Press break attachment

[OccupantRJ]

Press brake attachment

This is about a press brake attachment I built out of a salvaged punch press die set. Die sets hold the tooling for punch press operations during the manufacture of stamped parts. I was occasionally having to put a bend into a thick piece of metal, and didn't want to always have to heat the metal to do so.

The tooling is 2 pieces of bar stock, one with a male V on the top, and one with a female V on the bottom. I will be adding return springs to the die set when I can scrounge some up. The unit is simply set into a hydraulic press, the metal inserted, then bend away. I bent the 3/16" metal used in my wall mount saw rack pictured below with it.

 

[OccupantRJ]

The press brake attachment in the press.

 

[Wildfire1]

Nice job. I know first hand just how handy one of them can be because I built a couple of them myself. Nice job. That will last a lifetime.

 

[cnc-me]

Would be a nice thing to have, if I ever get my Press built.
Only had the new cylinder & hydraulic unit for 12 years now.
Great job, looks nice.

 

[OccupantRJ]

The press in the pic is one I built when in my 20's out of 4 inch channel and a 12 ton jack with a motorcycle shock return spring. Jack is mounted above the press frame. I'll post a pic when I can for others to see in case they might want to make one for themselves.

RJ

 

[oiad]

Hi, How well does the 12 ton jack cope with it? I'll be folding 2mm aluminum..

 

[OccupantRJ]

Re: Press brake attachment

The plate was 3/16" steel, which is .187 thick. 2 mm aluminum would be .080 thick. I don't think it would break a sweat bending the aluminum. Be aware, some alloys of aluminum do not bend well, and will crack. Be sure to research your alloys. Cold rolled steel will also crack unless annealed by preheating. My brackets are of hot rolled plate.

RJ

 

[OccupantRJ]

I broke out the press brake attachment again and used it to bend the spokes in my steering wheel modification in this thread.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=166143

You will wonder how you got along without it if you end up with one. I still need to find some compression springs to use to return mine to the open position automatically.

 

[willymakeit]

i have some 5 or 6'' c hannel. How heavy in power could I go in building a press brake.
I would like to be heavier than 20 ton annd proably air over hyd.
Nice press brake.

 

[GirlnAgarage]

RJ, good thread. I've seen these press brakes a lot but wondered if it would be worth making for my 12T press. Looks like it is if you're bending 3/16"HR steel.