Between 265 & 485 SQ/FT Kwik Fab's Small Shop
- Thread starter KwikFab
- Start date
Workspaces sized between 265 and 485 squarefeet.
PugetDude
ALLIANCE MEMBER
I printed mine with my Miller 211 and a BFH using a 8" piece of 3/8 rebar and a stub of 3/4" x 1/8" wall DOM tubing...
The BFH allowed me to get a nice tight friction fit on the obround pressure reducing valve.
I printed mine with my Miller 211 and a BFH using a 8" piece of 3/8 rebar and a stub of 3/4" x 1/8" wall DOM tubing...
The BFH allowed me to get a nice tight friction fit on the obround pressure reducing valve.
Yeeeeeah, I'm not gonna put that much effort if it ain't making me money
larry4406
Well-known member
M.Brane
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Was thinking the same recently. Hopefully he just decided to take a break from web of distraction.
rd65
Well-known member
I was going to leave him a note on his YT channel but havent yet.
larry4406
Well-known member
Good to hear you are still around.I did slow down quite a bit in the shop as far as work goes; I ceased taking orders for the last few months but there have been a lot of changes lately which I'll post about.
Thanks guys
Looking forward to updates when time allows.
Take care.
So, when my mom passed we took some time to settle things and just spend time with family.
My mom didn't own a home, or have property and that sort of thing so it was just about ensuring everything was paid for and getting a proper burial and ceremony which we did.
Continued to take time off as it was my son's birthday earlier this month, along with my good friend's daughter; this is the daughter I've joked about that will marry our son because they're only 9 days apart.
Anyway I had plans to buy a larger press brake which I've mentioned before on here and I had finally made the jump just a week ago after lots of moving stuff around.
In order for that to happen though I had to throw away and sell a lot of stuff, I'm talking brand new tools that I had acquired over the years that I never even used.
It also meant boxing stuff up that were just an "idea" and sending them off to friends that initiated that idea to begin with to finish said project.
The above pictures were after a lot of clean up had already occurred.
Got a new battery for the Z, put some gas in it, and got it out and about before parking it in the driveway in preparation for this thing.
It's a CNC press brake from Langmuir, a company I know all too well being a moderator for their CNC Plasma group.
I've gotten to play with it quite a bit and I did opt for some add-ons, but at this moment it sits on a pallet in the middle of the garage. I do have a line on a chain hoist to be delivered (possibly) this Monday, so once it arrives I'll be able to position it towards the back wall underneath my Marine Corps flag.
Business will slowly resume as I've been toying around and learning the UI but I have to say, this little thing is freaking impressive.
It did require me to do a few things such as leveling the ram as it was a whole 0.018" off between the left end and the right end.
Got it dialed down to 0.001" from end to end.
As for the old Ford F250? I cheap sold it just to make space in the driveway; crazy to think it only had 125k miles on it but it needed to go.
Can't wait until I'm back in the swing of things!
My mom didn't own a home, or have property and that sort of thing so it was just about ensuring everything was paid for and getting a proper burial and ceremony which we did.
Continued to take time off as it was my son's birthday earlier this month, along with my good friend's daughter; this is the daughter I've joked about that will marry our son because they're only 9 days apart.
Anyway I had plans to buy a larger press brake which I've mentioned before on here and I had finally made the jump just a week ago after lots of moving stuff around.
In order for that to happen though I had to throw away and sell a lot of stuff, I'm talking brand new tools that I had acquired over the years that I never even used.
It also meant boxing stuff up that were just an "idea" and sending them off to friends that initiated that idea to begin with to finish said project.
The above pictures were after a lot of clean up had already occurred.
Got a new battery for the Z, put some gas in it, and got it out and about before parking it in the driveway in preparation for this thing.
It's a CNC press brake from Langmuir, a company I know all too well being a moderator for their CNC Plasma group.
I've gotten to play with it quite a bit and I did opt for some add-ons, but at this moment it sits on a pallet in the middle of the garage. I do have a line on a chain hoist to be delivered (possibly) this Monday, so once it arrives I'll be able to position it towards the back wall underneath my Marine Corps flag.
Business will slowly resume as I've been toying around and learning the UI but I have to say, this little thing is freaking impressive.
It did require me to do a few things such as leveling the ram as it was a whole 0.018" off between the left end and the right end.
Got it dialed down to 0.001" from end to end.
As for the old Ford F250? I cheap sold it just to make space in the driveway; crazy to think it only had 125k miles on it but it needed to go.
Can't wait until I'm back in the swing of things!
larry4406
Well-known member
Sorry to hear of your mom's passing. Its hard and there is really nothing more to be said.So, when my mom passed we took some time to settle things and just spend time with family.
My mom didn't own a home, or have property and that sort of thing so it was just about ensuring everything was paid for and getting a proper burial and ceremony which we did.
Continued to take time off as it was my son's birthday earlier this month, along with my good friend's daughter; this is the daughter I've joked about that will marry our son because they're only 9 days apart.
Anyway I had plans to buy a larger press brake which I've mentioned before on here and I had finally made the jump just a week ago after lots of moving stuff around.
In order for that to happen though I had to throw away and sell a lot of stuff, I'm talking brand new tools that I had acquired over the years that I never even used.
It also meant boxing stuff up that were just an "idea" and sending them off to friends that initiated that idea to begin with to finish said project.
The above pictures were after a lot of clean up had already occurred.
Got a new battery for the Z, put some gas in it, and got it out and about before parking it in the driveway in preparation for this thing.
It's a CNC press brake from Langmuir, a company I know all too well being a moderator for their CNC Plasma group.
I've gotten to play with it quite a bit and I did opt for some add-ons, but at this moment it sits on a pallet in the middle of the garage. I do have a line on a chain hoist to be delivered (possibly) this Monday, so once it arrives I'll be able to position it towards the back wall underneath my Marine Corps flag.
Business will slowly resume as I've been toying around and learning the UI but I have to say, this little thing is freaking impressive.
It did require me to do a few things such as leveling the ram as it was a whole 0.018" off between the left end and the right end.
Got it dialed down to 0.001" from end to end.
As for the old Ford F250? I cheap sold it just to make space in the driveway; crazy to think it only had 125k miles on it but it needed to go.
Can't wait until I'm back in the swing of things!
When my dad passed, I kind of went into a funk for several months before the fog finally cleared. Many many years later when mom passed, the same funk set in before it too finally passed. I've found I get the same kind of funk during winter months when daylight is short.
Sorry to digress.
Glad you are back, and we look forward to your success with your new toy!
M.Brane
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Good to see you're still kickin'. Condolences on the mom. Mine passed back in '23, and I'm still dealing with the estate since my siblings made a mess of it. It's what they wanted.....
Looking forward to seeing what you create with the new brake.
Looking forward to seeing what you create with the new brake.
Thanks.
The truck was inherited when my father in law passed some +2 years ago.
About a week before he passed, it stopped turning on and it sat at my mother in laws for a year before giving it to me.
I had some intentions of getting it running, and although I'm mechanically inclined, I have zero knowledge of diesel engines and have a terrible back (disabled).
Only recently did I list it to go, as I just needed space. Put it up for $5k on marketplace and the forum and to go asap, I accepted $1,500 for it. Yeah it was absolutely immaculate inside, but I had it sitting here long enough.
I didn't even keep the money as I gave it to my mother in law shortly after.
As for replacing it, I have a short bed Tacoma that will suffice for picking up material as needed. That and I'm modifying it for future trips to Death Valley, Rubicon, and more.
Still need to weld on my sliders, install my winch, and more but I'm using my own truck as a template for some add-ons I'll be offering to future customers.
Thank you!
I do hope I can offer more work, somehow.
I don't have a website, and most of my work comes from word of mouth (whether online or in-person). The only niche item I offer is sold on a Toyota forum so that does help, but I haven't looked into other ideas just yet.
One item I will be putting together here is working with another local fabricator to make his weld-on sliders a bolt-on solution. Not everyone wants to pay someone to weld on something to their vehicle frame, much less make it a permanent addition, so I will be cutting and bending said parts for making them a bolt-on setup for locals.
From there I can try to gauge what else customers want. This is the same guy I made those large molle panels for as well as the fuel can holder so he's keeping me busy for sure.
LeonardY
Well-known member
My condolences for your loss.
I'm glad to see you back.
Nice new toy.
I'm glad to see you back.
Nice new toy.
Man, what a day.
After some back and forth with a few different people on FB Marketplace, I was finally able to secure a hoist. There are so many available, but all of them are farther than 2 hours away until I came across one guy that rents them out at the rate of $35 per day. Nice thing is, he even dropped it off for an extra $30 since he's 22mins away each way and that includes pick up of course.
The way Langmuir suggests doing this isn't exactly how they did it; I know because I actually asked them when I was on the phone with them prior to ordering. In my mind I had a different idea which went mostly well until one sketchy part.
Goal was to use a jack to lift the pallet so I can place some wood underneath to raise it above the hoist legs.
From there it was as easy as getting the hoist through and lifting the brake off the pallet.
Got the angle iron off and moved forward with mounting one of the legs. The goal here was to support the left side of the brake, unhook the hoist, and move it over to lift the other side and get the wood and other leg on.
Not shown in the above pic was the moment where I was placing musical chairs with a 3 ton jackstand as I didn't want the brake to go unsupported from the rear. Anyway, I got the other leg on before moving the hoist to lift it up again.
The intent here was to use the hoist to lift and support one side while undoing one of the bolts for swinging out said leg. This way I could slide in the wood panel but this proved to be harder than I thought so I had to play with lifting the other side slightly.
And she's pretty much ready to go!
Except when I went to fire it up, it wouldn't display. Decided to pop off the top panel and check all the plugs going into the mini PC in case one got loose (like the HDMI).
Whatever it was, it fired up afterward! Taking a break for now but still have to clean up shop.
Otherwise I'm stoked for the added shop capability
After some back and forth with a few different people on FB Marketplace, I was finally able to secure a hoist. There are so many available, but all of them are farther than 2 hours away until I came across one guy that rents them out at the rate of $35 per day. Nice thing is, he even dropped it off for an extra $30 since he's 22mins away each way and that includes pick up of course.
The way Langmuir suggests doing this isn't exactly how they did it; I know because I actually asked them when I was on the phone with them prior to ordering. In my mind I had a different idea which went mostly well until one sketchy part.
Goal was to use a jack to lift the pallet so I can place some wood underneath to raise it above the hoist legs.
From there it was as easy as getting the hoist through and lifting the brake off the pallet.
Got the angle iron off and moved forward with mounting one of the legs. The goal here was to support the left side of the brake, unhook the hoist, and move it over to lift the other side and get the wood and other leg on.
Not shown in the above pic was the moment where I was placing musical chairs with a 3 ton jackstand as I didn't want the brake to go unsupported from the rear. Anyway, I got the other leg on before moving the hoist to lift it up again.
The intent here was to use the hoist to lift and support one side while undoing one of the bolts for swinging out said leg. This way I could slide in the wood panel but this proved to be harder than I thought so I had to play with lifting the other side slightly.
And she's pretty much ready to go!
Except when I went to fire it up, it wouldn't display. Decided to pop off the top panel and check all the plugs going into the mini PC in case one got loose (like the HDMI).
Whatever it was, it fired up afterward! Taking a break for now but still have to clean up shop.
Otherwise I'm stoked for the added shop capability
M.Brane
ALLIANCE MEMBER
We've probably all done some sketchy 5h1t moving heavy, awkward things at some point. You got it done without breaking anything or hurting anyone. It was a good day.
Cleaned up as best as I could!
Just need to sell the subwoofer that sits next to my brake; that spot is intended for my welding cart so once that's gone I can have free access to the brake without moving anything.
That and getting some big boxes out of the way by finally installing parts onto my truck.
Just need to sell the subwoofer that sits next to my brake; that spot is intended for my welding cart so once that's gone I can have free access to the brake without moving anything.
That and getting some big boxes out of the way by finally installing parts onto my truck.
Old Man Roger
Well-known member
I never knew there was a cnc brake.
They've been around for many years now!
Just not at this small scale as Langmuir came out with theirs some 2 years ago. I waited out the whole pre-order thing just to see how things panned out, not to mention I switched CNC tables and plasma cutter last year (expensive purchases by themselves).
Funny thing is, that 'against the wall' pic makes the brake look small until you see the whole garage layout. The brake's footprint is some 4' x 4' with a working width of 33" for 25 tons.
Old Man Roger
Well-known member
Ya, you got cool tools.lol
And since orders are going to open up soon, a repeat customer already sent me a template of the next art sculpture.
I don't believe I've mentioned this one before but I've done a few for him in the past.
A template arrives, I scale it as needed, and cut and weld the parts together.
Here's one from the beginning of last year (don't have a picture of the template).
And another I did a few months later.
I don't believe I've mentioned this one before but I've done a few for him in the past.
A template arrives, I scale it as needed, and cut and weld the parts together.
Here's one from the beginning of last year (don't have a picture of the template).
And another I did a few months later.
Last week my backgauge for my press brake had finally arrived but since I was pretty busy this weekend, I had no time to even unbox anything.
Got started today, and holy **** +30 bags in just hardware alone.
I spent a little time getting the X-axis for both the left and right side done.
Got started on the R-axis but had to stop right away. While I've got nicer T-handles and Wera allen wrenches in metric, my SAE are old and the 3/32" I needed for the leadnut was pretty stripped.
The nylock nuts have a ton of nylon so it's hard getting the bolts going so I'll continue tomorrow once my new T-handle arrives.
Got started today, and holy **** +30 bags in just hardware alone.
I spent a little time getting the X-axis for both the left and right side done.
Got started on the R-axis but had to stop right away. While I've got nicer T-handles and Wera allen wrenches in metric, my SAE are old and the 3/32" I needed for the leadnut was pretty stripped.
The nylock nuts have a ton of nylon so it's hard getting the bolts going so I'll continue tomorrow once my new T-handle arrives.
Man, I fear I won't be able to stand upright come tomorrow or the day after. Was easily reminded that this whole brake weighs over 1,100lbs with the tooling and stuff.
I got the R-axis assembly done.
Followed by getting each R-axis assembly attached to its respective side on the X-axis assemblies.
Then the final backgauge bar.
This is where I wish I had friends, at least friends that don't live 5+ hours away because this sucked.
Have to hunch over, and hold with one hand a +50lb assembly while trying to thread on these tiny bolts. Mind you the thickness of the plate takes up half the bolt threads almost so the assembly must be held square against the brake.
Then you have to do it again.
I had a **** ton of trouble as one bolt didn't want to go through. Undid the other bolts, removed the assembly, and found this.
After I cleaned up the holes, I got it installed along with the center bar.
I'll finish whenever I get back to it.
I got the R-axis assembly done.
Followed by getting each R-axis assembly attached to its respective side on the X-axis assemblies.
Then the final backgauge bar.
This is where I wish I had friends, at least friends that don't live 5+ hours away because this sucked.
Have to hunch over, and hold with one hand a +50lb assembly while trying to thread on these tiny bolts. Mind you the thickness of the plate takes up half the bolt threads almost so the assembly must be held square against the brake.
Then you have to do it again.
I had a **** ton of trouble as one bolt didn't want to go through. Undid the other bolts, removed the assembly, and found this.
After I cleaned up the holes, I got it installed along with the center bar.
I'll finish whenever I get back to it.
M.Brane
ALLIANCE MEMBER
The next time I need a hoist I'm just gonna buy one. They come in handy, and are easy to store. I have a gantry crane that lives in the driveway, but it's too tall for the garage.
Today's an easier day.
Customer dropped off some 3/8" plate as he needs some brake caliper mounting brackets cut out. I think I'll cut those out tomorrow or the day after as I got stuff to do.
Got started back up on the brake and added the drag chain along with some wiring.
Only the R-axis motor and limit switch wires run through it so that was quick and easy.
Can't remember if I added a picture of inside the control box but here it is.
Within that rat's nest, I not only have to stuff these drivers, power supply, and controller inside but do so in a way that it bolts in from the bottom.
Got the rear ports added; ignore my OCD if you notice it.
Also, mid-installation UPS dropped off my $300+ order of hardware.
Here the wires are run to the controller, along with having added zip ties for all the soft lines.
And everything is wired and bolted in place.
All that's left is to add the wire ties to the frame, run the remaining wires, and connect everything to the rear ports.
Customer dropped off some 3/8" plate as he needs some brake caliper mounting brackets cut out. I think I'll cut those out tomorrow or the day after as I got stuff to do.
Got started back up on the brake and added the drag chain along with some wiring.
Only the R-axis motor and limit switch wires run through it so that was quick and easy.
Can't remember if I added a picture of inside the control box but here it is.
Within that rat's nest, I not only have to stuff these drivers, power supply, and controller inside but do so in a way that it bolts in from the bottom.
Got the rear ports added; ignore my OCD if you notice it.
Also, mid-installation UPS dropped off my $300+ order of hardware.
Here the wires are run to the controller, along with having added zip ties for all the soft lines.
And everything is wired and bolted in place.
All that's left is to add the wire ties to the frame, run the remaining wires, and connect everything to the rear ports.
Shortly after the last picture, I got everything tidied up and connected.
My OCD doesn't allow me to proceed until I clean up shop so I did that, did my numbers for the upcoming orders, and fired up the brake.
It required a whole process of setting the backgauge fingers in one position, disconnecting a motor, and doing fine adjustments to the opposing side for the X axis.
Then the same thing for the R-axis.
After which you jog it back within 1/8" of the limit switches, then adjust your stops so they trigger them.
All ready to go now!
I just need to figure out how to add my back gauge settings as I do have a few parts programmed already.
I think the best way to go about it for single bent parts is to use a flat, square piece of steel and scribe distances needed for my pre-existing programs. Then use that steel to adjust and set the backgauge for said program.
My OCD doesn't allow me to proceed until I clean up shop so I did that, did my numbers for the upcoming orders, and fired up the brake.
It required a whole process of setting the backgauge fingers in one position, disconnecting a motor, and doing fine adjustments to the opposing side for the X axis.
Then the same thing for the R-axis.
After which you jog it back within 1/8" of the limit switches, then adjust your stops so they trigger them.
All ready to go now!
I just need to figure out how to add my back gauge settings as I do have a few parts programmed already.
I think the best way to go about it for single bent parts is to use a flat, square piece of steel and scribe distances needed for my pre-existing programs. Then use that steel to adjust and set the backgauge for said program.
Have to say, the backgauge works pretty damn well!
I'm unsure what the proper way I need to go about setting my backgauge parameters for each program, but what I've been doing works well.
I can set my program's parameters, and just feed like-parts knowing they'll each bend for the same length flange and angle.
The parts I posted the other day, well today I made the other side. Didn't take long but I needed to confirm a few things before committing to the mirroring side.
Just need to get a few nuts welded on, which was all that hardware that arrived 2 days ago.
Also FedEx finally delivered by bottom die - I ordered a 4" to pair with one of my 4" gooseneck punches.
Not only are all the various length tools helpful in using only the tooling I need for any width flange, but also to have separate tooling mounted on my brake for various bends and clearance.
Other tooling that sits below on the stand.
I'm unsure what the proper way I need to go about setting my backgauge parameters for each program, but what I've been doing works well.
I can set my program's parameters, and just feed like-parts knowing they'll each bend for the same length flange and angle.
The parts I posted the other day, well today I made the other side. Didn't take long but I needed to confirm a few things before committing to the mirroring side.
Just need to get a few nuts welded on, which was all that hardware that arrived 2 days ago.
Also FedEx finally delivered by bottom die - I ordered a 4" to pair with one of my 4" gooseneck punches.
Not only are all the various length tools helpful in using only the tooling I need for any width flange, but also to have separate tooling mounted on my brake for various bends and clearance.
Other tooling that sits below on the stand.