Another press brake. Lots of pictures.

[jbyrd]

I needed a way other than Oxy/Acetylene and a vise to make a sharp bend in ¼ plate and strap for projects. A lot of press brake projects have been completed here and on other forums so I was able to roll the common design features into my own version. Also design was driven by what materials I had on hand, not necessarily by the best materials for the project. For example the bottom die I used is solid hex bar that I quite literally found out in the dirt on my property. I think it is part of an old tractor implement! I am by no means a professional fabricator but enjoy making my own tools and projects. Was recently laid off from my job of 10 years and I am now starting welding school in January. As always comments, suggestions, respectful critiques are welcome.



Did my initial design in Google Sketchup (love this program!)



Materials sized and cut, ready for assembly. Bottom plate is 3/8, as well as the top die. 5/8 inch bolts. Springs I bought from Ace Hardware for .60 a piece.



I drilled the bottom plate with a 19/32 drill bit (1/32 under 5/8), then ground a taper on the ends of the 5/8 bolts.



With the taper on the ends I tapped the bolts into place to enable me to make sure they were parallel and 90 degrees to the bottom plate.

[jbyrd]

Making sure bolts are 90 degrees to the bottom plate to allow smooth movement of the upper die.



With the bolts tapped into place and square I turned the plate over and tacked each bolt from the bottom, turned the plate back over and adjusted the bolts to square, turned the plate over, added another tack… rinse repeat until I had three tacks on each bolt and then poured the heat on.



After welding the bolts from the bottom I then ground the weld down flat



With bolts in place and parallel, it was time to weld the guides onto the side of the top die.

[jbyrd]

Because of the size of my bottom die (1.25” Hex bar) the top die did not need to contact the bottom plate to complete a 90 degree bend on anything I was going to bed. The springs compress down to 1.5” so I added a 1.5 tube spacer underneath the guides that I was welding to the top die to set the correct height and then spaced the top die up with some scrap ¼ plate. I hope that makes sense.



Small tack welds to keep the guides in place before completing the weld



Completed weld on guide and top die



Because of the close fit of the guides on the bolts any misalignment during travel would cause the guides to bind on the bolts. So I hand filed angles on the openings of the guides to eliminate this. Worked great.

[jbyrd]

Tack welded the bottom dies into place. From my research on this board and others it was suggested the distance from contact point to contact point should be 8 times the thickness of the material you plan to bend. In my case ¼ plate so the two contact points are 2 inches apart.



Welded ¾ thick x 2” wide x6.75” long reinforcements on the bottom plate to prevent any bending of the bottom plate.



I also welded 3” wide ¼ thick flat bar perpendicular to the bottom plate to index the press brake when setting it on the press. I found that after welding the bottom die and the under-plate supports that I needed to give the bolts a little love with a hammer to get them back to parallel.



Welding a 1” I.D. tube on the top die to properly index the ram on to the die.

[jbyrd]

Press brake on my modified HF press brake.



Some completed bends. Happy with the results. 1/8 plate, 3/16 flat bar, and 3/8 inch flat bar.

[JayO]

Your work is really good but using that hex stock wasn't the best choice. I used some of that hex stock on my base and that edge is wearing down so on my next one I'll use round stock. If there is a way to add a stop for repetitive work, it makes alot easier and enjoyable to use.