2nd gen bumper build

So how thick of metal are you planing on uses to bend?

 

I'm not sure what you mean by this question.?

 

I'm guessing he means what size metal will you be able to bend in the press brake you are making

 

I'm basically trying to copy a design from swag off-road

This is a picture of theirs

They say it can bend 3/8" thick plate, and I've seen people claiming to bend 5/8" plate.

I will probably use it mostly for 1/8" - 1/4" brackets and what not.




Here's a link to their site.

http://www.swagoffroad.com/20-TON-Press-Brake-DIY-Builder-Kit_p_40.html

 

I like the concept, some day I'd like to buy their largest press/finger break kit. You could really make some awesome stuff with one of those. The one I'm building is a mini version at only 9" across.

 

Okay, finally had a day to work on the bumper. Spent about six hours today plus about an hour and a half the other day getting the recovery points to the "ready to weld in" stage.

I realized the sanding pad on my disc sander was worn fairly smooth so I replaced it with a new 60 grit pad and then decided I might as well sand the recovery points all the way just so I want limiting my options on where I had to cut them.

Next I trimmed them down on the band saw.

Just my luck the blade broke on me 1/4 way in to the second one.
So Murphy's law I didn't have a spare blade on hand and had to run to the store to buy one. Lucky me I got the last one they had in stock.

Next came the very slow process of drilling 7/8" holes through 1" plate with a home grade drill press. Lots of slowly stepping up sizes. Although very time consuming I can say I'm very impressed with the quality of holes I have been able to drill with it.

Once I had the holes to 7/8" I began sanding the inside of the holes along with the paint on the clevis pins, which is very uneven. I measured more than .030 differences in paint thickness. It was another time consuming task but I ended up with a perfect fit.


After that I had to decide where exactly I was going to put them. I decided to go just inside of the frame rails for strength.

Once that was decided it was time to cut holes through the tube, which was made extremely easy thanks to my new plasma cutter.

And here they are set in place, but not yet welded.

And the bottom side

Well that's all for today, stay tuned for more updates.

 

Oh yeah the points will all be rounded of on the recovery points just ran out of time.

 

That's looks great. That'll be strong enough for anything one needs.

 

Tell us more about your new toy/cutter!

 

Well, it is a Hypertherm Powermax 45 xp. And it cuts amazingly well. 1/4" which is my main thing I plan to cut cuts like butter. I don't plan on cutting 1" very often, but it proved its up to the task.

 

Are you going to make a swing out carrier for spare tire at all?

 

Not at this time, I need to save up and buy a spare, lol. I know, priorities. Haha. Someday.

 

Froze my butt off in the garage for a few hours this morning. Started off by sanding all the millscale off of the recovery points, followed by rounding the corners and putting a small taper on the pin holes.

Next I preheated the steel. This is a very important step in subzero temperatures, if your steel is not at least room temperature when you weld it you will end up with very brittle steel around your weld and that would not be good on recovery points.

Then I dropped them in place and welded it all up.

And since when your freezing you get in a rush and don't double check the depth you set them at before finish welding, I slightly clearances the clevises.
All assembled and ready for me to get brave enough to do some outside work.

 

Nice build! keep up the good work
I made me a press brake the same way your going to. if I had a pic I would post mine.

 

Cool I remeasured the top die and I guess mine will actually be 12" across not 9" so even better than I was remembering lol. How dose yours work? Any pics of completed bends?

 

Mine works great! It makes clean bends and ive bent 100's of pieces or ready through it. I bend all my mounting plates for Rock Sliders and Bed Racks..
Heres a Bend

 

Found a pic of my press brake I made..

 

That looks great if you get a chance could you take a few close ups of the die setup? What are you using for a top die? And is that angle iron for the bottom? Thanks, I really like the bends yours makes. The look very clean.