Easy removal and replacement of Swag press brake from Harbor Freight 20 ton press

[Tmate]

I recently added a winch to my 20 ton Harbor Freight press. A side benefit of the winch is the ability to lower the table to a level where the Swag press brake can be easily slid on and off a small stand on casters. The table can be in between pin heights during this process as the winch ratchet holds it securely.

The little stand also can serve to hold extra dies and accessories for the press and brake.

 

[Gaffer]

One of my future projects is to add the Swag finger break to my press. One of my concerns that I haven't researched is how easily it can be removed for other press operations? Does the Swag break just sit on the plates? It appears it does and you're sliding it off onto your table? If so, I like it!

 

[Tmate]

It all slides off intact. It is very heavy though, and the ability to slide it off at an identical level makes it fairly easy. I'd hate to have to lift it off and on every time.

On my 20 ton Harbor Freight press, I have to lower the table enough to get the ram under the jack to clear the shaft collar that it fits in. Then I use the winch to crank it back up and compress the brake springs enough to put the pins in at the next higher position. I end up with room to insert material up to .580" thick for bending. I have the standard Swag 20 ton press. With the heavy duty Swag press, there would be less clearance.

I left the plates under the press. If you removed them and put, say, 1" thick steel across the frame in their place, you would pick up some more clearance. The pressure would be spread out over the entire base, so 1" would probably be enough.

If you have a different kind of press, all the above is irrelevant. I hope this helps.

 

[Gaffer]

I have the same press. I pinned the plates and added the air over hydraulic jack a while back, but that’s it.. I see you added brackets and the winch. Did you make the brackets?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Tmate]

Yes -- I have a CNC plasma setup. The brackets are dependent on the particular winch you choose. They're pretty simple == just plates with some holes drilled in them. They could be welded to the frame. I chose to bolt mine on, which made the brackets a bit more complicated. Drilling the frame with a hand drill is tough, but I used a rotabroach, which made it a lot easier.

The guide brackets I made for the press table were probably overkill.

 

[Gaffer]

Very cool, and I like 'overkill.' Thank you.