solution for making brakes in a home shop

[zachzach]

I used to work in a sheet metal shop, mostly operating the laser, but occasionally mechanical and hydrolic press brakes. Now I'm building a home shop and I'm wondering if there is a good and cheap solution for making brakes. I'm working with pretty small strips, not larger than a few inches, all carbon steel 1/4" max. I guess I'm looking for either a very small and very inexpensive press or possibly dies that could somehow fit in my vise (I think I've seen these somewhere). Any ideas?

[BobWarfield]

Not sure how much "inexpensive" is. You can get by purchasing a normal hydraulic press in the appropriate tonnage and then making or buying a press brake attachment for it.

I have not made one yet for my press, but I have been collecting information on the subject. My notes are here:

http://www.cnccookbook.com/CCPressBrake.htm

If you wanted to buy an attachment, ShopOutfitters (link on the page above) looks like a nice one.

Best,

BW

[zachzach]

To clarify, I'm looking for something REALLY cheap, as I don't do that much bending. I thought buying a press was out of the question, although I just saw some on ebay for $200 or less, but that tends to worry me. Even so, with the brake it would be too much money for my purposes.

I posted this hoping for some kind of makeshift solution (possibly with a vice) that would obviously not be shop quality, but at least better than bending it by hand. Shop Outfitters has the "Compact Bender" which looks fairly lousy and that would be around the maximum I would be willing to spend, I was hoping for less. I seem to recall there being dies made to go into a regular shop vice. Does anyone know about this?

[thething84]

wots wrong with just getting a fly press, Or is the material ur using to heavy guage for one, Quite easy to make tooling for press brakes aswell.

[mixdenny]

Originally Posted by zachzach I seem to recall there being dies made to go into a regular shop vice. Does anyone know about this?

Sure they sell them, but they won't come anywhere *near* 1/4".

http://www.grizzly.com/products/4-Vise-Brake/H3243

Dennis

[zachzach]

Hmm, so around what is the max gauge using vise brakes?

I've never seen a fly press before. What are the pros and cons of these as opposed to the cheap hydraulics (I'm talking like under $200). Also, how would I go about buying/making a cheap brake tool. The ShopOutfitters one seems quite expensive for the level of presses I'm considering.

Thanks, I really appreciate all the help!

[thething84]

what sorta stuff are you looking at bending etc???

[zachzach]

read below: mostly carbon steel 1" width, 1/4" max thickness. a lot of 1/8" as well.

[zachzach]

also, what does everyone think of these:

[zachzach]

sorry for some reason it posted without the link:

http://www.themetalbender.com/metalbrake.htm

[zachzach]

bumping this to see if I can more info on cheap home presses and brake tools

[jgro]

Try this: http://www.lindsaybks.com/dgjp/djgbk/series/index.html

jgro