A DIY Press Brake for a hydraulic Shop Press.

[pineyfolks]

Hey Piney,
On the slot for the 3/8" key in the base, did you mill the whole .375 depth? Just curious now that I have milled .1875 in the base thinking of the old regular key slot thinking, but soon realizing the channel isn't thick enough to mill .01875 for the other half as it is only .1875 thick. :lmao: Probably easiest to mill the .375 instead of messing with the key stock later on the attachments but I thought I would ask just in case. My base is 1.00 thick by 4.00 wide.
Thanks,
schemer

Yes, I then cut a .040 to .050 slot in the channel to locate the keys then tack welded the ends. Glad to hear your moving along with the build. I put this on another post you might get some use out of it http://www.americanmachinetools.com/pressure_table.htm . I don't know where you are located but if youre close shoot me a pm my shops always open since I'm retired.

 

[schemer]

Yes, I then cut a .040 to .050 slot in the channel to locate the keys then tack welded the ends. Glad to hear your moving along with the build. I put this on another post you might get some use out of it http://www.americanmachinetools.com/pressure_table.htm . I don't know where you are located but if youre close shoot me a pm my shops always open since I'm retired.

Bill,
I am in Florida so too far for a peek at your shop, but thanks for the offer. I will finish the slot today on the base and then work on the channels next. Glad I asked. I may do it a little different and run a .020 - .030 slot and then drill a few holes in the channel and weld the key through the hole. That pressure table is a good chart for info too.
Thanks,
schemer

 

[xalky]

Wow, I missed all these posts on my thread starter. I was real busy with life when all these posts came up. Lots of great solutions guys. I just added an HF air over hydraulic cylinder because i got tired of pumping. This thing is awesome.

 

[bandaidmd]

I have the swag offroad kit i put together for my HF press.

Just an FYI if you don't fully support the underside of the brake you could tweek your bottom jaw. This is less important with narrow stuff but real important trying to bend the wide stuff.

 

[Downunder Bob]

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:

N






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.



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.


Heres a picture of how it's put together from the side.



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.



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

Nice looking Press,well finished. I'd love to have a shop press, but no room in the shop, I only have the back corner of the garage, The other half complains about needing a shoe horn to get her car in.

I did make one about 30 years ago while working as engineer on a ship. it was 1 m wide between columns and used a 25t porta power ram The special feature was that it was fully bolted construction and could be dismantled and carried from one end of the ship to the other, re-assembled used , and dismantled again and returned to the main workshop
Unfortunately I don't have any pictures.

I'm thinking of making a frame to fit my 5t horizontal log splitter will make me a small home press. should be big enough for the small stuff I do at home.

 

[schemer]

I have the swag offroad kit i put together for my HF press.

Just an FYI if you don't fully support the underside of the brake you could tweek your bottom jaw. This is less important with narrow stuff but real important trying to bend the wide stuff.

I ended up buying the minimal Swag kit too as the price and availability made it a no brainer. I bought extra steel so the underside is fully supported too.
schemer