1 reviews | Active since Aug 2018
Strongman tools is a no go
In my case i purchased R110k worth of equipment from strongman tools. It was a MB 50 manual bender with all the die sets, a tube roller with all die sets and many other smaller equipment.
After the second bend with the MB50 the main plate housing the pin that keeps the 32mm DIE die in place bent, rendering the machine unusable. I was bending 32mm tubing with a 1.6 wall thickness. I was so frustrated because i was starting a job for a new customer in our relatively new business we started. I lost the job needless to say.
After contacting Andries the manager of strongman explaining my dilemma and that I no longer want the bender, I was told het would talk to the owner and get back to me . I told him that in my opinion the bender is ******* and that I am going to toss the bender, and asked if they could refund me for the bender DIE SETS only as i can do NOTHING with them. I was kept on a line for about a week.
After a week I tried contacting Deon Kriel the owner i got hold of him he was on holiday. I briefly explained the situation and he said once back from holiday he would tend to my request. After more than a week I tried calling him again he put the phone down in my ear multiple times. The company sent me an email saying they would replace the defective part but not refund me.
I work with tools on a daily basis and have a massive workshop with pleanty of machinery and tools. I can safely say the MB 50 is **** and not suitable for heavy duty work as advertised it is more a hobby tool. Prior to me purchasing the tools I was told by the company it is a heavy duty machine. Don't let the 5 year warranty they advertise on strongmantools,co,za fool you!!
Then getting to the electric tube roller the first time i wanted to use it the machine, it kept on tripping the power. Again i called them and said there was a problem i cant use the roller. Andries came out and identified the problem and fixed it. Then using the machine again straight after fixing it, the power kept tripping on the earth leakage.
Our electrician who is qualified had to remove the earth leakage from the roller just to get it to work. This is so dangerous because the risk of being electrocuted is real. I again told strongman tools i had to disconnect the earth leakage just to use the machine and asked them to fix it. To this day they have not made the effort to fix my roller.
To summarize i am sitting with a MB 50 bender that is stuffed, DIE sets i can do nothing with and an electric roller that can shock me to death at any given moment. I just feel i have to warn other consumers and share my experience with strongman tools.
Our company has been engaged with Mr. Vermaak on the matter.
From the correspondence, it is clear that he is actually wanting a refund for the MB50R bender dies because he has decided that a hydraulic-powered bender would suit his purpose better.
In the correspondence, he mentions that he has already paid a deposit on the hydraulic bending machine and would like to use the refund to pay the balance.
The client has had his Strongman Bender for a period of 7 months and has also received training on his MB50R Bending machine, by an accredited independent training officer.
During training, the bender was used to make multiple bends and the quality of the machine and bend work was to the satisfaction of the client.
If there were any quality issues with the machine it would have surfaced at the training. The training officer would also have picked up on any quality issues, during training.
We are of the opinion that the damage to the MB50R bender occurred due to the incorrect setup of the machine, and we offered to replace the damaged parts via courier delivery, at our cost.
An offer he declined.
In terms of the issue raised of the roller tripping the earth. The industrial quality Inverter drive supp**** with the roller is designed to operate in both environments that are protected by earth leakage or without earth leakage protection.
To enable the drive to work in an earth leakage-protected environment, a setting to the drive unit needs to be altered simply by turning 2 *****s. This has been communicated to the client so that he could rectify the problem.
Our offer still stands for Mr. Vermaak to replace any parts required for free.
Best regards,
Our company has been engaged with Mr. Vermaak on the matter.
From the correspondence, it is clear that he is actually wanting a refund for the MB50R bender dies because he has decided that a hydraulic-powered bender would suit his purpose better.
In the correspondence, he mentions that he has already paid a deposit on the hydraulic bending machine and would like to use the refund to pay the balance.
The client has had his Strongman Bender for a period of 7 months and has also received training on his MB50R Bending machine, by an accredited independent training officer.
During training, the bender was used to make multiple bends and the quality of the machine and bend work was to the satisfaction of the client.
If there were any quality issues with the machine it would have surfaced at the training. The training officer would also have picked up on any quality issues, during training.
We are of the opinion that the damage to the MB50R bender occurred due to the incorrect setup of the machine, and we offered to replace the damaged parts via courier delivery, at our cost.
An offer he declined.
In terms of the issue raised of the roller tripping the earth. The industrial quality Inverter drive supp**** with the roller is designed to operate in both environments that are protected by earth leakage or without earth leakage protection.
To enable the drive to work in an earth leakage-protected environment, a setting to the drive unit needs to be altered simply by turning 2 *****s. This has been communicated to the client so that he could rectify the problem.
Our offer still stands for Mr. Vermaak to replace any parts required for free.
Best regards,
1. The so called training officer is a retired old man who does training as a source of extra income. He is a nice guy no doubt but I highly doubt he holds some serious qualifications. The "training officer" also relaid to me that he feels I was delt a low blow by strongman tools. He asked me if he could buy the faulty bender and repair it I said he can have it for free.
2. Strongman wanted to pawn their version of a hydraulic bender onto me as a "trade in" where AT A LOSS I had to give back the die sets and faulty bender. I was also told by the manager that their hydraulic bender is cheaper and better than the EAGLE 1 bender which is also available in the market place.
Do yourself a favor google eagle 1 benders and strongman bender and you will see a clear as day difference in the quality of the bends. With the strongman bender you loose 1/3rd of the inner radius of the bend and this is not the case with the eagle 1 bender, and its cheaper and comes with 4 die sets....
So my reason to go for a hydraulic bender is that for a little extra i can get alot more. This MB50 bender was sold to me as a heavy duty machine but clearly is more for hobby guys that mess around with a piece of pipe on a weekend
Also, they don't tell you HOW LONG and complicated it is to set up the strongman bender. It is a mission
3. The machine stood under a cover for 7 months because i purchased a ton of new machinery from various suppliers all at once and could not learn all the machines at once. The day i needed it, it failed on the second bend it was not due to lack of set up there is videos on their website detailing set up and i followed it to the T.
4. With regards to the roller issue you can clearly see the attitude of these guys. You call them with a problem and they send you a picture and expect you to solve your own problem. No After service!! I am no electrician and if i fiddle with the machine they will probably turn around and say i ******ed up the machine. Excuses a plenty at strongman.
1. The so called training officer is a retired old man who does training as a source of extra income. He is a nice guy no doubt but I highly doubt he holds some serious qualifications. The "training officer" also relaid to me that he feels I was delt a low blow by strongman tools. He asked me if he could buy the faulty bender and repair it I said he can have it for free.
2. Strongman wanted to pawn their version of a hydraulic bender onto me as a "trade in" where AT A LOSS I had to give back the die sets and faulty bender. I was also told by the manager that their hydraulic bender is cheaper and better than the EAGLE 1 bender which is also available in the market place.
Do yourself a favor google eagle 1 benders and strongman bender and you will see a clear as day difference in the quality of the bends. With the strongman bender you loose 1/3rd of the inner radius of the bend and this is not the case with the eagle 1 bender, and its cheaper and comes with 4 die sets....
So my reason to go for a hydraulic bender is that for a little extra i can get alot more. This MB50 bender was sold to me as a heavy duty machine but clearly is more for hobby guys that mess around with a piece of pipe on a weekend
Also, they don't tell you HOW LONG and complicated it is to set up the strongman bender. It is a mission
3. The machine stood under a cover for 7 months because i purchased a ton of new machinery from various suppliers all at once and could not learn all the machines at once. The day i needed it, it failed on the second bend it was not due to lack of set up there is videos on their website detailing set up and i followed it to the T.
4. With regards to the roller issue you can clearly see the attitude of these guys. You call them with a problem and they send you a picture and expect you to solve your own problem. No After service!! I am no electrician and if i fiddle with the machine they will probably turn around and say i ******ed up the machine. Excuses a plenty at strongman.