50" press brake build

[dkmc]

I'll keep an eye out for any of the American Tooling we have here if we are going to scrap it...might cost you shipping only...no promises but I know they were talking about purging Tooling Inventories.

Pat,
Do NOT mean to step on any toes.......but if there's anything Dwerden isn't interested in, I'd be interested buying some of your excess if it comes available. I've got a 14-48 Diacro with just one short punch and die.


Taking some time to admire all of my hard work


[/QUOTE]

VERY nice work! Saw the vid of your Diesel Jetta, nice. I drove VW Diesels for 30 years.

 

[Dwerden]

VERY nice work! Saw the vid of your Diesel Jetta, nice. I drove VW Diesels for 30 years.

Its gone now I sold it almost a year ago, i had been putting off a truck forever but once i got into this plasma cutting gig I really needed a truck. i will say the jetta impressed me, i towed my 14 ft aluminum boat up north and got 27 mpg. The ol' ram is getting about 16 towing the same boat

 

[royce]

Dwerden,
You are a bulldog Sir and it is a pleasure watching you power through this project.
Well done and thank you for sharing.

Royce

 

[Dwerden]

My nieghbor came back over this morning and stood up the press so I could get the legs under it and then moved it into its home







So there are a couple things left to do, one of which is adjusting my tie rod again it seems to be too short now so i will zip the clevis off and gap it about an 1/8, I am 1/4 " out on my punch. The other is to fix the cylinder thats leeking, i had to loosing off the gland and rotate it 90 degrees for the fittings to clear the stiffener plates and i must have pinched an o ring. Then i need to tack up my bigger die and see if it will bend some 1/8

 

[bad_idea]

That has turned out exceptional. Looking good.

 

[matt_i]

So there are a couple things left to do, one of which is adjusting my tie rod again it seems to be too short now so i will zip the clevis off and gap it about an 1/8, I am 1/4 " out on my punch.

It might be a good idea to build a little shim pack or other threaded-type adjustment into the tierod (which could be a long piece of fully threaded rod...). Any wear as you go is going to have you continuing down the road of cutting it and welding it back. You might need to slot the back cover for wrench access. The rest of it looks great!

 

[Dwerden]

It might be a good idea to build a little shim pack or other threaded-type adjustment into the tierod (which could be a long piece of fully threaded rod...). Any wear as you go is going to have you continuing down the road of cutting it and welding it back. You might need to slot the back cover for wrench access. The rest of it looks great!

I have plans to add bungs and threaded rod in the future but I want to get it close for now and put some miles on it

 

[4 FN 27]

Build of the year!!!

 

[bullnerd]

Yeah man! Great job!

Need more vid when you can.

 

[fiftyv8]

Well done and now you have mastered the manufacturing, any thoughts of building a guillotine next to have a matched set...

 

[Dwerden]

Build of the year!!!

Thanks man!

 

[Dwerden]

Yeah man! Great job!

Need more vid when you can.

Thanks! It has been a long 3 weeks haha i have a lot of time into this bad boy, once its all together I will get some proper video of it in action and the whole tour

 

[Dwerden]

Well done and now you have mastered the manufacturing, any thoughts of building a guillotine next to have a matched set...

I thought it would be sweet to have a shear attatchment that went in this press but i have no idea what the tonnage requirements are for that and i woukd definetely need some legit tooling for that.

When I pick up sheets of 16 gauge for the plasma table it is a pain cutting them i to 2 foot sections to fit on the table. anyways my back ia killing me there wont be any projects for a while haha be sitting in the bush boiling syrup soon relaxing

 

[fiftyv8]

I hear you.
I have no idea on tonnage stuff, but where I worked years ago they had a sheet metal foot treadle manual guillotine that could sheets upto 6 feet long in one go.
I would cut 1.2mm sheet and a full length cut would take almost all ones body weight to make the cut.

I think many blades are progressive so the contact starts at one end and as the blade comes down it cuts into the metal in a kind of slicing effect rather than a blow.

However, I think the powered hydraulic stuff tends to use the blow method rather than slicing.

The other item on the luxury scale would be a high tonnage hole punch, those things are just amazing what they can do...

 

[pb57]

Dwerden,
I have to tell you I'm very impressed with your work ethic. You put that press together in 3 weeks time. When things weren't going your way you continued on and overcame. It turned out beautiful as well. I don't know what you do for your regular job but they are lucky to have you.
Paul

 

[Dwerden]

Dwerden,
I have to tell you I'm very impressed with your work ethic. You put that press together in 3 weeks time. When things weren't going your way you continued on and overcame. It turned out beautiful as well. I don't know what you do for your regular job but they are lucky to have you.
Paul

Thanks Paul, this project definetely had its hurdles but for the most part it went extremely well, having it drawn in CAD was a huge help and let me "test" it before it was built.

As for my real job I started an apprenticeship as a machinist right out of high school, worked at a true job shop for 7 years and got exposed to a lot of different stuff. 4 years ago i decided to start another apprenticship as a pipefitter, I just work seasonally now so I have lots off time for these badass projects

 

[Dwerden]

But man is my body ever sore from lugging around all these heavy parts ,Ill be hitting the chiropractor hard for the next few weeks

 

[bullnerd]

I figured you were a machinist.

We machinists am the smartiest people on earf!

 

[fiftyv8]

Yeah, just ask them, RIGHT... hahaha!!!

 

[Dwerden]

Yeah, just ask them, RIGHT... hahaha!!!

You definetely dont see pipefitters building **** like this. It just blows my mind the amount of knowledge a machinst has and your making stuff to insane tolerances all day for less money than Mr. Superfitter bashing stuff with a 4 lb hammer and tightening flanges. I will never understand it...

 

[Dwerden]

I figured you were a machinist.

We machinists am the smartiest people on earf!

 

[bullnerd]

Yeah, just ask them, RIGHT... hahaha!!!

lol! Exactly!

You definetely dont see pipefitters building **** like this. It just blows my mind the amount of knowledge a machinst has and your making stuff to insane tolerances all day for less money than Mr. Superfitter bashing stuff with a 4 lb hammer and tightening flanges. I will never understand it...

Common conversation among machinists I've worked with.

 

[Dwerden]

I got my leaky ram fixed up today, got the rod to the right length finally on the third try and build my bigger bottom die, heres a test of 2 ft of 3/16. It is about all it will do at this pressure, i tried 4 ft of it and it didnt even start to bend. This is good tho because I cant get carried away and start bending more than its capable of. I would like to keep it around this pressure because Im happy with the amount of deflection im getting and feel it will last a long time at this level

 

[fiftyv8]

Damn shame that you can't fold 1/4" plate in any length then.
I recall you saying you had access to plenty of plate at that size...
Nice result all the same and I am guessing 1/4" plate is able to be bent in smaller pieces???

 

[Dwerden]

Damn shame that you can't fold 1/4" plate in any length then.
I recall you saying you had access to plenty of plate at that size...
Nice result all the same and I am guessing 1/4" plate is able to be bent in smaller pieces???

I would guess it should do 1/4 " 12-16" in length, it was never my intention to bend that heavy of plate and dont have intentions of cranking up the pressure and folding the machine up like s pretzel haha. I might try a bigger die opening, i was pleasently suprised at how tight of bend i got on the 3/16 in about a 1 3/4 die opening.

Going up to something like a 2 1/2 opening would reduce the tonnage considerably and might be able to do a couple feet of 1/4

 

[Dwerden]

Just checked the chart and 3/16 in a 2.5" opening is roughly the same tonnage as 1/8 in a 1.75 opening which is what i have now. So its probably not out of the question to bend 4 ft of 3/16 and would probbaly do 2 feet of 1/4

 

[fiftyv8]

Perfect then.
Congrats on a successful completion.
What is next???

 

[larry4406]

Let's see it bend something!

 

[Dwerden]

Perfect then.
Congrats on a successful completion.
What is next???

Next plan of attack is to relax for a bit , I can finally get a full nights sleep now that this brake is working haha.

Im pretty sure i have a 6" digital readout somewhere if I can find that ill mount it and test the repeatability a bit. My first project is it bend this :


Il revise the bends to 90 degrees or 80, whatever it is giving me full stroke, the mechanical projects are going to be on hold a bit as we are getting close to maple syrup season and ill be in the bush a lot

One small thing I do need to address is the punch groove, at full tonnage it is still wanting to fold the punch out of that groove just slightly, the guides are keeping it from doing so but its trying. Im pretty sure its because the bottom of the doubler isnt attached haha it is just welded in the holes so there is about 2 inches that is just flapping in the breeze. I noticed when i tightened the set screws down that it was flexing it out. No biggie just going to drill some 3/8 holes and plug weld maybe 4-6 spots on either side

 

[Dwerden]

Let's see it bend something!

Stand by

 

[Dwerden]

I found a readout under the bench I had never gotten around to installing on my mill, I cut an inch or so off and it fit perfectly on the upper punch plate. I bent a fancy bracket... in my vice





It is definetely slow enough that you could repeat a dimension, my idea is to use this as a reference; ill bend a test piece, zero the readout, measure for 90 and adjust if needed. My syrup pan has 90s and 45s so I should be able to have a zero for 90 and know that 45 degrees is say .050"?
Hopefully it works half decent

Thats all for today, its too cold in the back shop and the tractor is parked in the doorway so im not turning the heat on. I have been looking at vfds to run my electric hydraulic power unit and ill probably buy one soon and get it over with, I am going to turn one of the uprights into a hydraulic tank and just mount the motor and pump on the side of an upright

 

[fiftyv8]

I came across a Pakistani truck video on YouTube and decided to get educated about how the other half gets the job done.

It was interesting, but a lot of advert breaks which I hated.
During the video they showed the homemade press that these guys were using to bend some pretty serious steel channels.

It sure opens your eyes and no safety equipment at all.
It was worth the time to watch but I will not be subscribing that is for sure...

Enjoy if you are game;

 

[Dwerden]

I came across a Pakistani truck video on YouTube and decided to get educated about how the other half gets the job done.

It was interesting, but a lot of advert breaks which I hated.
During the video they showed the homemade press that these guys were using to bend some pretty serious steel channels.

It sure opens your eyes and no safety equipment at all.
It was worth the time to watch but I will not be subscribing that is for sure...

Enjoy if you are game;

Wow really opens your eyes to the safety we have over here. the press is cool, the rivets are cooler. Still not sure what I just watched haha

 

[bullnerd]

"I bent a fancy bracket... in my vice"

DOH!

 

[Dwerden]

"I bent a fancy bracket... in my vice"

DOH!

I was kicking it old school, I cut everything on the bandsaw and drilled the holes be hand haha. It was an offset of 5/16" so the ol press wouldnt have worked out anyways

 

[theoldwizard1]

I came across a Pakistani truck video on YouTube and decided to get educated about how the other half gets the job done.

Ah memories form when I was young and broke !

I had a 1970-something Mercury Comet (Ford Maverick). They had that front suspension with the coil spring on the top A-arm. The top ball joints did not have a long life and they were riveted in at the factory.

I used a hammer and a cold chisel to shave down the top of the rivet until it was flush and then a punch to knock it out. It really wasn't that bad as long as you were taking thin splices off the top of those rivets. Of course I was about deaf at the end because I had my head inside the fender so I could see what I was doing as I was banging away !

 

[theoldwizard1]

I would guess it should do 1/4 " 12-16" in length,

If you can bend 1/4" plate, up to about 4" wide, you can make almost ANY bracket the average guy would ever need !

 

[Dwerden]

If you can bend 1/4" plate, up to about 4" wide, you can make almost ANY bracket the average guy would ever need !

I think im already beyond "average guy" status with this press haha. Ill see what it will do in a 2.5 die opening it should do 4 ft of 3/16 and 2 ft of 1/4

 

[PugetDude]

I think im already beyond "average guy" status with this press haha. Ill see what it will do in a 2.5 die opening it should do 4 ft of 3/16 and 2 ft of 1/4

If it will do 4' of 3/16" it should do 3' of 1/4".

Great job, Dwerden!

 

[Dwerden]

If it will do 4' of 3/16" it should do 3' of 1/4".

Great job, Dwerden!

The chart shows 5.6 tons per foot in 3/16 and 11.6 for 1/4 in a 2.5" die I am thinking Im only at in about the 22-25 ton range. I think 3 ft of 1/4 will be a stretch but i honestly cant think of a time when i needed to bend that much 1/4 so im good haha