The gear

Cuts tube square or mitred, clean and cool: cheap, but every hole still goes to the drill.

Burns every hole, so it's slow on work full of them, and half speed through 6 mm plate.

Hits a hole in a tenth of a second, but nibbles round outlines slower than a laser, and its tools are changed over for every new job: long runs suit it.

Cuts tube to length and cuts every hole and slot as it goes, three and a half times the cold saw's speed.

Twice the CO2's speed and quicker through holes; cuts copper and plate at full speed, on less than half the power.

A big old hydraulic guillotine that shears 6 mm plate square: the only blade in town that'll take it.

Burns any shape out of plate, holes and all, off its own console: no programmer needed, but slow through a lot of holes.

Its tower loads the sheet and takes the cut sheet away, so it cuts on its own, day and night: someone knocks the parts out. A jam overnight stops it till morning.

Punches a hole through 6 mm plate in one stroke: three times a pedestal drill on plate work.

Rolls a blank into a curve: troughs, mudguards and fire pits. It doesn't fold, and nothing else rolls.

Small and quick, but only 1.3 m of bed.

4 m of bed and 320 tonnes: the only folder that'll take 6 mm plate. Slow on small work.

A 2.6 metre powered roller: rolls a full sheet to a bus roof's curve in one go. It doesn't fold.

Folds all four sides of a panel with its own blades while the manipulator turns it: nearly twice a press brake's speed and it sets itself up in minutes. Only off a bend program, and only sheet up to 2 mm.

A six-axis robot loads it, folds and stacks, so it runs on its own, day and night, off the pallets on its infeed. Only off a bend program, and each new part's a half-hour gripper change: it pays on long runs.

A handheld fibre laser welder with its chiller: a thin, clean weld three times quicker than TIG, with no grinding back, so nothing gets scratched dressing the welds. It welds stainless, aluminium and corten.

A pedestal spot welder: two copper tips squeeze the sheets together and fuse them in a blink. Twice as quick as a MIG on thin sheet, with no weld to grind back, but no good on stainless or anything thick.

A collaborative robot with a MIG torch on a two-station table: someone clamps the parts in while it welds the other station, and it lays every weld the same. Steel only, no certified work, and each new part has to be taught: quick off a weld program from a robot programmer, the best part of an hour by hand.

A six-axis robot loads a two-station turntable and a second robot behind the flash screen welds what it swings round, so it runs on its own, day and night, off the pallets on its infeed. Steel only, no certified work, and each new part's a jig change: quick off a weld program from the robot programmer, four times as long taught by hand. It pays on long runs.

A wet spray booth with its filter wall and extraction: signs and painted work sprayed here, not sent across town. Quicker to change colour than a powder line, smaller, and a coat's dry by morning.

A powder line with nobody on it: a six-axis robot hangs each piece on the carrier, a spray robot coats it in the booth and the carrier takes it through the oven, so it runs on its own, day and night, off the pallets on its infeed. Steel only, and each new colour's a booth clean-out and colour change, so it's best on long runs of the one colour.

Turns bar and bushes: spacers, bosses and the bushes in pivot brackets. Only a machinist runs it.

Mills faces flat and drills and taps holes: motor bases and plate base plates. Only a machinist runs it.

A body stand with a parts rack and a test board: the fitter hangs the doors, fits the locks, lights and wiring, and tests every circuit before it goes out the door.

Cuts the corners out of a blank in one pull, so it folds up into a box: ute toolboxes, and quicker cutting.

A steel bench with a vice, a bench grinder and a linisher: welds cleaned up quicker, and fewer sent back.

Air tools: the holes go in and the rivets pop quicker.

Sheet and finished lots moved on a pallet, not carried: every trade a bit quicker.