[ChiliPalmer]

I had some things to bend and didn't want to spend the money having someone else bend them so I made a press brake out of some scrap. I wasn't sure how well it was going to work so I made it fairly short; figured I could use it for brackets, etc.

Here's the bottom portion. The bottom plate is 3/16", the angle iron is 2" x 1/4" and the sides are 3/8".


And here's the top. Angle is the same 2" x 1/4" but you can see I filled about half of it in with the MIG, not sure if it was necessary but I got to practice on multiple passes! The top (flat) piece is 3/16" and the round part is a 1 1/2" x 3" galvanized nipple; it's all I could find at the store that would work.


Here it is attached to the press. The bungee cord simply holds the upper piece to the press so it doesn't fall off.


And here's a series of pictures while bending some 3/16" plate. This is actually the second piece I bent and in the last pic you can see it's about 92 deg. (vs. 90). I stopped pulling the handle on the first one right when it bottomed out and it was a perfect 90 degrees; on the second one I gave it a few more tugs and it went past 90 a little bit.
















I also bent a piece of 1/4" and a piece of 3/8". The 1/4" I bent all the way to 90 deg. but the 3/8" I only bent about 10 deg. I'm sure it will get close to 90 deg. on the 3/8" but for some reason I stopped and moved on to the boatsides.

[ChiliPalmer]

This is what I really wanted to bend - my XJ boat sides! I'll start a thread dedicated to them but thought I'd throw some pics in here too.

Here's where I started today. 1/4" plate both vertically and horizontally


Fitting the frame end of the slider...


After scoring it...


In the middle of the first pass through the press...it took 4 passes through the press!


Right on the money!


Test fitting it after the bend...






Welding up the scoring seam...


Good penetration on the weld...


Now I just need to trim it up and weld away. When it's all said and done it will be welded to the frame stiffeners (3" x 3/16" angle plug and stitch welded to the uni-rails), welded to the bottom of the vertical piece of 1/4" and welded at the top to the outside of the horizontal 1/4".

The worst part is I'm going on vacation and won't be able to work on it for a week!

Feel free to critique away...

P.s. - Here's a link to all my build pics - the boatsides begin on page 3. Clicky

[rustywrangler]

I hate you only because of the press you have.


Very nice work man.

[BESRK]

Cool.. I've got something similar except I just used a sharpened piece of 1/2" thick plate for the top "knife".

[jason m]

Originally Posted by BESRK

Cool.. I've got something similar except I just used a sharpened piece of 1/2" thick plate for the top "knife".

run a pass of hard face down the edege and it will last for ever, that's what i did years ago.

to the OP looks great, keep up the good work.

jason.

[TSEJEEPERS]

Sweet!
Good idea thanks!

[Unlimited04]

great idea, nice work!

[ChiliPalmer]

Thanks for all the props...

Originally Posted by BESRK

Cool.. I've got something similar except I just used a sharpened piece of 1/2" thick plate for the top "knife".

I thought about going that route also but with 1" (I don't have any 1/2") but I decided I didn't want to do all that grinding!

[Slawth]

Nice work and great use of scrap, Chili. I can't wait to see the finished boatsides...

[BESRK]

I'm almost tempted to try and make my own 60"-100ton brake. Something that could do a 90 in 60" of 3/16". Do the basic frame out of 1" plate and make it to accept standard brake dies. If I ever do something like that, I'll do a detailed writeup to include pics of my probable ambulance ride to the hospital..

[Dogman]

Nice, I'm glad you went that route rather than having someone else bend it. That should come in handy when it's time for me to make some brackets

[spd500]

What size press are you guys using for this ? I am interested in setting something similar up , but i am not sure my press caqn take it . Also , what did you use to score the steel where it is to be bent ?

[ChiliPalmer]

Originally Posted by rustywrangler

I hate you only because of the press you have.


Very nice work man.

LOL - missed this the first time through! The press was one of the first "big" tools I bought when I got into Jeeping. Waited for a 20% off coupon from HF and bought it when it was on sale. I think I paid $150'sh...

Originally Posted by Slawth

Nice work and great use of scrap, Chili. I can't wait to see the finished boatsides...

Thanks and here's some more pics of the boatsides...The vertical piece of 1/4" has 15 bolts going into the body and the horizontal piece has 6. Most of the forces will be applied to the vertical piece, plus the part of the body the top piece bolts to is only 22 gauge sheet metal - the bolts are really only there to help hold the body to the slider, the bulk of the strength is in the vertical piece. Also; the slider itself will be welded to the frame stiffeners so it won't be going anywhere.

Here you can see the substructure I built out of 1/4"...


And here it is all welded up...

Originally Posted by BESRK

I'm almost tempted to try and make my own 60"-100ton brake. Something that could do a 90 in 60" of 3/16". Do the basic frame out of 1" plate and make it to accept standard brake dies. If I ever do something like that, I'll do a detailed writeup to include pics of my probably ambulance ride to the hospital..

LOL - that would be one hell of a press to build - looking forward to it!

Originally Posted by Dogman

Nice, I'm glad you went that route rather than having someone else bend it. That should come in handy when it's time for me to make some brackets

Me too, saved about $70 and it wasn't really that hard actually. Had my neighbor help me run it through the press, all in all it took about 45 minutes to get it just right - scoring, bending, re-scoring, bending, final "adjustment" (wood 2" x 4" and sledge hammer )

Let me know when you need to make brackets...

Originally Posted by spd500

What size press are you guys using for this ? I am interested in setting something similar up , but i am not sure my press caqn take it . Also , what did you use to score the steel where it is to be bent ?

It's a 20 ton Harbor Freight press and I used a standard 4.5" grinder with a .045 cut-off wheel. It actually would've been easier if I used a thicker cut-off wheel. With the narrow wheel I had to go back and re-score it after the first bend because the sides of the line were beginning to touch each other. Wasn't too bad, just a quick run down with the cut-off again and it was good to go!

One thing I did learn is you don't have to keep your movements to the length of the brake, i.e. my brake is about 6" long but when I moved from one bend to the next I moved the steel about 12-16 inches, if you only move 6 inches at a time the steel will bend about 6" on either side of the brake also; which isn't a bad thing in the beginning but once you're working on your final angle it will mess things up - hence the final adjustment with the sledge and wood 2" x 4".

EDIT: When I get back from vacation I'll start a write up on the whole Jeep. I have one somewhere but it's seriously outdated...

[spd500]

We have a break at the shop , so I do most of my bending there . But it would be nice to get a decent press for at home , and sometimes it would be nice to bend a few pieces at home . I have a new sheet of steel waiting for me to get the time to start cutting and bending it up to build a center console for my YJ , but have not had any time lately .

[skullver]

cool deal! Looks similar to the one I made:


nice work on the boatsides as well