metal brake

[eteled]

Hello everyone
This is a little of topic but as plasma enthusiats I think some of us run into this problem of having to bend our plasma pcs on occasion such as coat rack hooks etc. either what we have is not long enough or strong enough. many of us don't have the space or money to by a commercialy made hydraulic brake press. so I was woundering if any anyone has any idea's/ plans on to build a small hydraulic brake press that woud be capable of bending at least 4' of 11 gauge material I think the rule of thumb is 10ton per foot min any ideas or pictures of what you have or are useing would be a great help to me and probably of interest to the rest of the members.

Thank you

[Vern2]

Now your talking about some cool stuff. The precision with a plasma table and a 45 plus amp torch puts these cool tools in out reach. Your talking about tools that are $4000 and up. Tools I can't buy, but might be able to build. Of course art is part of my purpose for building a plasma table, but another passion is bigger tools. Here's one project waiting on the table build. http://www.enichesoftware.com/powertuberoller/index.htm

I bought a HF 36" metal break. It started at 22 gage capacity. I've done a couple mods on it. The biggest stuff I have is 18 gage, it bent that with no problem. I've got to finish the 3rd mod of dual 22 lb counter balance arms. It will be easier to use counter balance arms then the short arms it the botton. The companion tool, has a place in shop already. 37" Foot Shear. http://www.grizzly.com/products/37-Foot ... 48-/T23036

Vern

[eteled]

I just used that magical little search bar in the top right corner and this is the first topic that came up when I typed press brake. Isn't the search bar a cool thing?
Brian
http://www.plasmaspider.com/viewtopic.p ... ake#p12534

Hi Brian

your right magical little search bar at the top is a cool thing and there are pictures and ideas there, but if you had read what it was that I wanted to build you would have seen that those post really are not what I am looking for, what I was trying to say was that I would like to build a 50-60 ton hydraulic press that was capable of bending at least 4 feet of 11 gauge steel . merly trying to respark the conversation up again see if there are some new ideas out there

[dark_horse]

eteled,
I've had interest in building the same thing for quite some time but haven't found any plans that were sufficient in either design or strength. Hopefully someone has a good idea to share.

[Vern2]

Realistically, could you give us a clue what size steel it may use? One inch steel may not reach any of the dye material for such a beast. One and half inch might come close for the blade. To me that sounds like foundry equipment. Kind of out of most of our grasp of knowledge, anyway mine. You'd need a hoist(crane) just to turn a part over, while building. This sounds like a press break, not a metal break, that's where the dyes come in. The Base plate for the dyes to press on, man or beast may not be able to lift that. A 4' working width of 50 tons is a killer. You'll need dual hydraulic cylinders or a flywheel building up momentum. The machine may weigh over 2000 lbs it's self.

Just trying to place perspective on this tool.

Found a metal break, in the range of $25,000, bending 10 gage. Some of the steel is looks like it's made from 2" plate. http://youtu.be/u2cBDKRVLFI
Vern

[DISCONNECTED]

Check out the forum at shopfloortalk.com,you will probably find someone who has built a press brake.

[sodfarmer]

First off I want to apolgize for the pictures, I need a new camera. I built this press brake this summer and it works ok for what I use it for. I have bent 4' of 12 ga steel parts to 90 degrees with it. The parts were within 1 degrees from end to end. Its kind of crude, but it works. I'm planning on buying a 4 way die for the bottom and a die for the top. I use a 20 ton air/hydraulic jack, I'm going to add another, and place them on the ends.

[eteled]

Hi sodfarmer

The break looks cool along the lines of what I was thinking do you think you could tell us what size of i beam you used and maybe a few measurments, and do you think it would be heavy enough for 11 gauge, or would you have used heavier now that you have built one, or done anything differently.

Thx for your help

[sodfarmer]

I've attached a couple of PDFs with my basic design. They show the material size. I don't see no reason it won't handle the 11ga. The 12 ga I bent didn't give it any problems. I would use heavier angle iron on the punch and die. I tried to bend some 1/4" plate and I couldn't get it to 90 degrees. I'm guessing that the angle iron was flexing. The reason I used the I beam in my drawing was because I had it already and didn't want to buy some specifically for a press brake. Any other questions feel free to ask.

[eteled]

Hi sodfarmer

Thx for the pdfs, for mine I was also thinking of using the 4 way die for the bottom but for the top I was thinking of using 3/4" cutting edge used for a bucket. Then I would cut them into different widths so you could also use it like a box pan break by removing the sections that you didn't need for the particular job, do you think that would work? then for the hydraulic part I would use maybe a couple of 30 ton cylinders one at each end. I would have to get my neighbour to do the plumbing for the hydraulic's that way be beyond my capabilities.

[kdahep]

For the top punch and the bottom dies you can go on ebay and search for them there. A lot of these are drop from a company only needing 37 inches of 60 inch die and the rest is to small to keep in stock. These are generally new . and you can buy different dies for 20 gauge to 1/4 inch material. Some times on the 4 way dies if to much tonnage or not lined up right , you can crack the dies. I have purchased a good selection of dies and punches this way.

[sodfarmer]

I would think that the cutting edge for your punch would probably flex to much. As far as hydraulics, I wouldn't be able to tell what size of pump you would need for 2 cylinders that big. I went with the pneumatic jacks, because they were cheap and also if the press didn't work out I could use them around the farm.

[Vern2]

Really heavy duty build, like the width. Need some paint bad. Have been looking for bottom dies for my 20".

This is just from an observers view, below.

Found on my 20" press break I could not, at times, get my bends to 90 degrees, using an angle iron bottom die. Was looking at ebay for bottom dies. Some of the ones listed, for more money, were set to 85 degree V. That may be the secret of getting that stubborn 90 degree bend, just a guess. When I saw the 85 degree dies, I started to think about how to build that die from angle iron. Maybe cutting the inside edge of a pair of 2" x 2" angle iron pieces, would make that an 85 degree V.

Anyone have an idea?

Vern

[kdahep]

Vern
Are you bottoming out on the die? If you bottom out you are forming to the die and not the 90 degree air bend It is a fine line between the two. I don't know if this helps or not

[Zippo]

i use a homemade bender for all my projects, of course i use stress relief cuts on my 11g and 12g bends Have bent an 10" piece of 12g without an issue
http://www.plasmaspider.com/viewtopic.p ... gon#p33060

[Diverdude]

I built this one for a home made press a few years ago, it's only about 32" wide but I have bent 1/4" aluminuim in it.

Press Brake.jpg

[riddarunner]

If you look on ebay there are lots of press break dies and chunks of dies for sale and with off set's if needed!
with an air over hydraulic 50 ton jack you can bend 1/4" up to about 2 feet thats is where you start to get to much flex in your dies but under that it does a nice job. i just bult a slug to go into the tophalf of my press to huld the top die and a jig to hold the bottom half it works great i have been using it for years!!

[MountainGoat]

swagoffroad.com has a nifty brake for sale that goes on a Harbor Freight press