stafford

Personally I think in your shop at home you just need a small press for making all the brackets and other bits and bobs and anything big I go to a small firm that has 2 2.5 mtr brakes and a 2.5 mtr guillotine, for this chassis I marked out several jobs and the guy cut them out and folded them about 10 folds all for £20 and that made my front bumper, rear X member and 2 other sections. Simon

Have a look at this link. 24" wide 6mm thick steel plate on a 1.5" die opening would require 60 tons, 2" die opening 44 tons. http://www.accurpress.com/qry/ht_loadcalc.taf Simon.

No a friend of mine has a small machine shop at home and I helped him with a few jobs and he did the machine work. It is well worth making one I am building a new chassis and it is proving indispensable , with the pass through hole you can make two folds within 2 inches of each other.

Hi I can't find the web site any more it was an American desert race car fab shop but I did save the drawings. I made the frame out of 50 x50 x 5mm wall, the plates are 10mm, the punch and die are just bright steel bar stock and the jack is a 12 ton of fleebay and I put the 2 plates in the die for 6mm, I did have a chart for tonnage required depending on the width of the Die but you can find them on the net. If you make it as the plans it will make up to 60 deg folds. I'm on the look out for a narrower die for thin stuff now. Simon/

Hi all I am building a new motor and needed a folder that could handle some thick stuff and couldn't find anything reasonably priced but found some plans on the net for a small press brake and knocked this up. I have bent 5 inch wide 6mm steel in it no problem and 15 inch width 3 mm and it makes a very nice job. I think it cost about £100 to build. Simon