Swag Off Road Press Brake

[brittf]

I saw the recent posts regarding Swag Off Road press brakes so I thought I would post my experience.

I purchased the Swag Off Road 20 ton finger brake in December, 2014. I also purchased the Flat Top adjustable V-die and the arbor press plates.

Since I have an Arcan press I had a little bit of a fitment problem.

The Swag Off Road press brakes are designed to work with a Harbor Freight 20 ton press. The uprights on the Arcan press are wider than the Harbor Freight press. The press brake has ears on each side that locate it in the press.



I had to remove the ears so that the press could be centered in the press. Fortunately the ears are only tacked welded in place so it was easy to cut the tack welds and knock them out.



I then had to fabricate a system to locate the press brake in the press and hold it in place. I used the existing holes on the back side of the press brake (I turned it around) and used a piece of 2" x 3/16" bar. It is offset and attached to the press brake with some 3/4" diameter tubing.



Third, the punch on the Arcan press was too large to fit the collar on the Swag Off Road press brake. Since I ordered the press brake already welded I couldn't easily changed the collar so I machined the punch to fit.



It's difficult to see in this picture but I placed a piece of 1/2" angle iron on the underside of the flat top adjustable V-die to locate it properly in the press.



I still have a little more work to do to fine tune the V-die to get the desired bends but so far I'm pretty happy with the Arcan and Swag Off Road products.


Britt

 

[LXCam]

Very cool. Have you tried to bend with it yet?.

 

[brouser01]

I am really curious about these types of brakes, how do you get a 90 degree bend out of a 90 lower die? It seems like you would need to bend your stock at least 2-3 degrees beyond 90 to get a true 90 degrees. Assuming there is a little spring-back.
Please report back after you start bending.
Thanks

 

[brittf]

"...Have you tried to bend with it yet?."

Yes, I have and I still need to tweak some things. Because of the sharp edges on the flat top V-die, the piece being bent does not "slide" evenly causing the location of the bend to move. I'm going to try and lubricate the V-die to see if that will solve the problem. If not I may need to round the edges of the die. I hope to play with it some on Sunday. We'll see.


Britt

 

[LXCam]

"...Have you tried to bend with it yet?."

Yes, I have and I still need to tweak some things. Because of the sharp edges on the flat top V-die, the piece being bent does not "slide" evenly causing the location of the bend to move. I'm going to try and lubricate the V-die to see if that will solve the problem. If not I may need to round the edges of the die. I hope to play with it some on Sunday. We'll see.


Britt

Agreed on smoothing out the leading edge and instead of using a full blown lubricant that'll be a little bit of a pain to clean off, try silicon spray.

 

[brittf]

Agreed on smoothing out the leading edge and instead of using a full blown lubricant that'll be a little bit of a pain to clean off, try silicon spray.

I'm concerned about using silicons in my shop because of my paint booth. Silicons can wreck havoc during painting.


Britt

 

[srmofo]

I am really curious about these types of brakes, how do you get a 90 degree bend out of a 90 lower die? It seems like you would need to bend your stock at least 2-3 degrees beyond 90 to get a true 90 degrees. Assuming there is a little spring-back.
Please report back after you start bending.
Thanks

They claim 110°

 

[mike13u]

Nice review. I have the Swag kit also. It is a great tool for the money and will serve you well. To answer the question above, it will bend beyond 90 degree. To get an accurate angle, most users will use a digital angle gauge (see: Wixey angle gauge). Repeatable bends can be done with the back stop that comes with the kit.
The Swag Off Road press brake is heavily reviewed on the net for those that are looking for further info. Most reviews are very positive.
Britt, You machined your press but ordered the Swag kit already welded? Your welding table in the pictures indicates a fabricator that should have zero issues melting this kit together Enjoy your brake

 

[mikegt4]

Those press plates under the SWAG unit look like they are hanging on by their fingernails!!! I hope that you rotated them 90* before using your press.

 

[alan camby]

That is a very nice looking welding table. Is that the Strong hand brand?
I agree with Mike on the press plates. They look too small for your press and it looks like there is not much room to turn them sideways.

 

[brittf]

Those press plates under the SWAG unit look like they are hanging on by their fingernails!!! I hope that you rotated them 90* before using your press.

That is a very nice looking welding table. Is that the Strong hand brand?
I agree with Mike on the press plates. They look too small for your press and it looks like there is not much room to turn them sideways.

I wanted to purchase the Swag Off Road 12" x 12" press plates but there is only 23 15/16" clearance between the uprights on the Arcan press. Since I wanted the maximum width beneath the press brake I purchased the 8 1/2" x 10" versions. They're placed now for maximum length under the brake. Since I don't plan to use the full width of the brake at this time I'll rotate them so the 10" width spans the opening and they don't look like they are "hanging on by their fingernails".

Yes, that is a Strong Hand BuildPro welding table. I discovered the Strong Hand products about three years ago. It was one of the best investments I made in my home shop. Fabrication is much easier with this table.


Britt

 

[brittf]

I was able to make a for real item today with my new press brake. I made this bracket to attach a roller to a stand that I have. It came our very nice. I was pleased.







I'm still working on determining how far to make the bend to account for springback. As it stands now I'm bending it to almost 100 degrees for a 90 degree bend and I'm still seeing springback to less than a full 90 degree bend. I did not expect this much springback. I'll keep working on it. I'm using a digital level to measure the bend.


Britt

 

[vegar]

If it's still sticking you could use Molycote 321r wich is a anti-friction lacquer. You spray it on, let it cure for 15 min, polishing the surface, and redo it a second time

 

[astroracer]

I had to trim the tabs off my Swag brake also to fit into my Continental. I never worried about actually bolting it into the press. I've bent 5/8th's inch plate with it with no issues. It just sits there and does the work.

Mark

 

[brittf]

astroracer

It looks like your press plates are "hanging on by their fingertips" as well.


Britt

 

[brittf]

If it's still sticking you could use Molycote 321r wich is a anti-friction lacquer. You spray it on, let it cure for 15 min, polishing the surface, and redo it a second time

vegar

Thank you for the heads up on Molycoat 321. I'm going to buy a can and give it a shot.

You noticed the can of grease on my workbench. I did apply it to the back of the steel being formed. Not sure if it helped or not. From looking at the score marks after the bend it still appeared that one side stayed stationary and the other side moved. However, my bend came out exactly as expected. Maybe I'm making too much out of this.


Britt

 

[astroracer]

astroracer

It looks like your press plates are "hanging on by their fingertips" as well.


Britt

Yea, I was doing a quick bend job in 3/16th's when I took that pic. I have a pair of 1" x 3" bars I put under the press plates when I am doing heavy stuff. You can see them on the right hand side of this pic.

Mark

 

[bad_idea]

astroracer,

I like the mobile base you made for your press. It appears the foot print is smaller than the legs that came on my 20t HF model. Is it tippy? Thanks.

 

[astroracer]

astroracer,

I like the mobile base you made for your press. It appears the foot print is smaller than the legs that came on my 20t HF model. Is it tippy? Thanks.

Sorry, didn't see this until today. No, it is not tippy. I roll this thing all over the place.
My build thread for the cart is here:
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=238768
Mark

 

[mtnkid85]

Bumbing this old thread for some longer term input. Hows the brake been holding up for you guys? Any issues?

Im getting ready to order one and thinking im going to go with the Heavy Duty finger brake.

 

[Bodj Built]

I have the HD finger brake and it works great. Bends beyond 90* to around 105ish, and does everything I need it to do.

 

[Griff93]

i have the HD finger brake as well. For occasional home use it's great. For making a lot of something, not so much. If you want to bump bend a larger radius it kinda ***** as it's got a good bit of slop in it even when new. That slop leads to inconsistent bends even when using a digital angle guage. The corners of the dies have rounded over time as well. Mild steel and aluminum are all that have been bent in it. I've found that sometimes i need a riser under the lower die to allow it to have enough clearance for a piece that is bent in the opposite direction. The back gauge makes it roll the lower die towards the rear. I ended up welding 4 tabs on mine so I could bolt it to a piece of 3/4" plate to keep this from happening.

 

[clubairth]

Griff93 anyway you could post a picture of your mods?
I think I understand what your saying.
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[Bodj Built]

I wouldn't use it if you're in a production setting. I bought it for one off parts in my garage, but I have done a run of 250 sets of 3 bent parts (750 bends) in a matter of 2.5 days, with welding and some other stuff in between to keep my sanity. The air over hydraulic 20ton jack from HF is worth its weight in gold.

 

[Jason280]

I recently picked up the heavy duty finger brake, but I've yet to actually use it on a project..I've done a few test bends, but that's about it.

 

[Griff93]

I'll try to remember to take a picture or two of mine when I'm in the shop.