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Between 265 & 485 SQ/FT Kwik Fab's Small Shop

Workspaces sized between 265 and 485 squarefeet.
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KwikFab

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 27, 2024
Messages
1,181
Location
Central Valley, CA
No shop work today, just an early morning to wash the wife's vehicle.

20260525_084215.jpg

It was absolutely filthy so I like to have her going back to work all nice and clean.

Otherwise nothing else planned for the day other than errands.

And of course remembering what today is, being grateful to those I served that didn't make it back home.
 
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KwikFab

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 27, 2024
Messages
1,181
Location
Central Valley, CA
Made another set, this time for my own truck in which I implemented a 20 degree tilt.

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These feel really solid so I may keep them on for a year like I mentioned earlier.

Different companies offer them with minor differences which I try to correct such as -

Slider length, where some companies are offering an overall length shorter than the necessary 84 - 86" needed to cover the gap between the wheels

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Overhang, where the few companies that do provide a longer length don't reinforce the rear main tube as the general rule is to allow no more than 12" to go unsupported

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Additional mounting points outside of the factory holes, because who doesn't want more support

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Gutman

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 10, 2019
Messages
292
Location
ENC
Looks pretty stout. Went back and looked at your previous posts on the sliders and I'm very impressed with both your design and execution. Don't have a toyota, but your design has given me some ideas to put in my head for my truck. These pics put the reality into the CAD drawings you showed earlier.

I've been eyeballing that titan press brake, but at this point, I'm living with my hf shop press and a press brake I made. I'd also never considered getting a tube bender, but I'm starting to reconsider that position too.

I acquired a crossfire pro about 2 years ago and I'm slowly (very slowly, too slowly) coming up to speed. Sadly, it's purchase drove a lot of (re)organization (cleaning) of my home shop/garage, and as always, life gets in the way, so I've only started using it a couple months ago to cut a few small parts for repairs to my lawn tractor. I look back now at some of the fab work I've done for myself and others and realize how much it easier it could've been. Still working to grow my CAD skills; trying to get to the kindergarten level.

Your thread here, as well as your postings and input on the langmuir forum are appreciated by me and have helped. Thanks!
 
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KwikFab

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 27, 2024
Messages
1,181
Location
Central Valley, CA
Looks pretty stout. Went back and looked at your previous posts on the sliders and I'm very impressed with both your design and execution. Don't have a toyota, but your design has given me some ideas to put in my head for my truck. These pics put the reality into the CAD drawings you showed earlier.

I've been eyeballing that titan press brake, but at this point, I'm living with my hf shop press and a press brake I made. I'd also never considered getting a tube bender, but I'm starting to reconsider that position too.

I acquired a crossfire pro about 2 years ago and I'm slowly (very slowly, too slowly) coming up to speed. Sadly, it's purchase drove a lot of (re)organization (cleaning) of my home shop/garage, and as always, life gets in the way, so I've only started using it a couple months ago to cut a few small parts for repairs to my lawn tractor. I look back now at some of the fab work I've done for myself and others and realize how much it easier it could've been. Still working to grow my CAD skills; trying to get to the kindergarten level.

Your thread here, as well as your postings and input on the langmuir forum are appreciated by me and have helped. Thanks!

I'm still a complete novice when it comes to the 3D side of things, but if I can imagine it in my head then it makes sense (in an odd way) so you'll see my stuff in 2D 99% of the time :ROFLMAO:

Just hope any of my ramblings here help many others watching! I too would look back on my older stuff and think to myself "damn if only I had a CNC table back then" or "why did I wait so long to buy a brake".

Appreciate the kind words!
 
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KwikFab

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 27, 2024
Messages
1,181
Location
Central Valley, CA
Still keeping busy here, but don't want to post the same old stuff as it gets boring.

Last night however, I was toying with implementing some real world results I came up with the day before.

Fusion 360 allows users to input specific figures, with your model coming out basically how it should in real life. Thing is, there are other variables like human error (when measuring ****), placement of material between punch and die for bending, as well as material coming from different batches.

Anyway, this is a piece of scrap I bent up as my 3rd try in trying to bend something with a specific flange length and inside width between two flanges.

20260607_151750.jpg

Using this data, I worked on this last night for someone I make a lot of parts for. This is just part of it as there's more to be done to the remaining panels.

Screenshot 2026-06-11 221053.png

Obligatory action shot this morning.

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Onto the press brake; first time I'm bending 3 flanges on a single plane.

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Freaking damn near perfect.

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The flanges on the same plane vary as little as 0.2 degrees whereas across from each other they're within 1.1 degrees. I blame this on the steel being slightly warped.

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20260613_110850.jpg
 
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K

KwikFab

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 27, 2024
Messages
1,181
Location
Central Valley, CA
$10,238.41

That's how much I spent on March 23 of this year on what was supposed to be an investment. A means of doing more in the garage, a means to offer much more capability to others.

For those that don't know, I'm talking about my Langmuir CNC press brake.

Well, today I got an error code I've never seen before.

20260616_141403.jpg

Thinking it was just some kind of error that can be cleared out, I went ahead and cleared it and proceeded to home it which it finally did.

I used the machine a few more times, having power cycled it, and the message appeared yet again. Three times actually.

So I posted on the Langmuir forum because there seems to be a lot less clutter on there than the actual Facebook groups. The popular FB group is littered with non-owners and the sort so I knew if I got a response on the forum, it'd be much more helpful.

Well surprisingly enough, one of the tech-support guys replied right away with step by step instructions on how to remove the main control board for replacement, and test a new board prior to installation to confirm everything works. This is because it apparently when the motion control board starts to fail, the warnings that trigger are those that I'm starting to experience now.

I was a little annoyed by the fact that I'd have to dig in there and do all that, especially if you guys saw the pictures I took of inside the console.

What stood out to me most was this part here -

Screenshot 2026-06-16 202437.png

Excuse me, what the ****?

I was of course, much more polite than that in that, I stated I've only had the machine in my possession for 2 months and 12 days now which is well within the 6 month warranty on electronics.

Some of you may be alright with that, cause $106 delivered to my door isn't all that much.

Not to mention, another poster said "maybe he didn't know that" when I stated how I only recently purchased my machine. I was thinking yeah, he may be right since after all they're posting after hours (they're in TX, I'm in CA).

No **** I checked my email just for kicks and there it was, an invoice for me to pay the amount of $106 and some change for a replacement board. A replacement board that is deemed faulty, well within the warranty period.

So I didn't reply and told myself (and the forum) I'll just call tomorrow cause I hope it's a mixup but man I am now starting to see why so many people are having issues with this thing, and them, in general. I was hoping to be one of those guys that "got a good one". Even after the big oil leaks when it first arrived, or the wood tray that was broken even though the packaging was fully intact. Let's not forget the ram opening being way out of spec that I had to buy a dial indicator just to fix it, or the fact that the linear guide rail for the material support arms isn't fully installed because several mounting holes were way out of line and I couldn't get bolts on them.

To be fair, I did get a partial refund on the material support arms, because they told me they only check something like 6 of the 12 or 18 holes it has for alignment.

Anyway I had much more typed out but I just deleted it because it isn't fair to say just yet. Not until I call them tomorrow, but if I have to buy a new board then what the heck is a warranty good for anyway?

Sorry for the rant. I'll update tomorrow.
 

PugetDude

ALLIANCE MEMBER
Joined
Mar 13, 2013
Messages
22,363
Location
Superstition Mountains, AZ
$10,238.41

That's how much I spent on March 23 of this year on what was supposed to be an investment. A means of doing more in the garage, a means to offer much more capability to others.

For those that don't know, I'm talking about my Langmuir CNC press brake.

Well, today I got an error code I've never seen before.

20260616_141403.jpg

Thinking it was just some kind of error that can be cleared out, I went ahead and cleared it and proceeded to home it which it finally did.

I used the machine a few more times, having power cycled it, and the message appeared yet again. Three times actually.

So I posted on the Langmuir forum because there seems to be a lot less clutter on there than the actual Facebook groups. The popular FB group is littered with non-owners and the sort so I knew if I got a response on the forum, it'd be much more helpful.

Well surprisingly enough, one of the tech-support guys replied right away with step by step instructions on how to remove the main control board for replacement, and test a new board prior to installation to confirm everything works. This is because it apparently when the motion control board starts to fail, the warnings that trigger are those that I'm starting to experience now.

I was a little annoyed by the fact that I'd have to dig in there and do all that, especially if you guys saw the pictures I took of inside the console.

What stood out to me most was this part here -

Screenshot 2026-06-16 202437.png

Excuse me, what the ****?

I was of course, much more polite than that in that, I stated I've only had the machine in my possession for 2 months and 12 days now which is well within the 6 month warranty on electronics.

Some of you may be alright with that, cause $106 delivered to my door isn't all that much.

Not to mention, another poster said "maybe he didn't know that" when I stated how I only recently purchased my machine. I was thinking yeah, he may be right since after all they're posting after hours (they're in TX, I'm in CA).

No **** I checked my email just for kicks and there it was, an invoice for me to pay the amount of $106 and some change for a replacement board. A replacement board that is deemed faulty, well within the warranty period.

So I didn't reply and told myself (and the forum) I'll just call tomorrow cause I hope it's a mixup but man I am now starting to see why so many people are having issues with this thing, and them, in general. I was hoping to be one of those guys that "got a good one". Even after the big oil leaks when it first arrived, or the wood tray that was broken even though the packaging was fully intact. Let's not forget the ram opening being way out of spec that I had to buy a dial indicator just to fix it, or the fact that the linear guide rail for the material support arms isn't fully installed because several mounting holes were way out of line and I couldn't get bolts on them.

To be fair, I did get a partial refund on the material support arms, because they told me they only check something like 6 of the 12 or 18 holes it has for alignment.

Anyway I had much more typed out but I just deleted it because it isn't fair to say just yet. Not until I call them tomorrow, but if I have to buy a new board then what the heck is a warranty good for anyway?

Sorry for the rant. I'll update tomorrow.
WTF doesn't begin to describe this.
Keep us posted.
 
OP
K

KwikFab

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 27, 2024
Messages
1,181
Location
Central Valley, CA
WTF doesn't begin to describe this.
Keep us posted.

Will do.

And in case anyone's wondering, this was received via email at 3:15pm at the same time the response was posted on the forum.

Screenshot 2026-06-16 162530.jpeg

Let's just hope it's an oversight. Still, it'll **** if the controller is going out because I don't want this to be a recurring issue during ownership.
 
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