SINCE 1999
2008
This piece of equipment, although not as versitile as some brake press designs, is a welcome addition in the shop. It was built using scrap and equipment that I had laying around. The dies were from Accurpress offcuts rack. They make the best punch and dies for brakes.
There was one regrettable error in the design and the weakest point will begin to fail at about 35 tons pressure. There is a simple remedy once it fails. It is alway fun to watch something fail if you know it will at a certain point so the fault will remain. At this point my tooling will only handle materials up to 1/4" in thickness so it should not be a problem. A beer for the first person who can point out the weakest point. A higher resolution image is available on request.
Hopefully on the next trip to Vancouver I will find time to go by the guys at Accurpress and pick up some bigger dies. I should be able to bend up to 5/8" plate with the proper dies and the 90 ton piston in place.
Presently the unit is only powered by a 32 ton manual jack but if the need arrives it can be equipped with a 90 ton piston, electric controls and run off a hydraulic power pack.