My attempt at a brake press.

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I was inspired by this thread over on the weldtalk message board. It gave me an idea for a brake press. If I could manage to  weld the pieces together it should work pretty well.I designed this with some software called BRa1n, it is inherently buggy and prone to mistakes. I had found a 6 inch I beam out in the woods that someone had used as a drag.  Plus some 3 inch channel that I found in the barn. My late father in law dabbled in a lot of stuff.  I looked online and found that Harbor freight was having a sale on their 20 ton air hydraulic jacks for about 70 bucks.  I didn't know if my design would stand up to that much pressure but after I went to harbor freight to get the jack I looked at their 20 ton shop press and I figured I had no worries. These are cameraphone pics so sorrry about the blurry shots and lighting.Here is the jack The first problem was how to get the big old Ibeam into my little cheapo bandsaw.After disassembling the vise it fit.  I had to do some eyballing with a framing square but it came out pretty close.  I made a total of four cuts in the beam but not all at once, I didn't think the motor would take it.Here is one of the sides, 3 inch channel with 1/4 inch plate reinforcement.Here I have the pulling part of the press clamped and am tacking 1/4 inch plate to the ends of the Ibeam pieces.Here I have part of the support frame built and the press base of two beam pieces welded together.To be continued.Next
Reply:Continued:Here I am adding legs to the support frame.Here it is loosely assembled.  This is where I usually find out I have made a major mistake and have to scrap the whole thing. Fortunately I only had to do a little tweaking to make it fit.Then I added springs.  One 120 garage door spring cut into 4 pieces.  If these things weaken over time any at all I will have to change them for stronger springs.To be continued.Here it is mostly done.
Reply:Now what do you do when you have a new toy.You gotta play with it right.Here it is with six aluminum cans in it.Now here are those six cans stacked on top of each other.Nothing bent or flexedNow I have to find or figure out how to make the dies.I think I might build a light duty "V" lower die but I am not sure about the top.Finding hard enough plate or flat bar and then beveling it correctly seems daunting.Any ideas or suggestions are welcome.
Reply:that is awesome. nice work.  Can't wait to see what you come up with for the dies.
Reply:Looks like you done a good job.  I'd talk to your local machine shop first and see about what they'd charge to make a set of dies, it might be cheap (you never know)DewayneDixieland WeldingMM350PLincoln 100Some torchesOther misc. tools
Reply:How big of material are you wanting to brake?DewayneDixieland WeldingMM350PLincoln 100Some torchesOther misc. tools
Reply:Thanks for the complimentsWell most of the sheet metal  I mess with is 16 guage  and some 1/8 aluminum. I would like to be able to bend 16 inches or so of that.  Plus maybe 1/8 or 3/16th by 2 inch flat bar here and there.  But I know that if I come up with a project that I need bigger material I am gonna try it.
Reply:Nice work. It looks like an unusual design. It appears that you could use it for pressing bearings as well as for bending sheet metal. Nice. Miller Millermatic 252Miller Syncrowave 200Liincoln AC-DC 225Victor O-A Set
Reply:that looks good..............home made brake press usually sends chills down my back but that looks like you did a pretty good jobComplete Fabrication Shop specializing in pipe fabrication. Also offering heavy steel fabrication and sheet metal work.
Reply:For the light gauge stuff you are talking about I would make it myself.Take two lengths of angle, lay them on the bed side by side, with the peaks of the angle pointing up. Weld them to a plate like that. There, now you have your lower die. Now take a single length of the same angle and weld it to a plate in the same manner. Now you have your punch. Your punch should fit into your die perfectly. Now attach them to your press and bend some sheet.Sure, you could machine a die and a punch, but for 16 ga sheet....why?Lincoln Power Mig 210MP MIGLincoln Power Mig 350MP - MIG and Push-PullLincoln TIG 300-300Lincoln Hobby-Weld 110v  Thanks JLAMESCK TIG TORCH, gas diffuser, pyrex cupThermal Dynamics Cutmaster 101My brain
Reply:I agree, if most of the stuff is gonna be thin ga. I'd make the punch and die myself.  Maybe use some 1/4"-3/8" flatbar kinda like l\/l for the die so you could bend over a 90 if needed.DewayneDixieland WeldingMM350PLincoln 100Some torchesOther misc. tools
Reply:Great work berniep.Id like to make my own press one day.  I like your design
Reply:Thanks guys.  I thought I would make a die out of angle maybe for my 16 guage. I didn't think of using two pieces of angle upside down "V" like that.  I could jack up the outside edges to get a greater than 90 degree angle.  The challenge for me I think would be making the punch.  Creating a uniform angle over any distance with a grinder is not in my skill set right now.  Maybe I could set something up with my oxy/ace torch then just clean it up with a grinder.  I have some 3/8 and some 1/2 inch flat stock hot rolled.I am thinking this would wear out after just a few bends.  Is it possible to heat treat this stuff to make it harder in a home/ hobby shop setting?
Reply:Nice machine now all it needs is a trip to the sand blaster and a solid coat of paint.   Remember the job isn't done if it don't shine.    He says sheepishly while thinking about his unfinished projects.The angle Iron approach to the die and punch shouldn't be to bad, it will certainly get you started.    The biggest problem is that the punch should sit on a rather long extension, that to allow the sheet to bend up.    In other words you need to take into account the width of the top I-Beam, so that you have no interference when the sheet bends up.As to making a real set of punch and dies so that you can easily handle the larger materials, I do suspect that you will need the services of a mill.    Possibly a grinder too if you go with hardened tool steel.That being said you could attempt to grind your self if you have a grinding machine that takes a belt or other wise presents a flat surface to the work piece.    The trick to accomplishing this is to have the punch be mechanically guided by a straight support.   It likely will be a bit of work setting this up as you need adjust ability but at the same time need to keep the punch rigidly aligned.   Spend some time on it and you should be able to produce a nice punch that is within 10 or 20 thousands straight and flat.   Imagine a track like that of a train with the punch going back and forth in front of the grinding surface.As for the steel you can buy prehardened steels from the suppliers to machinist and industry.Dave
Reply:Thanks for the suggestions.  I think this may be the excuse I have been looking for to build a belt grinder.  I gotta learn some more about them.  Never actually seen one in person.  As far as the paint goes.  I usually have every intention of cleaning stuff up rounding corners and painting but if it works it usually stays win the condition it's in as I go on to other projects. (A.D.D.)  I figured the punch would be made out of 3 or 4 inch wide stuff, that should get me a little clearance on the Ibeam.  I could trim the lower flange a little since I plan on making a holder for the punch.  I also want to make the punch in sections like fingers so I could bend small boxes.
Reply:Originally Posted by BerniepThanks guys. The challenge for me I think would be making the punch.  Creating a uniform angle over any distance with a grinder is not in my skill set right now.  Maybe I could set something up with my oxy/ace torch then just clean it up with a grinder.  I have some 3/8 and some 1/2 inch flat stock hot rolled.
Reply:Looks pretty darn good...
Reply:I saw a press brake attachment once in an old issue of The Home Shop Machinist magazine. The guy used the angle iron method for the die. For the punch, he put a "V" groove in the edge of a 1/2"x about 4" x the width of the press, flat bar. He then took a piece of square keystock, the length of the bar, turned it on edge and welded it into the "V" groove. This gave him a very solid punch with a "V" on the edge. If you want fingers, I would first, make one big piece like above and then, cut it into sections in order to keep the alignment. You probably wouldn't need to grind an actual "V" groove in the edge of the bar, just a straight groove deep enough to nest the edge of the keystock in and weld away. Just my 2 cents worth.Dave Lee
Reply:Thanks for the suggestionsI thought of the square stock on the edge of some plate but that still is only a 90 degree angle and you need a little over 90 to get and actual 90 degree bend in some material.  Probably not an issue with the 16 gauge I am using and even if it was a little rubber mallet action would tweak it to where is should be. I probably will make one up sometime.  If I can get it clamped right to weld I shouldn't need the groove.   When I get around to hunting down some harder bar stock I think I will try the abrasive in the table saw.  Although I am getting more interested in the belt grinder ideaHere is what I came up with to bend some flat bar yesterday.I didn't take a lot of pictures but here is what I have.Figured that lawn mower blades are harder than regular steel so it ought to work  for light stuff.Here is one  getting started on the punch holder.I made it to hold 1/2 inch material which comes into play later.Here is one of the die.  Just some round stock welded to plate.I guessed at the separation, I am sure there is a formula for how thick you are bending but I turned out well for this.Pay no attention to the  screwed up welding.Here is the first bend I made.  Part of the punch holder to get rid of the bungee cord.Now a lawnmower blade is not 1/2 inch thick as I am sure you know.  I just had the blade section clamped in the holder.  Now me being me I just HAD to see if it would bend thicker stuff so I grabbed some plate that was about 5/16.  The blade slipped in the holder and made a parallelogram out of my square tubing (I was able to fix this wiht the press).  So I added some stock to the bottom of the blade to fill up the groove in the holder.Here is the punch holder after I finished it.Here is how far I bent the plate before it gave up.
Reply:How about a cutting edge from a snow plow or loader bucket."Si Vis Pacem Para Bellum"Lincoln Idealarc 250 AC/DCMillermatic 251   Syncrowave 300   30A spoolgunLincoln MP210Hypertherm 45(2) LN 25(2) Lincoln Weldanpower 225 CV(4) SA200   1 short hood    SA250    SAM 400
Reply:looks good ,your 5/16 bend  try was 5/16 X ?ChuckASME Pressure Vessel welder
Reply:Originally Posted by chopper5looks good ,your 5/16 bend  try was 5/16 X ?
Reply:Here is a simple press brake I built from a design on this forum.  I turned down the press head extension on my lathe to get enough clearance for a 90 deg bend.   You do get some flex on heavier material as you travel out from center but I will attach some stabilizers to the ends of the head to see if that will correct it.  ChuckLast edited by Chucker; 01-21-2008 at 09:00 AM.
Reply:Looks pretty nice.I am thinking about something like that.
Reply:Like kolot said , I was just thinking if you know someone who commercially snowplows those wear plates on the bottom of the plow are pretty heavy duty and should give you a least one straight edge, if they havent been reversed.  chuckI love your project.  I have wanted to build one myself.I found a very good site with lots of information presses.http://www.e-ci.com/pdf/press_brakes...es_PT50691.pdfhttp://www.e-ci.com/pdf/press_brakes...ng_PI50686.pdfhttp://www.e-ci.com/pdf/tooling/pi-82001.pdfhttp://www.e-ci.com/products/press.htmlThey have a bending load calculator.http://www.e-ci.com/products/tc.phpI played with the calculator.5/16 material = .3125" and length 4.5"I guesstimated from the picture that distance across your bottom die was 1.5"It errors out and says that the opening must be larger.  The min is 1.6" and the required force is 13.5 tonsIf you enter the max opening size of 5.9" it goes to 3.1 tons force.My guess is that if you widen the bottom die it will work better.  A lawn mower blade is tough, but maybe not 13.5 ton tough.The style that Chucker made might work.
Reply:Here is another link for a low tech brakehttp://www.shopoutfitters.com/HandyBender2.htmlThey have a video of their bender in operation.For the thicker size metal they do not use a bottom die.  They use their frame. For thinner metal they are using something that looks like a machinist Vee Block that are available all over the place.Here's another homemade one. that shows all the dies.  I like it,http://www.rockwelder.com/Flash/Vbre...owerpress.htmlKeep posting. You're the R&D department for my project.Last edited by RancherBill; 01-23-2008 at 11:08 AM.