Why you Should Maintain and Repair your Sheet Metal Machinery (4 Key Areas to Consider)

Keeping your sheet metal machinery in appropriate working order is a task that can be easily neglected — but one that is imperative. Our sheet metal machinery repair and maintenance services are designed to extend the life of your machinery — but failing to do so when appropriate can result in severe circumstances for your machinery, projects and staff in extreme cases. Our specialists have compiled a few critical reasons why you should repair your machine.

Maintaining accuracy

The more a machine is used the more it will wear. The wear and tear will vary between machines but it’s highly likely that this general wear and tear will affect your machine’s accuracy in one way or another. For a laser cutter, the focusing lens may move slightly periodically or even fail to stay in position as it should — causing the alignment to be inaccurate and therefore the result to differ from the calculations. Similarly, a press brake’s tooling may be misaligned or blunt and therefore produce subpar bends.

Accuracy is something that all sheet metal fabrication projects rely on regardless of the machine; a worn-out or ill-functioning machine can put your entire project at risk by producing poor results. This will cost you time and money and will only get worse the longer you leave it, so schedule your repair or maintenance session with us today.

Extending operational life

All machines (and most items, for that matter) will last longer if you maintain them. If one element requires repair, but you ignore it, then the issue will grow more severe and affect other parts of the machine. The longer you wait, the worse it will be. This may reach the point where it would actually be easier to purchase a new machine, which can often be more expensive.

This is why staying on top of your machine’s health is important. Minimising costs play a big part and, if you play your cards right and maintain the machine properly, you may never need to actually replace it. Preventative maintenance is the key to extending your machine’s operational life; regular maintenance checks can ensure that everything is in top working condition and will mitigate issues from occurring.

Avoiding accidents

Workshop accidents are more likely to occur if the machines are not functioning as they should. This may be for a number of reasons such as worn-out parts, damaged parts or even grime/dirt build-ups in key areas. The latter is an example of why it is important to clean the machines at least once a week at the minimum.

Sometimes grime build-ups can actually affect the performance of the machine and, in some cases, cause malfunctions — which may lead to accidents. Every machine is different, so for the most effective result, you should consult the machine’s manual or contact ACRA (or the manufacturer) directly for further clarification. Establishing a weekly cleaning schedule is essential and can help keep your machines in prime working condition.

As for work-out or damaged components, failing to repair your sheet metal machinery in these instances means you may risk a major malfunction. This can result in sheet metal inventory being destroyed or irreparably damaged as well as, in some extreme cases, team members being injured.

Saving time and money

The price of repairing a metal fabrication machine is not the only associated cost; if you wait until it’s too late to repair the machine, then you may risk delaying your projects or in worse cases, shutting down your entire factory (depending on the machine in question). This means that large amounts of operational costs will essentially go to waste — not to mention that if you’re on a tight deadline you may have to cover additional unnecessary overheads.

If you know you have a large project approaching, then perhaps you should contact our specialists prior to ensure that all your machines are in correct working order; that way, you won’t have to worry about any breakdowns or interruptions occurring midway through the project. Planning ahead is a crucial preventative measure and one that will go a long way.

Are you looking to repair your sheet metal machinery?

ACRA Machinery specialise in complete sheet metal machinery repair and maintenance services; we also stock new and used machinery from trusted international brands such as Jorns and Durma.

If you would like to book your machine in for a service or repair, then please give us a call on 03 9794 6675 or fill out our online enquiry form so one of our team members can get back to you as soon as possible.