Small Press Break Tool

I have borrowed one from a relative.

I have been using it to roll the cladding for my Sweet Pea, and to make tubes.

Additional data:

Rolling capacity 9", unless you want decorative ribs caused by the tubing slots in the rollers.

Minimum shear length, using stop, 3/4". Due to width of blade. It will cut thinner strips, but not with the gauge.

Seems to work well, be careful not to put tools etc. on the shearing table when rolling or bending, as all 3 mechanisms work together. Mine required adjustment to get it to cut thin brass.

I could have used a 24" version, but have nowhere to put the 12" one really...

Martin L

Martin,

That was one of the things I was interested in. I want to cut strip from about 1mm wide upwards, and it was whether it would accomplish that. I reckoned that I would have to make my own gauge to set this width of strip since the blade would probably be much wider.

Jim.

I noticed that Warco sold what looked like the same machine. Axminster seem to have a 10% discount going on the model at the moment, but it might be prudent to pay a bit more at Warco to get the after sales service, unless Axminster have the same reputation as Warco :-)

And thanks for the assurance that the machine will cut what I want without distortion. I would just be wasting my time and money if the strips I cut were anything but flat.

Jim.

Jim. It looks a badged version of WARCOs more expensive item. There are reports that some need quite some fettling to get 'em to work as guillotines (the cams being poorly formed or the blades not being straight). That said, my own WARCO one was no problem straight out the box (once I'd spent an hour cleaning all the Chinese grease off it) and it will cut the material you specify without problem (or distortion !).

Have had one for the past 16 months. Super kit!. Love using it. Use it for fibre glass PCB material, tin plate, thin sheet steel, even paper. It's a real pleasure being able to accurately and quickly cut up stuff that would be near impossible otherwise. The table is big enough to drill/tap ect for homebrew cutting stops and other mods. There's a jacking screw for setting the blade 'bow' and set stops for distancing. I may eventually get round to using the rolls or the box formers :-).

John,

Thanks for the response, especially the bit about being able to drill and tap holes for fixtures on the table since I will probably want to do that to provide an accurate way of gauging the width of thin strips.

What thickness of fibre glass PCB board have you cut, since that might be another use I can put the machine to?

From responses I've got, it appears that the machine will do what I want if you get a good one.

I think I'll have a chat with Warco at the Bristol ME show this month and see about getting the same machine from them since they have the reputation of giving a good backup service if anything isn't quite up to scratch.

Jim.

Press Break - Brake Press?

I wonder. :)

Mike

Axminster catalogue = 'break' Warco catalogue = 'brake'

Coin toss time :-)

Jim.

Press Brake 'Break' - fall to pieces, burst, separate. Would not be a happy bunny at all if my machine did this ;-) GeoffH Norfolk - UK

Wearing my hand-spinning and weaving hat.....the ancients used to brake (crush) flax and hemp, and used a brake (a toothed device) to do it.

Ken.

I've read somewhere that the 'break' comes from the ability to remove the top rollers (i.e. break it).

Or have I missed the point ?

-- Neil

Interesting. Maybe someone with a library going back to the dark ages may be able to throw light on this.

Dunno. Would be interesting to find out though. GeoffH

I've always seen it as 'brake' rather than 'break', certainly it is always advertised that way in the trade press.

Peter

-- Peter & Rita Forbes snipped-for-privacy@easynet.co.uk Engine pages for preservation info:

Well, it is definitely 'brake', there are virtually no users of the term "press break", and the following definition is typical of many I have found:

A process that typically includes metal being manually fed by an operator who then holds a metal workpiece between a punch and die and against a gauge to provide a pre-set bend or series of bends in the metal, making it ideal for producing bent parts such as enclosures and cabinets.

Peter

-- Peter & Rita Forbes snipped-for-privacy@easynet.co.uk Engine pages for preservation info:

Kempe's Engineers Handbook calls them brake presses, and notes it is possible to inch or brake them. this may be ware the definition comes from.

I suppose the alternative are presses that run a cycle each time they are operated.

Diving in with both feet and a suggested answer to my own query - here goes ......

A BRAKE Press is a machine tool that operates from the momentum or energy stored in a motor-driven flywheel.

It is so called because the energy is transmitted to the press mechanism via an eccentric which is connected to the flywheel for just one revolution at a time by the action of a brake within the flywheel. The brake is usually, but not always, operated by a pedal or pedal bar. Some are operated by a hanging rope.

A Press BREAK is a piece of tooling used in a press (not necessarily a BRAKE Press). The work piece is 'broken' over or by the tooling set in the press. For example a sheet is bent when it is forced into a long 'V' block by a long chisel edge - you could say it's back is broken. In this example the chisel edge would be the 'break' This is a different operation to that of a folder; at least it is from the metals point of view!

It would be my view that whilst a lot of the excellent equipment available in the market does indeed form metal by the action of a press, if there is no flywheel and brake then it is both incorrect and misleading to call it a brake press.

The good John Stevenson will probably, I hope, have a more definitive answer! :)

Mike

According to my new Lidl digital vernier, the thickness is 1.54mm (standard PCB stuff). regards john

Hmmm. Unlike our John to keep schtumm for so long on such an important discussion. On holiday? Nah can't see that myself. Need someone like Livingstone to find him in his workshop. Oi John - you there mate. GeoffH Norfolk