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100-Ton Shop-Built Press Brake
Pat Burrington says he couldn’t justify spending a bundle of money on a high-capacity press brake for his welding shop, so he built one himself. “I built it several years ago when steel wasn’t nearly as costly as it is today, so my investment was probably a third of what it would’ve cost to buy one,” Burrington says.
    He made the frame and side pieces for the 100-ton brake using 40 ft. of 12-in. wide by 1-in. thick flat bar steel, stacked vertically for added strength. “I water jetted all the critical pieces like the slides and notches, then flux core welded it all together,” Burrington says.
    He bought the 7-in. dia. press cylinders, hoses and hydraulic pump from the Surplus Center in Lincoln, Neb. A friend gave him a 3-hp. electric motor and pump, which produces 2,500 psi of working pressure, to operate the press.
    “I didn’t think I could fabricate the upper and lower dies, so I bought those from a manufacturer’s rep I met at the Fabtech trade show in Chicago. Those worked perfectly, and I’ve used them to bend all types of metal, even water flumes and custom high-strength cardboard boxes. I even made a set of dies to punch in/out the pins and bushings on my Deere MC crawler track instead of having the dealer do it,” Burrington says.
    For a total cash outlay of about $4,000 plus his labor, Burrington says his custom-built press brake was a worthwhile investment that’s paid for itself many times. “Better yet, if anything goes wrong, which it rarely has, I know exactly how to fix it and don’t need to call for repairs,” he adds.
     Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Pat Burrington, Rapid Creek Cutters, 130 Garnet Dr. Hwy 93, Stevensville, Mont. 59870 (ph 406-642-3155; www.rapidcreekcutters.com).


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2022 - Volume #46, Issue #4