Taking a portable rollformer down memory lane

By Ron Schell, New Tech Machinery.

Recently, New Tech Machinery got the chance to revisit the past when a customer called in with one of the Original Mach II Polyurethane Drive Gutter Machines!

We have been in the seamless gutter and metal roof panel equipment business for a while — New Tech Machinery (NTM) was founded by Larry Coben in Denver, Colorado over three decades ago! Our first products to go to market were the SSP Roof Panel Machine in 1991 and MACH II Seamless Gutter Machine in 1994. This was the start of a journey to becoming the industry’s go-to-place for portable rollformers.

Recently, our team at NTM got to revisit our beginnings when a Mach II owner called for information about the NTM machine he had. When a technician looked up the serial number he gave, they realized it was not only one of the 30-year-old models — it was the first every Mach II gutter machine with a polyurethane drive system ever produced!

The machine was initially sold to Custom Bilt Metals, a distributor in Kent, Washington, in March 1994. There’s no record of the original owner; however, in 2000, Jeff Villarreal, owner of Pyroshield of Washington, purchased the machine and owned and operated it until April 2024.

Jeff has owned and operated Pyroshield since 1998 and offers a variety of exterior and interior home services, including gutter and roof installations. He told us it had been kept outside on an open trailer and covered with a tarp since he purchased it.

The first Mach II: Arrival and inspection

After some negotiating, NTM procured the machine, and the Mach II arrived at the NTM plant in Aurora, Colorado, in April. Despite the wear and rust on the covers, frame and rollers, I found the components were approximately 95% original. Not much had been modified or changed after decades of use. The only visible parts replaced were the #1 bottom drive roller and the entry and exit control panels. Other than those two items, it was all original.

The entry guide assembly was still intact and functional. The rotating reel stand, an original innovation, still rotated, although it was worse for wear after years of use and exposure to the elements.

The oldest NTM Mach II contained all the original box and face rollers, which were still intact and working with minimal wear, if any. The shear was missing from the machine, although it had been included when the Mach II shipped out thirty years ago.

Using Jeff’s production information, we calculated that the original Mach II ran approximately 998,000 linear feet of gutter while it was owned and operated by Pyroshield. Because the machine had a previous unknown owner for six years, we used the same formula Jeff gave us to calculate the first six years, totaling an additional 41,700 linear feet. The result was that the old Mach II machine produced approximately 1,140,000 linear feet of gutter! That’s a lot of gutter forming through the first polyurethane drive rollers, and they still held up after thirty years.

Once we’d completed a visual inspection to ensure we saw no obvious issues, we attached a power cord to the machine. We assessed the operation of the controls to verify that all functions were working properly.

Running the 30-year-old machine: Can it still form a gutter?

Now it was time to run a piece of gutter!

We cut and loaded an eight-foot-long piece of coil into the machine and ran it through without making any adjustments. It went through the machine without any issue, and the gutter looked surprisingly good! All the dimensions were correct, and the gutter was clean, with no marks on the bottom and no ripples anywhere. The only issue was the gutter was veering away from the house and downhill slightly. After making a few adjustments, we ran through a 12’ sheet of coil. The machine fabricated a gutter comparable to what a new Mach II machine would produce!

The first NTM Mach II machine is a testament to the longevity, innovation and groundbreaking technology we at New Tech have achieved. Remarkably, 30 years later, we are still at the forefront of design, innovation and technological advancements. The enduring spirit of the New Tech organization and its people will continue to lead this industry with a commitment to our customers by providing quality equipment, designs and innovation for years to come.

You can see this incredible machine in action in this YouTube video!