Tig Hardfacing Help

[Ironken]

I am building a brake for a 20 ton shop press like this

http://www.swagoffroad.com/20-TON-Pr...-Kit_p_40.html

The punch is made of A36 beveled at 60 degrees included angle with a 3/32 flat. Do any of you have a suggestion of what filler to use if I were to run a small tig pass of filler metal on the flat to prevent wear? I know A36 is soft, but in the above link, that is what they are using. All I have on hand is 309,316 and 308 filler. I can try to get whatever I need. Any suggestions would be great.

[Synchroman]

I'm also interested in that topic for my 20 ton SWAG brake that I assembled about two months ago. Having said that, I've used it about 30 times since I got it completed and there doesn't seem to be much wear. I think that as long as you are bending flat stock at least 1" wide and not over 1/4 ", you won't incur much excess wear. In fact, for narrow work, you can easily move the work 3 or 4 inches left or right so as to spread any wear around.

I know that there are hard-face rods available at welding services for stick use but I have never used any. I will watch this thread for responses and perhaps we can both find out.

As a side note, that's a really nice kit and I'm very pleased with mine. I have a Taiwan-Built 20 ton Vulcan press that I bought about 20 years ago at Post Tool before they closed up. I also recently added a 20 ton air-over-hydraulic jack from Harbor Freight. With the SWAG kit, it's fun to bend things now. LOL.

[digr]

Just tig a 3/32 hard face welding rod on it

[Ironken]

Syncroman..thanks for taking the time to reply. Your experience with the brake and suggestions helps alot. I think Troy's products are slick! Swag pisses me off because when I see the stuff he markets successfully, I think..."why didn't I think of that?!"
The grand scheme over here is the pride of making one myself. My plans are very similar to Swag's with the exception of the channel. I don't wanna have to use arbor plates. I will use 1"x8" plate the width of the press and build up from there. To bevel the die, I am building a torch guide at 30 degrees using a 12mm (that fits around my Smith toughcut torch tip perfectly) shaft collar tigged to 3/8 key stock at 30 deg. This way, I can slide the guide along a straight edge and produce a clean bevel on each side for a 60 deg included angle.
Using a HF pneu/hyd 20 ton jack is exactly what I was going to do (great minds, right). And I agree with you. Bending [email protected]#t is fun!

Digr...not a bad idea there. Maybe I can find a couple sticks of Wearshield.

Anyhow, thanks guys!

[Meltedmetal]

You could try boriding if you can find the material.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boriding

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Case-hardening

[digr]

I don't understand the need for the springs and guides on these little press brakes. As long as your upper die is attached to your ram there is no need. Every thing has to be bent in the middle of the die anyway so you don't need the guides at all, in fact I would think that they would be hindrance. Here is link to my build

[digr]

Something like this would work better and a lot easier to build IMHO

[H80N]

I don't understand the need for the springs and guides on these little press brakes. As long as your upper die is attached to your ram there is no need. Every thing has to be bent in the middle of the die anyway so you don't need the guides at all, in fact I would think that they would be hindrance. Here is link to my build

DIGR

beautiful work..!!! as always ...

http://www.shopfloortalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5282

[Ironken]

Meltedmetal....not a bad idea but, I'm a garage hack with no way to keep the die up to temp to case harden.

Digr....your press and brake are the real deal. That is shop p.o.r.n. right there! If I had those, I'd use them to crush mine and scrap it. I'm in the chink press club. I do motorcycle work as well so it needs to be versatile.

[digr]

Meltedmetal....not a bad idea but, I'm a garage hack with no way to keep the die up to temp to case harden.

Digr....your press and brake are the real deal. That is shop p.o.r.n. right there! If I had those, I'd use them to crush mine and scrap it. I'm in the chink press club. I do motorcycle work as well so it needs to be versatile.

Did you look at the little press? every thing comes off so it is a regular press, it would be perfect for what you need.

[Synchroman]

I don't understand the need for the springs and guides on these little press brakes. As long as your upper die is attached to your ram there is no need. Every thing has to be bent in the middle of the die anyway so you don't need the guides at all, in fact I would think that they would be hindrance. Here is link to my build

The 20 ton SWAG press brake is a self-contained unit that is easily put in place. In practice, the ram is not connected to the upper die. There is a receptacle on top of the upper die and the ram pushes down at that point. The springs are necessary to raise the die back up after the bend is made. Considering the effort to be expended in the sourcing of the material and the hours it would take to amass the entire kit, the money involved was very reasonable.

I don't see why a user would want to leave the ram connected to the upper die. I always remove the brake after use and simply set it on the floor.

Your press is nice, but it's in a different league from the typical home shop press like many are using.

[Meltedmetal]

Meltedmetal....not a bad idea but, I'm a garage hack with no way to keep the die up to temp to case harden.
.

If you have or can borrow an O/A torch you can do this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tlsq2ESQz0

I don't know if your TIG is up to this or not.---Meltedmetal

[theweldor]

I USED AR 500 for the die. Saved hardening it. But I also had a piece left from a job.

[Ironken]

Did you look at the little press? every thing comes off so it is a regular press, it would be perfect for what you need.

I like that small press. I may draw up something similar and price the materials.

[digr]

The 20 ton SWAG press brake is a self-contained unit that is easily put in place. In practice, the ram is not connected to the upper die. There is a receptacle on top of the upper die and the ram pushes down at that point. The springs are necessary to raise the die back up after the bend is made. Considering the effort to be expended in the sourcing of the material and the hours it would take to amass the entire kit, the money involved was very reasonable.

I don't see why a user would want to leave the ram connected to the upper die. I always remove the brake after use and simply set it on the floor.

Your press is nice, but it's in a different league from the typical home shop press like many are using.

Thank's One set screw and the upper die is off and its a regular press again then slide the table off, but to each his own and I am sure your setup works great.