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Press brake, large tonnage short length?

M. Moore

Titanium
Joined
Jun 8, 2007
Location
Vancouver Island, B.C. Canada
In all my searching for press brakes I have never come across a large tonnage short press?
Does it exist? If not then why not? If you want to bend some heavy plate then it would be nice to have a short and very stout machine?

The matching machine is a pyramid roll and they do come in short length very heavy duty. I have seen 4' long rolls that can do 3/4" plate.

Can anyone shed some light?
 
I did some dies for one that IIRC is 500 tons at 8' wide, older Cincinnati hydraulic

Cylinders look like 55 gallon drums up there.

Dies were at most, 24" wide, large radius (8"-12") and for material 2" thick.
 
Karl,
I have a Scotchman 55 ton already, it is not up to the job of bending 36” x 3/8” plate, sadly.

Diggger,
That sounds like a beast! A wee bit heavier than I was thinking and 8’ is still too big for my shop.

I would like to bend up to 4’ wide and up to 3/4” thick, but 1/2” is probably all I would need. Mostly doing large radius bends on smaller pieces. I have a pretty beefy set of rolls that will do 1/4” x 6’ (Webb).

In all my searching for a short press I have never seen one that is more than 15 tons per foot and that is big it seems. Just wondering why?
 
Karl,
I have a Scotchman 55 ton already, it is not up to the job of bending 36” x 3/8” plate, sadly.

Diggger,
That sounds like a beast! A wee bit heavier than I was thinking and 8’ is still too big for my shop.

I would like to bend up to 4’ wide and up to 3/4” thick, but 1/2” is probably all I would need. Mostly doing large radius bends on smaller pieces. I have a pretty beefy set of rolls that will do 1/4” x 6’ (Webb).

In all my searching for a short press I have never seen one that is more than 15 tons per foot and that is big it seems. Just wondering why?

How are going to feed a piece 4' wide x 3/4" thick into the press brake ?

This might need a pit:
485 Ton, Accurpress ACCEL-548510, CNC Press Brake, 10' Oa, Ets-3000 Control, 2009 Brakes, Press, CNC CNC Machinery & Equipment - SurplusRecord.com
 
How does anyone do it? Overhead crane? Forklift? Hydraulic table lift?

Yes......

My neighbors older mechanical 400 ton x 12'...he used to do truck loads of 1/2" plate. Making angle out of them maybe 12" legs x 10'-12' long.

We looked at several ways to help out the (2) people running it.

Only thing they did use was an air powered jib hoist with a plate dog (air hoist
are fast when you want them to be)
to follow the plate as it went up.

Lincoln electric design competition book shows a press brake "stood on edge"
So the plate can be hung from a plate dog, and put thru the machine. It was custom
made to solve a problem.

I have never seen one for sale.
 
Handling the plate is not the problem, finding a short 4'-5' press that can bend heavy materials is the problem.
I appreciate the input but "how to move the plate around?" was not in my original post.
 
They make what you want, it just wont be in your price range.

It's like buying a 6 foot shear, totally useless except for people who are cutting 5 and 6 foot wide sheets all day long.

You are most likely going to have to get a 8 foot brake.

Or you can look into apron brakes. If I remember, portable welder has one that can bend some 1/2 plate.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
 
Bondo,
Who is they?
I posted this because in years of watching auctions and looking at all kinds of sale sites I have never seen a short bed large tonnage brake press for sale, new or used.
If such a unicorn exists can you point me in the direction of the golden barn?

Also are you saying that they exist but would be quite expensive therefore low demand therefore not many have ever been made? Which does answer my original question.

How do you know what my price range is? :D
 
Bondo, wow, you have a good memory, I drove out to Iowa and looked at a 1/2" x 10' apron brake but the guy backed out of the deal and would not sell it, so I bought a 12' x 240 ton hydraulic press brake.
 
Bondo,
Who is they?
I posted this because in years of watching auctions and looking at all kinds of sale sites I have never seen a short bed large tonnage brake press for sale, new or used.
If such a unicorn exists can you point me in the direction of the golden barn?

Also are you saying that they exist but would be quite expensive therefore low demand therefore not many have ever been made? Which does answer my original question.

How do you know what my price range is? :D

Most press brake companies will make you whatever custom size you need - they make custom sizes all the time. Start calling your brand(s) of choice, and go from there.

In the real world, no one would buy it - the cost savings for a shorter bed is negligible, just some steel. The expensive bits are the same regardless of length. As such, it would be foolish for most companies to buy a shorter one, when 5% more cost gets them a longer one that is more versatile. Generally speaking, companies that process enough 3/4" plate to justify owning a machine have enough floorspace that a couple feet of length doesn't make or break them.
 
In all my searching for press brakes I have never come across a large tonnage short press?
Does it exist? If not then why not? If you want to bend some heavy plate then it would be nice to have a short and very stout machine?

The matching machine is a pyramid roll and they do come in short length very heavy duty. I have seen 4' long rolls that can do 3/4" plate.

Can anyone shed some light?

I have seen a couple made by Pacific and Cincinnati, they look like one side of the press brake with just one cylinder....they look similar to a straightening press.

It doesn't look like Pacific offers them anymore, you may want to call them and see if you can get a model number?

Gap C Frame Presses | Hydraulic Gap Frame Presses | C Frame Presses

It seems like the horizontal/bulldozer type press has replaced them?

Horizontal Hydraulic Presses | Horizontal Hydraulic Press Manufacturer

Kevin
 
Here is one about half as long as our 20 footer

600 Ton Pacific 600-10 Hydraulic Press Brake | eBay

ph

Cute leetle buggar....and remember when installing it, to put in fresh hydraulic oil.

Just ring up your local oil supplier and have them bring out a peddle truck (like for home heating oil) and just put the dispenser hose & nozzle in thru an open window to fill this thing up.....My friend does bulk hydraulic this way, IIRC 1200 gallons is his trucks limit.
 
Bondo, that 6’er looks good, nice a beefy!

BSG, Kevin, the pacific C frame is very beefy but doesn’t have the feed through room like a press brake.

Medfab, that Cole Tuve looks excellent and would fit the bill nicely. However Bondo nailed it my budget may not fit the machine!

John, that is a nice looking machine, 32 tons to move though is a bit more than I can handle! Seems like a low price for such a large capacity machine.


Thanks for the responses, I had imagined that there was low demand for a short machine due to the low cost saving compared to a longer capacity. Nice the see that there are some options out there, now to find one in my price range and close by.....
 
About 30 years ago I bought a 1/2" x 8 ' Chicago and made a deal with a trucker and had it delivered 200 miles for $ 3,500.00. I looked around for years to find it. I am also cheap! John
 








 
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