Shop Tour

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Catawba Attachments Shop Tour

Welcome to the Shop

Hey guys, Cody here. You’ve probably seen me in a few videos already, but today I hoped to give you a look around the shop while it’s quiet.

It’s Friday, and we shut down at noon, so everybody else has already headed out. I’m still here catching caught up on a few things, so this is a pretty good time to walk around without machines running and people moving everywhere.

We’ll do another shop tour when everybody’s here so you can meet the crew. They deserve the spotlight too, because they build this equipment every day.

Cutting & Fabrication

We’ll start with the plasma cutter.

It doesn’t get used nearly as often as our lasers, but it still earns its spot in the shop. The big advantage is size. We can put 6-foot by 12-foot sheets on it, while our laser tables top out at 5-foot by 10-foot material.

These plugger side plates are a good example of what comes off the machine. Even on quarter-inch plate, the cut comes out clean.

Over here is our Timesaver. We mainly use it for aluminum parts that need to run through the sander.

And right here is one of the newer machines in the shop. Allow me back up a little because this angle actually gives you a better look at how everything is laid out.

Plasma cutter in shop cutting large plate

Lasers and Plate Work

This big machine is our Trumpf TruLaser 3000.

A little farther over is our 6K Mitsubishi laser. It was unloading grapple parts before everybody left, so we’ll pick that job back up Monday morning.

You can also see one of our root grapples being assembled nearby. We’ve made some changes to that grapple, including a thicker lid and an added reinforcement bar.

For a closer look at that model, check out Why We Built the Catawba 55 Root Rake Grapple

Presses & Forming

These rollers are for our soil pulverizers. We normally make them in batches rather than building them one at a time.

Then we have the two big presses.

This one is our 350-ton Cincinnati press, and it’s probably my favorite machine in the building. When I’ve got parts to bend, this is usually the press I want.

Beside it is the Aida 240-ton press, which handles plenty of work too.

You’ll also see some of our 54-inch sub-compact grapples sitting here. They’re noticeably lighter than the larger models. I can pick one up off the ground by hand, which gives you an idea of the difference. They’re made for smaller tractors where keeping attachment weight down really matters.

Storage, Yard, and Finished Attachments

Storage became its own project around here.

We built these racks ourselves because we needed to use the building’s height better. Each shelf is rated for up to 5,000 pounds, and the racks go 18 shelves high.

Even with that, we still needed more room, so we added a couple of large shipping containers outside.

Here’s a batch of 60-inch grapples. That rake nearby is already sold and waiting for the customer to come pick it up.

Take a look at the gauge wheels. They’re not small, and that’s intentional. We tend to build things on the heavy side because we want the equipment to hold up once it gets into real work.

And finally, here’s our pull-type Cultipacker. It’s a simple little design, but it does exactly what it’s supposed to do.

If you want to learn more about where a Cultipacker fits into field preparation, check out How Cultipackers Improve Farming, Seedbeds & Germination.

Thanks for walking through the shop with me.

We’ll put together another video once the whole crew is here, but for now, this gives you a look at where the cutting, bending, welding, assembly, and everything else happens.

If you want to see more from behind the scenes, check out the Catawba Attachments Video.