutter to higher speeds, you tend to end up with a V-shaped cut, which translates to loss of precision. These manufacturers have responded with taper reduction cutting heads: aim the waterjet cutting head at an angle, so the thinking goes, and you can get higher speeds without sacrificing cutting precision.

But this approach brings with it some substantial limitations. An articulated waterjet cutting head sounds great, until you learn that the head tilts”¦a whopping 7 degrees. You don’t have the anywhere near the same range of motion and versatility available in a true 5-axis cutting head.

And you’re sacrificing a lot in terms of long-term reliability. The seals in taper reduction waterjet cutting heads just don’t have the same strength as a stationary cutting head (or even a 5-axis head), and they’re far more likely to fail sooner.

Listen. If you simply must have maximum speed in your waterjet machine, go for a 90,000 PSI pump. Yes, we wrote in an earlier blog post that 90,000 PSI pumps can be problematic, but they’re far more reliable than an articulated waterjet cutting head. You’ll have the faster cutting speed you want without a V-shaped cut. And the price for a 90,000 PSI waterjet with a 5-axis cutting head and the software to run the machine is no different than a 55,000 PSI pump with a taper reduction cutting head. It’s also worth pointing out that seal technology is catching up fast, so the reliability problems associated with the 90,000 PSI pump should be resolved fairly soon.

A good company with an air-ride trailer will deliver the machine in great shape. But we’ve seen way too many delivery outfits deliver a machine that was badly torn up en route – and then they tried to hide the damage themselves.

Here’s some advice:

• Don’t try to go too cheap on finding a rigging and delivery company. Make sure they have sufficient insurance on the machine and your facility while they’re on the premises. We’ve seen more than a few occasions where a rigger damaged not only the machine, but the shop floors, doorway and even ceilings and roofs.
• While a reputable dealer will have a representative on hand to visually inspect the machine on delivery, take the opportunity to rigorously inspect the machine yourself to spot even the slightest damage to make sure your new machine is at the level of quality you expect.

When first starting up a waterjet machine in the morning, the water is at ambient temperature. But as the day goes on, the water gets progressively warmer. This is partially due to the pump heating up, but it’s also due to the nature of water (compressed water increases in temperature).

This can have a number of unseen negative results. The catch tank which receives the used water will also heat up, and contort and expand with the increased heat. If the catch tank is connected to the guideways of the waterjet machine – which is usually the case with most waterjets – the machine itself will contort and expand, thereby reducing the machine’s accuracy.

This is one of the innovative features with Romeo Engineering’s waterjet machine design. On the Silver Series waterjets, the tank is mounted independent of the guideways. As a result, the machine is accurate within .005″. On the Gold Series, the catch tank is mounted independent of the framework of the machine, bringing the machine’s accuracy to with .003″.

But water temperature also impacts the machine’s reliability. Similar to the situation described with press brakes, heated water will affect the long-term reliability of the pump and seals. And as with press brakes, there’s a cost-effective solution: mounting a chiller on the machine to keep the water temperature down is good for the machine’s reliability and accuracy.

The fact is though that most hydraulic machines are not equipped with oil coolers and that can be a big problem. It is very important to check the oil temperature and especially true if your shop is not air conditioned. Consider that the hydraulic equipment on a press brake tends to be up higher in the air – easily 10 or more feet in the air. As hot air rises, the equipment up at that height tends to be a bit warmer. In addition, the equipment running on the machine, particularly the oil pump, generates heat that is being absorbed by the oil.

The bottom line is that when the ambient temperature reaches 100°F – which can easily happen in a shop that doesn’t have air conditioning or active ventilation – the oil temperature in a hydraulic shear or press brake can easily reach 200°F. Not only does this approach the boiling point for oil, this can damage pumps, seals, valves, and other critical parts of your machines.

Last summer we were having some problems with one of our machines. After investigating the cause we found that the oil temperature was over 200°F. The fact that the hydraulics are up pretty high in the air and there was very little air movement were big factors. We found that the ambient temperature was 125°F up at that level and the normal machine usage was causing the temperature to exceed the safe operating temperature of the oil.

The answer to the problem was an oil cooler. As soon as we installed it on the machine, its problems cleared up immediately. Since then we have started checking oil temperature on all machines and on hot days we have found high oil temperature on several occasions. If you’re running a machine in an area without climate control of some sort, you should probably seriously consider an oil cooler. It’s not terribly expensive and it can pay for itself in reduced maintenance costs very quickly.

When running a sheet of material through a three-roll machine, it’s first necessary to do what is known as a pre-bend. Then the material must be removed from the machine, turned around, run through backwards, have another pre-bend done, and then run through completely. This will work, but it’s manpower-intensive, time-intensive and dangerous.

Then along came the 4-roll machine, which is far superior.

See this bend? This is nearly impossible to do with a 3-roll plate roll. Compared to a 3-roll machine, a 4-roll CNC plate roll machine requires less manpower, is faster, is substantially safer, and isn’t even much more expensive. It will also do bends such as cones much more effectively.

There are a number of options to consider in new press brake tooling, some better than others. Commodity-style tooling, usually manufactured on a planer mill. It’s decent at first, but quickly develops problems because it hasn’t been hardened and wasn’t manufactured to close tolerances (within tenths of thousandths of an inch).

High-quality tooling is a different matter:

• It has been hardened and precision ground to extremely close tolerances.
• It’s usually made in a variety of lengths that can be combined on the machine to any required length.
• The close tolerances allow for mixing of different lengths with no flaws reflected on the material being bent.
• Precision-ground tooling is safer – one machine operator can change the tooling without risking injury.
• New tooling combined with a hydraulic clamping system can reduce setup costs by 80% due to fewer operators being required to run the machine and faster changeover times.

A person interested in purchasing a new CNC press brake with multi-axis capability is unwise to consider running the machine with used tooling.

The rocker arm design for hydraulic press brakes has been around for some 60 years. It’s a tried-and-true design, and it’s very reliable, which helps explain why it remains popular.

But older doesn’t necessarily equate to better. And many manufacturers using press brakes in their facilities probably don’t realize what their their rocker arm hydraulic press brakes are costing them versus what they could see in a true CNC hydraulic press brake.

Closeup of a press brake rocker arm design. It was good for its time, but it's been rendered obsolete by the CNC closed-loop servo.

First off, the rocker arm ram speed is slower by several inches per minute. That many not sound like much, but multiplied out over several thousand units per month, you’re looking at real money being lost.

The second problem is accuracy. Rocker arm press brake manufacturers like to say there is “zero tolerance” in the pivot points of the linkage of their machines. There’s simply no way this can be the case (if there really was zero tolerance, the machine couldn’t move!). In addition, normal usage over time means the space between the pin and hole is going to increase. Much like the problem of speed, a .001″ here and there and you’re looking at significant accuracy problems.

At the end of the day, the name of the game is efficiency. The machine with the bigger pile of finished parts at its side is the winner. And these days, the CNC closed-loop servo wins the race against the rocker arm hands-down.