My Bending Brake

[tom37]

Nice job. Are you sure that it won't bow in the middle with thicker stuff? The one I built is out of 1/4" and gusseted. It still bows on 12 gauage. Let me know, cause I need to build a better one!
Thanks,
Lance

At this point I am really not sure on the strength. Now ya got me thinking I know its a scarey thought!

Does anyone have any thoughts on would I have more strengh with gussets in the back side of the angle or would it be more ridgid with one piece of plate laying on the back side of the angle making the third side of the triangle? Hope that made since.

[tom37]

Tom, nice cad drawing.
What program did you use?

I have to get into that sort of thing

G

I used Google Sketchup.

At first I couldnt make heads or tails of the darn thing, then thanks to the search feature of the internet I found many many videos that go along with the book sketch up for dummies. I dont have the book but the videos are a godsend. Even I could follow along.

[KBar]

As I am on do-over # 2 with my holes. This time I got them right on.

My face looks like this more than once.
You mean Im not the only one who welds something together only to find out its off, then I have to cut it apart and reweld it

[tom37]

Alright I have officially decided that heat is my enemy!! I got my kids back to there moms and had a little time tonight. So I started working on the arms for the moving side of the brake. Since I am tall and I have a tall bench I wanted to have the arms as near to 90 degrees down as possible. Having them near straight down makes for a difficult fit up. Anyhow long story short I had everything tacked and working right, then I welded it. Everything was great until it cooled. OK marked this one up for experience. I should have clamped it a little better then I did. A short time with the torch and all is well now. I plan to post pics after I get the gussets and support built, hopefully I can post pics along about wed. of Thur. of this week.

Kbar you mentioned do overs. I figure do overs are alright as long as we can learn from them. Now I did fail to mention that I am getting really close to being a professional grinding technician!!!! Gota love the cut off wheel and rapid cut grinding disk.

Tom

[tom37]

Good evening all.

I am looking for input / opinion / advice. I am not sure how I want to brace the moving portion of my brake. This is what I am thinking, I know its cardboard and it might catch on fire.



The angle and the braces are planned to be 1/4 inch, I'm just second guessing myself here on whether I have enough bracing.





I'm not sure of the proper name, but I would think this piece my be called the break plate. Does anyone have any thoughts if the angle iron is better over a piece if 1/2 in plate on edge, say 2 inch's tall. I want to go with the stronger of the two hoping to reduce the flex in the plate.

I just noticed in the preview, I have 1/4 and 1/2 inch plate stacked with the angle on top. To clarify I am trying to decide how I want to make the beveled edge. To bevel the 1/2 and go with it or drill and plug weld the 1/4 to the 1/2 and bevel the 1/4. In my dreams tonight I'll decide how to make the plate rise when I loosen the lockdown bolts. I would like to have the plate rise on its own so I dont have to hold it up while inserting the work piece.
Thanks
Tom

[Bert]

hmmm...why does your table look like mine??
Good luck in figuring it out, as I have no clue!
Hope the others like aametalmaster helps you!!

[jackel440]

Good evening all.

I am looking for input / opinion / advice. I am not sure how I want to brace the moving portion of my brake. This is what I am thinking, I know its cardboard and it might catch on fire.



The angle and the braces are planned to be 1/4 inch, I'm just second guessing myself here on whether I have enough bracing.





I'm not sure of the proper name, but I would think this piece my be called the break plate. Does anyone have any thoughts if the angle iron is better over a piece if 1/2 in plate on edge, say 2 inch's tall. I want to go with the stronger of the two hoping to reduce the flex in the plate.

I just noticed in the preview, I have 1/4 and 1/2 inch plate stacked with the angle on top. To clarify I am trying to decide how I want to make the beveled edge. To bevel the 1/2 and go with it or drill and plug weld the 1/4 to the 1/2 and bevel the 1/4. In my dreams tonight I'll decide how to make the plate rise when I loosen the lockdown bolts. I would like to have the plate rise on its own so I dont have to hold it up while inserting the work piece.
Thanks
Tom

I would just bevel the 1/2".All the big brakes at work have thick shoes.

[tom37]

Evening,

Due to the snow and the lack of work today, I was able to have a little time to work on my project.

I would like to ask. Is it better to post my pics as I have in the past of should I post them as a direct to the picture?

I got my support cut and welded in for the most part. Then I just couldn't wait any longer, I had to try to bend a piece. Now I realize that my distance will be much longer then what I tried. But I clamped it down with complete and total junk clamps and it held. Some would say why have junk clamps, I have them so if i need to sacrifice it I can. the piece that I bent is 1/4 inch. I only extended the handles by 10 inchs and was able to bend the strap with little effort.







I have thought that I may box the center portion of the angle between the cross support, just to make sure that there is no deflection. Most likely over-kill but oh well.

Tom

[Bert]

I vote you post them the way you HAVE been

[Geezer]

I am a dial up guy but have had no problem downloading. Have been following your project closely and enjoyed it. If you have some rough plans I would be very interested, been wanting to fab a bender for some time stout enough to handle heavier pieces. Thanks

[MANTOOL]

I Did One A Few Years Back. Your's Looks Great. Just A Thought...i Inverted A 48" Piece Of Angle (the Under Side Was Relief Cut At 30 Degrees) And Angled That Piece At 30 Degrees Also. Using 2 Pieces Of 1" All Thread Rod I Fabricated A Cross-bar Ond Managed To Bend In Excess Of 90 Degrees. Sned More Pics As You Progress!

[tom37]

Sorry guys with the holidays I haven't been spending much time playing.
Today I had a chance to progress a little bit. I finished welding up the joints that I will not be able to get to later. Now I am not lucky enough to have a mill, so I did the best I could to get the angle on the plate that clamps the work piece. At this point I am not sure about the large piece of angle to beef up the plate. I know its rather large but its left-overs. I also noticed that the plate has a tiny bit of bow up wards in the middle, hopefully I can draw this down flat when I weld the angle to the top. Man this thing is growing like crazy, it just keeps getting heavier and heavier. At this point in time I am pretty sure its going to bend 3/16, I'm just not sure about the 1/4 full width.

Here is the pics guys, I hope I am not taking to long and boring everyone.







Please if anyone sees something that doesn't look right, I would greatly appreciate it to hear about it.
Tom

[Bert]

No, you're not boring anyone!! Crazy time of year, everyone is so busy with work and family we can all understand...since you don't have a mill, how did you do the bevel? hand grinder? Looks good!!!
bert

[tom37]

Yes Sir you guessed it right! I tried to use my O/A torch, since I SUCK really bad with the O/A, that was a total flop. It did manage to make a place to start with the grinder. I clamped a straight edge to the bottom of the 1/2" plate and ground an edge until it was close to the straight edge. I was near wore out at this point. I am not sure what kind of plate this is but I cant drill it with anything but a cobalt bit. I didn't think the knife edge would hold up so I clamped a straight edge again and ground a small flat edge off of the sharp edge. Its harder then it seems to hold the grinder at the same angle over a 22" piece.

Tom

P.S. 15 minutes till I have to go to X mas dinner with one side of the family. Yippee for me!

[Bert]

Yes Sir you guessed it right! I tried to use my O/A torch, since I SUCK really bad with the O/A, that was a total flop. It did manage to make a place to start with the grinder. I clamped a straight edge to the bottom of the 1/2" plate and ground an edge until it was close to the straight edge. I was near wore out at this point. I am not sure what kind of plate this is but I cant drill it with anything but a cobalt bit. I didn't think the knife edge would hold up so I clamped a straight edge again and ground a small flat edge off of the sharp edge. Its harder then it seems to hold the grinder at the same angle over a 22" piece.

Tom

P.S. 15 minutes till I have to go to X mas dinner with one side of the family. Yippee for me!

lol....I take that as sarcasm You ever have to do that much grinder again, invest in a 7" grinder!!!!!!!!!!!