Homemade tools

[RacinNdrummin]

If you can afford the extra money, get the 20 ton, its much sturdier and has more capacity. Im sure I could do at least 6" of 1/4" in my 12 ton with my setup though.

 

[gwaii]

capacity is really determined by the die,the wider apart the base rails the thicker you can bend.that is why i use two different lowers.still,the more capacity in tonnage and frame strength the better.so 12 ton will bend a lot,but 20 will do more.

 

[kimcrwbr1]

Yes, a mason jar and air line fittings with silicone caulk to seal the fittings to the lid.

Richard

This also works for bleeding the air out of power steering pump and gearbox so you dont suck oil into your engine. Get a spare fill cap at the bone yard and put a vacuum fitting at the highest point when the cap is secure and pull a vacuum thru the collector jar or can and tee into a manifold vacuum secure the oil collector somehow and just drive it around keeping an eye on your fluid level. Working it from stop to stop 10 times will normally do it but leaving it there for a couple days wont hurt either. Works great when changing the pump or gearbox.

 

[Iron Ranger]

If you can afford the extra money, get the 20 ton, its much sturdier and has more capacity. Im sure I could do at least 6" of 1/4" in my 12 ton with my setup though.

If need be, I can just make one out of thicker steel. Where I work, our press brake does up to 1" steel, so I can make the sides of a new H-frame press and make new stands if I need to.

 

[Iron Ranger]

I'm combining the two designs of RacinNdrummin and gwaii for my metal bender.

As gwaii stated, the wider the bottom die, the thicker the steel you can bend. BUT......the bend will also be wide and not as sharp.

So I'm gonna make a few different bottom dies for different thicknesses of material.

Should be simple enough.

Here's the top die I made with 1/2"X3" steel that I got at work, then I scribed a line down the middle of the edge and another on both sides for a uniform grind. Not bad for a 9" grinder, huh?

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

That looks good!

Richard

 

[gwaii]

nice edge.that reference line is pretty much a must to get an even grind.

looking forward to seeing how the lower die turns out.

 

[Iron Ranger]

nice edge.that reference line is pretty much a must to get an even grind.

looking forward to seeing how the lower die turns out.

Thank you sir! I got the edge down to .060" +\- .010 (roughly) . A sharp sharp edge would fold over in the first usage, so I left that much of a land. I was more worried about a straight beveled edge, so yes, scribe lines are a must.

I'm still coming up with ways to do the lower die(s), but I shall have them shortly!

 

[Iron Ranger]

Got the side blocks welded in place with some 1/2" bolts as guide bars.

Gonna start on the lower die(s) now.

 

[Iron Ranger]

I....cannot.....believe......it

IT WORKS!!! IT FREAKIN' WORKS!!! WOOHOO!!!

And here's the masterpiece that did it all:

This is what I had to work with (since it's all I could find at work that isn't too thin.) The nickname for the stuff is "bazooka pipe" for obvious reasons.

 

[gwaii]

beauty!you wouldnt get better bends from a professional fab shop.

i do have one concern,though.there are huge forces pushing outward on those lower tubes,and as strong as the welds are i would put some narrow flatbar from the bottom of the tubes to the base to gusset it some,or you may find that the lowers start to spread apart.you don't want a weld letting go when there's 12 tons(remember,that's 24000lbs)pushing on it.
i would also put some more bracing on the top plate,as it will start to bow over time with all the force in the middle,but a load going to the ends.

not trying to be critical,it looks great.just want to make sure it stays that way in the long run

 

[Iron Ranger]

beauty!you wouldnt get better bends from a professional fab shop.

i do have one concern,though.there are huge forces pushing outward on those lower tubes,and as strong as the welds are i would put some narrow flatbar from the bottom of the tubes to the base to gusset it some,or you may find that the lowers start to spread apart.you don't want a weld letting go when there's 12 tons(remember,that's 24000lbs)pushing on it.
i would also put some more bracing on the top plate,as it will start to bow over time with all the force in the middle,but a load going to the ends.

not trying to be critical,it looks great.just want to make sure it stays that way in the long run

Yup yup. I'm actually gonna make a special top portion for the press to distribute an even force over the top of the brake.

And I'll do the bracing deal. I spray welded the tubes to the plate, but a little extra insurance is always a good thing.

I welcome any tips from the pros!

 

[gwaii]

gotta love it when things work out.

god knows i've spent lots of time and materials on things to have it become a lesson in how not to do it.while this can be informative,it somehow lacks the satisfaction that comes with success.

 

[Iron Ranger]

I'm also gonna make a sturdier lower portion on the press(the current one is 3" or so "C" channel that's only 1/8" or 3/16" thick), maybe use tubing instead.

Because when I bent that 5/16" piece, it was really bending that lower part of the press(since my brake uses 1" thick cold rolled steel, no warpage! ).

This thing is gonna be fun! I already have a guy at work wanting one for his garage.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Re-purposed stuff for tools.
I was cleaning in my shop and thought some of you would get a kick out of some of my stuff;

On the left; an old table saw top utilizing the opening for the belt driven grinder.
On the right; I'm not sure the original use of the table but it has retractable wheels and a fold up side piece. These are the only two that I personally didn't re-purpose, I bought them done already.

A walker I found in a dumpster. I figure it'll come in handy when my arthritis gets worse

Tire rim and drive shaft vice stand. Next time I'll use a bigger rim for better stability.

A bar-b-que stand for my mig welder, another dumpster dive;

My generator mounted inside another generator frame in order to utilize the wheels, yet another dumpster dive. A little grinding out of some tabs and it fit perfect, and it's held together with zip ties. I'll weld it in and add some fold down handles some time in the future.

A dolly with my buzz box permanently mounted.

Richard