Hydraulic Shop Press Brake Designed for Harbor Freight 20 ton Press

IF you have trouble watching this video, Try ... watch this video at Welding-Tv.com

A Hydraulic Shop Press is one of the most useful tools ever.

You know what makes it even more useful?

A press brake attachment.

The Swag press brake kit is designed to be used with a 20 ton hydraulic shop press from Harbor Freight...but it will work with most any press.

Watch the video and follow along as I put this thing together using the instructions....I actually read the instructions, can you believe it? and I still screwed up.

The main thing to be concerned about with this press brake kit is warping.

The bottom piece is supposed to be completely welded and with that weld, it will bow.

Easily straightened...Especially with a 1/4" spacer under the middle...clamped on the ends and some heat from a torch in the middle area.

Step 1. Fit and tack weld the guide rods into the base. The laser cut holes in the base may need to be opened up with a round file, carbide burr, abrasive cartidge, etc. to that they are a snug fit. Putting slight taper on the guide rod would also work.

Use a hammer to tap the guide rails halfway thru the base plate and square them up and put one tack weld. Then double check for squareness before welding.

Step 2.. Weld the guide tubes to the top die. The top die is made from hot rolled A36 steel and may not be perfectly square on the bottom edge so check it and if it does not sit squarely on the table surface, you may need to clamp it to something. Once it is square, you can place the guide tubes on the ends and center them up and tack weld.

Double check that the top die and bottom assembly fits and slides easily before welding.

Step 3. Fit and tack the angle iron to the base Being careful to stay away from the notch on one end. A side stop rail fits in the notch and if you get weld in it, that will make for extra work. The base is made from high strength grade 50 A572 steel and the angle iron is A36 steel but when welded solid, is very rigid. Skip around and weld in short runs to avoid excessive distortion. ( mine warped a little bit but I was able to straighten it by clamping and heating)

Step 4. Next step is welding the threaded rod in the ends of the back stop guide tubes. The instructions were clear and yet somehow, I screwed the pooch anyway and did not leave enough threads...but I did have a bout 2 or 3 threads to catch so for the video, I drove on. I will fix it later if it even needs to be fixed ...by reversing the tubes and welding another threaded rod in the other end.

I built a stand for a Porter Cable portable bandsaw a few weeks ago and I used it to cut fishmouths in the tubes to allow for welding the all thread.

Step 5. Putting all the guide tubes and back stop together is pretty simple. I am not sure if I will even weld the side stop. If it needs weld, I will do it later. Welding the small piece of tubing on the center of the top die is pretty much the last step but since this kit is designed with a Harbor Freight 20 ton hydraulic shop press in mind,...and I will be using a different press, I will probable have a piece of steel machined to match the taper on the ram .

All in all, I am impressed with this Hydraulic Shop Press Brake kit. Its not wimpy at all and the instructions for assembly are very clear.

We have some custom offset wrenches to make soon and this will be just the ticket to make the offset bends.

exit hydraulic shop press brake and see more videos