Sheet Folder and Hydraulic Press

[99greenmen]

Would anyone care to advise me? I need a sheet metal folder and a hydraulic press. Is it possible to combine these two things in one item?

I need to fit suspension bearings, wheel bearings and the like. I also need to fold up small ali/steel brackets for mounting parts such as coils, wiring, grp body parts. As such, I will need to fold right into corners. I've seen the massive brake presses with anvils for making folds and it strikes me that a small version of this under a press woud be best. Normally, I'd try making something, but I am getting very short of time and kind of need something off the shelf.

Help!

Thanks,

Oliver

[Happydaze]

I'd be interested in hearing thoughts on this too. I'm sure there's lots of stuff that could be done with a comparatively cheap hydaulic press - stamped holes, belled holes, louvres......

I'm sure there's some safety issues though :eek:.

For tight folding etc suitable dies would be required. I've seen some somewhere (US i think) but can't recall where - they were only good for about 6". Seen a low volume production application requiring a tight bend / fold in quite thick flat bar (wheel clamps) that was manipulated as if it was paper!

Perhaps you guys with toolmaking experience (simple stuff) could advise? :cool:

Chris

[Klunk]

I managed to use a bearing press with a Louvre die set to make a louvre press. Hardest part was making sure the male and female part stayed in the same location i.e. didn't spin.

I'd say it is achievable, but fiddly to achieve. My (limited) advise if time is of the essence buy two seperate items.

[rem]

Flypress vee-tooling is fine for simple bending of brackets, etc., although deep boxes can be a problem.

http://www.hartleige.com/product/vee-benders

These are listed in 12" and 18" lengths (ah, Imperial quality) and the vee-punches are sectional for different widths of parts. The one we have at work gets used quite a bit, but I would say the bottom vee die is only about 1/2" wide so you don't want to be working on much thicker than 16g mild steel.

If by hydraulic press you mean an industrial unit, then there are any number of used equipment dealers on the web, stocked up with stuff from factory closures (assuming they haven't already shipped it all to Poland, India or China), such as http://www.drmmachinery.co.uk/Used.htm. Otherwise, there is the standard garage-type frame or bench press like these from the likes of Machine Mart.

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/range/guid/853C9E55-65A9-4D8C-AFE3-B2504F29181E

However, from the ones I've seen, you would have to find some way of keeping the top tool centred on the die as these ones are usually just a ram or bottle jack hanging from the top beam, and don't have any rigidity like a flypress.

Hope this helps for starters.

[rem]

This page has a sample of industrial hydraulic presses from 7.5 to 150 tonne:

http://www.qualimach.co.uk/machines_fabrication_presshyd.php

Unless you are going into volume production I would have thought a decent sized flypress would enable you do most of what you described, and you could spend the money saved on different jigs and tools for it.

[99greenmen]

Thanks for the advice. I was thinking of the hydraulic garage sized press with the inverted bottle jack. From what you are both advising though, this will be hard to centre (I had wondered if this was the case) and will lack horizontal rigidity.

I am therefore better off with a fly press? And the tooling to fold sheet to make small brackets is easy to come by?

Right, now to find a fly press for about £200!

Oliver

[rem]

The Hartleige form tool is really quite good, although the photo on that page is lousy. I've no idea how much it costs either. You should be able to find a decent fly press for £200.

[ian.stewart]

We used to knock up one off formers to bend brackets, simple 90 Deg bends used to be done with pieces of angle iron welded to a block for the anvil and to a thick stud for the former to fit in the ram of the press. you can make forms and anvils of decreasing angles to eventually fold flat returns, radiusd bends can be made by making the formers from thick wall tubes and round bar.

[jsf55]

Fly press, bend any shaped bracket you want, with the right tools, always travels in a staight line top to bottom, no turning as klunk mentiones, punches for louvers can be had or made, normal location is by a "spigot" on top, usually1" diameter, bottom is aligned and clamped evenly with the use of T bolts and suitable clamps, theres a guy on ebay selling some, egay 370103233899, is actually a denbigh No4, it has a 4" throat, not 8" as he says, this means u wont punch a hole any further than 4" into something, not much cop with a 4foot wide bonnet ! deeper throat presses are available, but cost more and take up a lot of room, for small stuff a 4 or 6 usually does it, john ... yup i used to work in a press shop :(