A DIY Press Brake for a hydraulic Shop Press.

xalky

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I made this press brake to fit on my HF 20 ton shop press. I thought I'd share it with you guys over here. I've seen several different variations of these for sale online at places like Northern Tool and on ebay. Some of them were pre-cut weld yourself kits others were already made. I had the steel laying around my shop so I decided to build one.

So here's what it looks like complete:

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These are the parts mostly precut and ready for welding. The spring came from a storm door air cylinder that I had laying around. I cut it open to retrieve the spring.

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This is my Bridgeport hogging out the 60 degree wedge shape on the 1 1/2" x 3 1/2" piece of steel for the punch side of the brake. Some of the iterations of this brake I've seen only have an angle iron welded to the top punch to achieve the wedge shape or a 90 degree wedge shape but the result is that achieving a 90 degree bend is nearly impossible because of the flex-back of the material. With a 60 degree wedge on top a 90 degree + bend is easily achievable.
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Heres a picture of how it's put together from the side.

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It can bend up to 110 degrees. which is the reason why I put a 60 degree angle on the wedge to achieve the beyond 90 capability.

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I did most of this on a Saturday afternoon and finished welding it up the next Sunday morning. The longest part was hogging the wedge shape out on the Bridgeport at .040 bites at a time with a 1" carbide indexed end mill. I tried it with a larger HSS end mill and the result was way too slow for my taste. Gotta get me some of those Large indexable facing and hogging shell mills.

Have Fun
Marcel

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nice job and it looks like it works good
steve
 
Hi,
I am in the process of either buying a kit or making my own Press Brake but I have a question for those who have one and use it a lot. I need to bend some 1/8 aluminum sheet in a semi-circle that is conical in design. Picture a clamp that is used with EMT in a "C" shape including the flat for the bolt. Can this shape be bent in a press brake? If so, what order would you make the bends? I am assuming starting in the middle and work to one side then turn the piece around and do the same for the other side. I just don't want to have the piece get in the way of itself. Also, what die shape would be best? A 4 sided one with varying angles or just the plain 90 degree angle?
Thanks,
schemer



p.s. Nice job on the Press Brake

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Marciel,
Lookin good there buddy. Any idea of the max thickness it will bend yet? That looks like a formidable chunk of alli in the pic of the over 90 degree bend. Keep up the great work!!!! And thanks for the really great pics, that really helps show a great project so others can give it a try too.

Bob
 
Okay, Zalky. That's one more for the project list. I got a "Does not work" 20 ton at the local tool store and made it work (at least up to 15 tons). A rig like that will make it very useful.

Thanks for sharing.
 
Hi,
I am in the process of either buying a kit or making my own Press Brake but I have a question for those who have one and use it a lot. I need to bend some 1/8 aluminum sheet in a semi-circle that is conical in design. Picture a clamp that is used with EMT in a "C" shape including the flat for the bolt. Can this shape be bent in a press brake? If so, what order would you make the bends? I am assuming starting in the middle and work to one side then turn the piece around and do the same for the other side. I just don't want to have the piece get in the way of itself. Also, what die shape would be best? A 4 sided one with varying angles or just the plain 90 degree angle?
Thanks,
schemer



p.s. Nice job on the Press Brake

DSCF0032_zps1715f89b.jpg
It can be done by step bending the radius then flipping to do the bend. A narrow piece of c-channel and a piece of flat bar with a piece of round stock welded to the edge for a top die will make a smoother radius. I use different width c-channels for all my bottom dies. If I need something tighter I drop some round stock in the c-channel, you don't need a bottom v- die when air bending just 3 points.

DSCF0032_zps1715f89b.jpg
 
Thanks for the fantastic write up and pics Marcel!

I just picked up one of these HF 20 ton presses from a guy nearby. I am in the process of tooling it up, please keep posting!



Bernie
 
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