Bay
A job shop mix bay handles a blend of plasma cutting, bending and turning work on tight deadlines. Teams need flexible machines and fast changeovers to stay productive.
Read the related specsheet notes and printable resources before you order.
In a real South African job shop, the mix changes every day. One shift you’re running plate through air plasma for brackets or gussets, the next you’re setting up short flange bends or turning bushes for a breakdown. Customers don’t care about your batches, they want parts yesterday, even if the job card came in this morning.
Gauteng and coastal teams both feel the pressure: urgent repairs, one-off modifications, small-run components. The pain points come when a machine stands idle waiting for setup, or when everything stacks up at the end of the week because a small hitch early on stole your buffer.
To keep moving, we recommend starting with three core machines: the Feature Plasma Compact for air plasma cutting, the Feature Press Brake Mini for fast bends on bracket work, and the Feature Lathe Compact for shaft and bush turning. This covers most metalwork that comes through a typical job shop.
Add a shear square fence for blanking mild steel, a backgauge stop for repeatable bends, and a soft jaw set for custom lathe jobs. Pegboard tool storage and a crate brace kit help keep setups quick, so you don’t waste time digging for tooling or resetting workpieces.
Most weeks start with a round of plasma cutting for all jobs needing profiles, then bending the blanks, and finishing with lathe work on turned items. Changeover time is your enemy, so lay out all drawings and sheets by job before you even power on the machines.
Keep fixtures, collet trays and frequently used tools in reach. Make sure all machines are checked for oil and any exposed steel is wiped down, Joburg’s dust or Durban’s salt air can quickly ruin ways if left overnight. Before a power cut hits, always make a controlled shutdown and re-home axes once power returns.
A common slip is letting one urgent job interrupt a setup mid-run, resetting tools later eats more time than just batching similar work. Another is forgetting to dry compressed air for the plasma: wet air kills consumables fast and can double your running costs in a month.
We also see teams leave cleaning for the weekend, only to find fine dust has worked into the bearings and slides. Its much faster to do a quick daily wipe and filter check. Don’t skip operator training: under the OHS Act, you must keep all guards in place and make sure your team is competent on each machine.
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