American press brake punch clamping

[whateg01]

Building a heavier press brake accessory for my hydraulic press bought a punch and die that uses the American style of tang, 1/2x5/8. Should the punch contact the ram on the shoulders or on top of the tang? Seems to me shoulders provide a wider footprint and on a 1" thick punch equal surface area to the top of the tang. But I've always made my previous press brake stuff to fit what I had on hand and then made punches to fit that. I would like to use more standard tooling going forward, so trying to learn more about commercial use.

 

[RoninB4]

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[dr_clyde]

Shoulders only.

There is a gap between the tang and the ram. The tang is there just to keep it centered and provide a clamping surface.

 

[whateg01]

Thanks! That makes sense to me. My buddy told me that as far as he knew, all the press brake tooling he had seen pushed on the tang, but that doesn't seem right to me. Glad I didn't start cutting the ram yet.

Any chance of getting more pics of his all those pieces fit together? Is the shiny area in the middle just relieved for clearance? I haven't found many detail pics on the web.

 

[dr_clyde]

The clamps are relieved for clearance when forming flanges that may interfere. They did not come from the factory this way, they got cut in by the owner of this brake.

The clamp just needs enough pressure to keep the punch from falling out and from tilting sideways. No need to over tighten it. The clamp needs to be on the same plane as the ram so the punch sits straight.





My neighbors and good friends own a sheet metal shop two doors down from my machine shop, this is one of their Accurpress machines.

 

[whateg01]

Thanks for those pics!

 

[OccupantRJ]

Thanks for those pics!

If I remember it tomorrow I will take a couple of end profile pics for you of various tooling pieces I have around If you would like.

 

[whateg01]

If I remember it tomorrow I will take a couple of end profile pics for you of various tooling pieces I have around If you would like.

Thanks. For now I'm just making short punches as needed, or that's the plan. I did buy a 24" punch for general stuff. Looks like there are probably other mounting methods that might have been easier to work around but this is pretty simple so I'm not upset. I guess it didn't really occur to me that there were as many different mounting styles as there are.