Preheat advice requested

[BukitCase]

Terry, I like it - I'm thinking I should have made a wider mouth like yours, may need to change that. Guess I'll find out later tonite -

How does/did yours work, and what (if anything) would you have changed? Steve

 

[Sodo]

I've bent 1/2" x 3" flatbar with a much flimsier jig than that. I was using a 50T press. I don't know about 20T, but the 50T bent the 1/2" flatbar like butter.

If you want to pretend you are setting up for a production run……. (of more than 2 :laughing: )

Consider to flip it over and bend it "open" a little wider (with the press). Then you release the down-force it automatically springs open a little to release your part.

 

[Big Barn]

Terry, I like it - I'm thinking I should have made a wider mouth like yours, may need to change that. Guess I'll find out later tonite - How does/did yours work, and what (if anything) would you have changed? Steve

I don't think I would change anything Steve. Actually surprise myself sometimes when something I design turns out okay. Using a 50 ton press. Wish I had an eighty ton, but then...... Terry

Edit: the wider mouth is nice. You can always tack in spacers to narrow it up.

 

[BukitCase]

Sodo, I know I only need two, but if they're not right they'll be a pain in my ***-embly every time I switch implements So I went overkill (I usually do) -
From this
20 TON Finger Brake Heavy Duty DIY Builder Kit

I think the 20ton won't have much problem, but then again I'm doing a 180 degree bend not a 90, so I won't be 100% confident it'll work til it actually DOES... Besides, I made this so it'd take spacers to do narrower things if/when I need to, so maybe I'll get more out of it than two pieces and some experience

Yeah, Terry, they had a nice 100 tonner at work with several dies, etc, but when I retired it just wouldn't quite fit in my lunch box :laughing: (not for a total lack of trying though...) Steve

 

[Arc weld]

If 20 tons isn't enough, heat the flat bar and you'll get a smoother radius and no spring back. I'd be a little worried everything will be stuck together in your jig. Get some graphite to put on the jig and the flat bar. It will lessen the friction when bending. Talked to a welder that worked at Edmonton Exchanger and he said the shop was messy from all the graphite they use when making pressure vessel components, like heads... and they have a 3000 ton press!:shocked: It uses a 72" dia. hyd. cylinder. They also have a set of plate rolls, serviced by a 100 ton crane, that can roll 7" thick cold and 11" thick hot (1650 deg.). That's some serious capacity! I went to school with the foreman. He was offered a job after going there for work experience and has been there since 1981. Lucky *******. :laughing:

 

[BukitCase]

Thanks Arc weld - Yeah, couple of the places I worked at the last 35 years had monster presses like that - one had two 40 inch and one 60 inch cylinder running the same press, had 3 100 horse pumps in tandem

Note in the pics that the sides of my jig are open? If things get stuck, I'm thinking I can lay the jig on its side, support the two verticals with press plates and push the part out sideways. I also have the trusty rosebud standing by - no graphite, but a few tubes of moly grease.

It may take a few different methods to get the two GOOD pieces I need, but I have quite a bit of 1/2" flat bar to play with.

Hopefully, with plans A, B, and C already lined up, I won't need to figure out what plan D woulda been

The end result should be well worth it though, I already have 5 or 6 candidates for QA setup - a couple will need hydraulic motors, so I have the 3/4" hard tubing here to run hard lines up the loader arms, and a 30 gpm variable excess flow control valve mounted next to the loader control valves, to be inserted prior to loader valve with excess routed into the loader/backhoe.

Did I mention that this project is just getting STARTED??!? Steve

 

[Shield Arc]

So how did it turn out?

 

[BukitCase]

No actual parts bent yet - cooled it, welded between gussets, ran a couple stringer beads (your #10) on each gusset, ground the outside welds flush and blended so it would sit flat on either side (better support if/when I need to lay it on its side to push out the part), found the scrap piece of 1" plate to make new press plates, cut that in half.

After things cooled, I measured the distance between the uprights - it's dead on 2-9/16" both sides, top and bottom :cool2:

After seeing Terry's version (thanks Terry), I'm gonna make bigger bevels on the "mouth" next - Gotta clean up the new(old) press plates a bit (bit of slag here and there, 10 years of Oregon "patina")

Sooo, probably see some "proof of the pudding" sometime this afternoon (did I forget to mention I'm sometimes just a teensy bit OCD ?)

Already have another small "project" for this jig, gotta find a piece of 2" round stock (fatter pusher) so I can make 1/4" thick, longer legged "U's" to mount gate wheels on four 16' tube gates on my place.

Sodo, you'll be happy to know I'll now be "mass producing" :laughing:

Remember, if you can laugh at yourself, you'll nearly always have lots of company ... Steve

 

[Shield Arc]

After things cooled, I measured the distance between the uprights - it's dead on 2-9/16" both sides, top and bottom :cool2:

Did you use my weld sequence or yours?

 

[Sodo]

Sodo, you'll be happy to know I'll now be "mass producing" :laughing:
Remember, if you can laugh at yourself, you'll nearly always have lots of company ... Steve

Mass produce bending jigs or J-parts?

Stack 2 pieces of 1/4" flatbar and bend them with the pusher you have. The parts will become u-shaped '1/4" adapters' for either diameter (bigger or smaller) and you can cut them off flush at the top, then bevel the entry throat(s).

 

[Big Barn]

Mass produce bending jigs or J-parts? Stack 2 pieces of 1/4" flatbar and bend them with the pusher you have. One of the parts will become your u-shaped 'shim'.

Good idea,Sodo. I will have to remember that one.

Terry

 

[BukitCase]

Shield, used yours (except once when I forgot) and once when I welded both long welds on one side then both inside opposites of those.

Took more pics, will upload later, probably around 5 or 6. (that's "retirement time", got a grain of salt??!? :laughing: )

Sodo, at this rate I'd be money ahead to take a part time job as a Wally-world greeter and hire somebody ELSE to do this, but (in spite of the humor in watching WallyWorld freaks) where's the fun in THAT?

I beveled the inside tops @ 45 degrees, used the bigger table that came with the Jet saw and clamped a cheap plastic "miter guide" from Rockler to the base of the jig, it has a bar that's supposed to fit the miter slot on a table saw - held that bar against the edge of the bandsaw table firmly and pushed the jig into it. Not perfect, but it worked better than trying to keep both sides equal with a side grinder

More later, gotta grab a bite, clean the bumps off the "new" press plates, cut a few "candidates" out of 1/2" stock and find out what "plan G" needs to be

Thanks again for all the help... Steve

Edit - Sodo, at first I didn't get what you meant by your suggestion, didn't think it would work - duh, finally got it. Thanks a LOT... (this isn't "new york sarcasm", BTW)

 

[BukitCase]

wider bevels on mouth

setup for first attempt

start of push

20 tons with no lube

slick does the trick

Oops, good thing I made more blanks

Second push, corrected error

Pushing out the finished part

One lonely boo-boo, 4 winners


Observations - I think that if you applied 20 tons + 4 pounds to HF's 20 ton press, you should do it in another county
I think I'd have been in trouble if I hadn't increased the bevel on the mouth of the fixture - also, without lube I would have needed to crank up the rosebud for sure. The first third of the push was easy, then it stalled out - at first, I thought "typical HF jack, probably low on fluid", till I tried pulling on the handle instead of using the air actuator - thought I was gonna break the handle and still no movement.

The fixture flexed a little, but other than that just a slight amount of galling on the top bevels.

I sanded down and broke the edges of each piece before pushing, didn't wanna take the chance on a stress crack boogering up an otherwise good part - don't know if it was necessary, only know nothing bad happened

What fixed the first one's problem? As soon as the pusher comes in full contact with the flat bar, make SURE that the horizontal part of the pusher is EXACTLY square with the bar, and that the pusher is EXACTLY centered over, and SQUARE to, the female jig.

Any questions please feel free to ask, I know I learned sumthin' today and I'm glad to pass it on (go TBN :cool2: )

Tomorrow I'll make some messes with the plaz, Friday the rest of my hydraulic parts get here, it's gonna be a busy week or three

Later... Steve

Oh, forgot to mention - only 3/32" of spring back on those parts, that's perfect for what I'm doing. Upper bucket pin will snug down in the bottom, and the slight flare will make hookup easy...

 

[Big Barn]

Nice job, Steve. And your jig turned out great! After seeing yours pics I realized I'll have to get out the sanding discs and pretty mine up tomorrow. Thanks a bunch! (just kidding ). Good work.

Terry

 

[BukitCase]

Thanks Terry, that was a fun little "sub project", part of a "system" that's too complex to either accomplish or post all at once - eventually I'll get everything together, it'll include the original (modified) bucket, brush bucket, 6 foot flail, 3PH quick hitch, open frame forklift, articulated hydraulic sickle bar for hedge trim/brush/tree trimming, same linkage but 14" electric chain saw, grapple, and 100 gallon Capuchino machine (OK, I lied about the Capuchino

All the above will have identical pin mounts to the original bucket, so any of them will swap out on the loader arms in maybe 5 minutes - maybe 10 if the new attachment needs hydraulics hooked up.

I have two solenoid diverter valves mounted to a plate that'll attach to the loader cross tube, 3/8 stainless hard tubing from the diverters to a QD jackplate and 3/8 QD's, I'm inserting a 30 gpm flow divider before the loader valve that'll run a small hyd motor (sickle) or a larger one (for the flail) and it's adjustable so I can make sure there's enough Excess flow to run the rest of the hydraulics (but slowly) while the flail is powered, or cut back for the sickle bar and have faster hydraulics for the rest. I've built a sturdy bracket that puts the flow control right next to the loader joystick but out of the way.

The solenoid valves will tie into the bucket curl - no buttons pushed = original curl function, one or the other button switches the curl control to whichever function that diverter is connected to, keeping feathering control for whatever is being used. The buttons mentioned are on a Scorpion industries loader replacement handle.

I have everything I need to run new hard lines for the loader curl, all hoses and fittings, added 3/4" tubing for the hydraulic motor control (QD's for this at the loader attachment point) - Got most of the parts cut out for Case compatible mounts for the grapple (6' wide, 900 pounds sitting on a pallet next to my shop)

And, in my SPARE TIME...

OK, that made me tired just TYPING it :confused2: Gotta go rest now... Steve

 

[Sodo]

Nice job. Good to know that 20T can do that bend on 1/2" steel. BTW where do you get all that polished steel?

 

[BukitCase]

Yeah, 20 ton can do 1/2" 3" wide - don't know if I'd take bets on it doing 3-1/2" wide tho Supposedly it'll do 5" wide for a 90 degree bend.

Where do I get all that polished steel? A sometimes heavy dose of OCD, aided and abetted by CGW flap disks Not to mention 'way too much time on some projects...

Believe it or not, I've actually done a few things I left the mill scale on and didn't paint :laughing:

 

[Big Barn]

Where do I get all that polished steel? A sometimes heavy dose of OCD, aided and abetted by CGW flap disks Not to mention 'way too much time on some projects... Believe it or not, I've actually done a few things I left the mill scale on and didn't paint :laughing:

Uh huh.......must have been in your previous life.

Terry

 

[BukitCase]

Almost

 

[newbury]

Great thread! Great pics!