New machine day...

...Tomorrow

MVD press brake showed up today!





Had a local tow truck company pick it off the trailer, and set it 'just' inside the door, on my skates. At that point, it's up to me.


Machine has to go to the opposite end of the shop, and get turned 180 degrees.

I first screwed some 4x4s to the mounting holes on the single skate side. This lifted the boards about 1/2" off the ground, but kept them with the machine as safety. I kept loose setions of 4x4 under the end with two skates, in case a skate decided to leave the party.

Used my forklift as a n anchor, and pulled and maneuvered the machine with a chain fall.

Got it in place. Rented a 10 ton toe jack. Shoulda bought a 5 ton one while I had the chance - 10 ton unit was all that was available for rental, and I had to drive to the other side of Atlanta to get it. Oh well.

Machine is safely in place with no issues.

As some of you may remember from my thread in the fall, I was originally looking for used brakes, but wasn't finding decent options at a reasonable price. When I decided to borrow some money to go new instead, one thing I tried real hard to avoid was cost creep due to upgrades - it's real easy to add stuff here and there when you're getting a loan anyway.

I managed to get them to substitute the factory shipped tooling for a set that I'll actually need (different punch radius, and a single V die instead of the normal 4 way). In order to keep the budget, I hadn't requested sectioned tooling - figured I'd get the standard ~32" pieces and have one cut once it got here. Since then, I've somewhat regretted that - cutting it myself was fine when I was looking at cheap American tooling, but I wasn't amused with my decision to do that to brand new decent stuff..

Imagine my surprise when I opened the tooling crate and saw this. A factory segmented set of punch and die.

Nice, new machine day..always more work that you think..always one thing you need that you don't have.
But when all the riggers and helpers are gone and its you and the new iron..well that is something special for sure
Gary

Make sure you have a good machinist level to accurately set that thing. You dont want to twist the frame even a little. That makes for inconsistent bending setups. And check it a couple days then a few weeks later for settlement.



Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

Bondo said:

Make sure you have a good machinist level to accurately set that thing. You dont want to twist the frame even a little. That makes for inconsistent bending setups. And check it a couple days then a few weeks later for settlement.



Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

Install tech is taking care of the initial leveling and bolting down when he comes to do the setup and training.

Very cool man!! Precision sheet metal feels like machining to me, it's fun to get sheet metal parts that come out EXACTLY how you intend them to. A nice machine like that is going to be great. Is the backgauge partially manual? Looks like an interesting layout?

DethloffMfg said:

Very cool man!! Precision sheet metal feels like machining to me, it's fun to get sheet metal parts that come out EXACTLY how you intend them to. A nice machine like that is going to be great. Is the backgauge partially manual? Looks like an interesting layout?

Click to expand...

Backgauge R axis (vertical adjustment) and Z axis (side to side motion of fingers) are manual. Just backgauge X axis is CNC. I bought the base model.

Sad thing is, I've also got a quote for a well known North American machine (cream colored paint with red trim), and to get the features equal to my 'base model,' it required $22k of accessories, on top of an already higher base price. And that was still without any tooling, whereas mine came with one set.

I pondered getting CNC R axis, but the reality is 98% of my stuff is 90 degree bends, so a programmable R wouldn't pay for itself. Of the remaining 2%, most of them will still allow gauging off the unbent portion of the blank - for the last .5%, I'll walk around the back and crank the handle.

If I ever get into job shop type work, that may be a problem, but I primarily make my own products. If a job shop style job comes through the door, I won't turn it away, but I don't look for that work.



It's got flip fingers with multiple stop points (that pin can be moved back for additional reach.




Z axis is held firm by a spring loaded rubber stop - simply press the bar down to release the clamp, and allow them to roll freely.

CNC X axis handles most parts and is really what you want. You'll play with the Z a lot but everything should be done to keep that R stationary. Any time you need to move the R it means you're referencing at least 1-2 bends away and tolerances stack up really fast at that point. I'd probably have ordered the same setup! Can I ask what you paid, or ballpark if it's a custom quote?

Looks nice, I'm jealous. But I have to ask.... All the nice open floor space and you parked it in front of the door?

JP Machining said:

Looks nice, I'm jealous. But I have to ask.... All the nice open floor space and you parked it in front of the door?

Click to expand...

That's the back door which leads to nowhere. There's a fence too close to maneuver a vehicle or trailer in, and it's soft muddy gravel, so I don't dare take the forklift out there. It's better treated as a wall.

The open space is deceiving - I moved everything I could out of the way to give myself space to work. With everything back in place, it's not as good.

I put the machine just over 6' off the two walls. My miter bandsae table goes up against the door behind the brake. My drill press and punch go on the wall to the left. Shop press tucks in the corner. Put all of those back, and you have a 3' walk space between the brake and other things.

I've only got 30x60', which sounds good until you realize I make boat accessories, and have to have room to fit multiple boats inside.

Dethloff, pm sent.

I did some work with a marine canvas guy, he had about the same size shop and a big yard and that place was full. All the marine applications need some floorspace haha.

DethloffMfg said:

I did some work with a marine canvas guy, he had about the same size shop and a big yard and that place was full. All the marine applications need some floorspace haha.

Click to expand...

My bread and butter is mail order accessories (custom and generic), so I don't have his issue. But there are times that it makes sense to schedule one in for whatever reason - I limit it to 2 on the floor at any given time, and ideally, no more than 3 per month.