Press Brake Attachment

I recently purchased a 45-ton air-over-hydraulic press, so I'm casting about for what sort of tooling will increase the usefulness of this new machine. One of the most obvious is a press brake attachment.

Note: If you don't want to design and build a press brake attachment, you can buy a press brake attachment kit.

Design

Here is a design study I did in Rhino. My press will accomodate a 15" by 31.5" opening. This brake is designed for 24" punches and dies.

This is a work in progress, and will probably change significantly before it gets built. There are some open questions. For example, I'm showing 1" shafting for the linear bearing system. I thinking it would be better to go up to 1 1/4" or even more. I'm showing a 5/8" deep tooling slot, but apparently 13/16" is the industry standard for press brake tooling holders.

I'm planning some pretty basic specifications:

24" wide tooling held via set screws in a standard 1/2" by 13/16" deep slot

Back gauge features:

- Raise and lower the gage bar

- Slide back to the right bending depth

- Fingers on the gage bar are adjustable

Inspiration

As usual, I have been canvasing the various online resources to get ideas.

Below is a collection of photos and links that are serving as inspiration.

Talented German amateur's brake with rubber die:

Gundog's very nice brake and press:

UHMW die prevents marring of work...

PM Thread on Press Brake Attachments:

Note the massive guide system on the sides...

Other Pictures:

Nice brake from the Metal Illness Board:

Links

American Press Brake Punches & Dies: Great information on the basic punches and dies for a press brake. Note the standard 1/2" by 5/8" tab that is used. I will build that into my design so I can run standard tooling that I find out on eBay and other places.

Tooling Notes and Operating Tips: A nice thread on WeldingWeb.com on press brakes.

4-way Die and Holder Dimensions: A 4-way die would be really slick.

ShopOutfitters: The nicest ready made press brake attachment I have found.

Midwest Press Brake: More good reference data from a commercial supplier