Shop press, Break or ???

[twocik]

Wanting to bend mostly 1/8", 3/16" and 1/4" aluminum 6061-T6 plate. The parts are pretty small (3" W x 11" L) and only need 45° - 65° bends. What piece of equipment would you recommend under $600 ?

I was thinking a 12 ton shop press with a few custom welded tips and fixtures. I was going to have welder weld me a round bar fitting to the hydraulic cylinder shaft, then press into two round bars separated at the correct distance as my die. What do you think ?

[keebler303]

get a cheap press like this: 20 Ton Shop Press. You can get a 20% off coupon from almost any magazine these days. Then you can use angle iron, structural steel shapes, etc. welded together to make your dies. It won't be perfect but you can do a decent job if you make yourself some decent tooling. There are some manufacturing type companies that have chunks of broken press brake tooling you might be able to get for next to nothing. My neighbor stocked up on some nice tooling from a company who makes elevators.

Matt

[twocik]

After 5 weeks Harbor Freight finally got one in stock. I'm looking at the Swag 20 ton press brake kit and seems to be within range. Not sure how big of a deal the leafs to each side of the top cylinder where the hydraulic shaft fits into are (doesn't have them), but seems to be a pretty good working device.. . Any thoughts ?


20 TON Press Brake DIY Builder Kit