homebuilt bender/shear/break

[rjeepr]

new member, long time lurker. while sailing the internet high seas i came across a reference on pirate4x4.com- in an archive:rolleyes: the post was around 2004 to this board where someone had built a bender/shear/break like a 3-in-1 hf type device from scrap or on the cheap. no name was listed and the reference post number was 123443. ring a bell anybody?
i am more interested in a homegrown shear than anything else but a combo might be interesting. thanks:D

[whateg0]

Well, if it doesn't have to be a shear of that size and style, a throatless shear can be purchased fairly cheaply, or with a combination of TLAR and reverse engineering can be made pretty easily.

I don't know how much help that was, but it was free. ;)

Dave

[rjeepr]

thanks but the use for this shear would be to cut longer sheets 24-48'' for the sign industry. long straight cuts. i also build off road rigs and these are invaluable for interior panels, fillets in body panels,tanks- etc. i have a throatless and it's great for unusuall shapes and custom cuts. i hope to find the original tool builder mentioned or someone who has the old post. possibly even an archive for that time of this board. thanks rettjeeper

[vicegrip]

Greetings:
Building a successfull brake, or bender (brake-press) / (press-brake),
is one matter. It can be done in quite a spectrum of results.

A shear how-ever, is a whole different matter, with mandatory
ridgidity and sreightness, that is usually beyound what a
"build-it-yourself" unit will need to be.

Infact many of the 3-in-ones, (combos) work OK,
untill you try to cut something thicker than aluminum-foil.

I'm not exagerating.;)
There has been so many auctions, from bankrupt little (and Large)
shops, that a little web-hunting should "net" you a good shear.

vg

[rjeepr]

my reason for posting here is for knowledge. i am aware of the logical use of manufactured tooling- i have an interest in building tools. my background includes fabricating and engineering. my searches are for new ways to achieve from new perspectives. the pic attached is from a company in canada:confused:. i tried to find them in vain. the tool is well built and engineered. i have the heavy materials to build this unit- i vision the cutting edge as hardened tool steel lap bedded in the moving arm and the shear plate fixed to the frame. i have studied the import 3-in-1 closely.most of my reading is of how the hf units are junk. i am hoping to find others who have upgraded these units to make them useable and productive.

anyone who can build such a unit from scratch peaks my interest and i hope their solutions to problems extend my sight and problem solving. there is a sheetmetal dude in my town selling a 52inch stompshear for a reasonable price- but i am hoping for the satisfaction of overcoming my problems with this tool build and certainly any help i can get is greatly appreciated thanks rettjeeper:)

[whateg0]

Don't take Phil's well-intended message the wrong way. Many of us are here for the sake of learning something. Some people just don't grasp the shear (pardon the pun) scope of such a project, and it is often wise to steer them away from something they may not be up to.

The 3-in-1 machine is one of those that does several things, but none of them well. The same can be said of many things. Often multi-function welders are okay, but don't do a great job at any process, for example. I don't think I'd call them junk, necessarily, but they aren't always the best value. If the work one is doing is within the realm of that machine, though, they work fine. I blame the marketing/sales departments more than the engineers. An engineer often designs something that does task "A" very well, and then the marketing guys see it and say, "I think it could also be used for B. Let's sell it as a "B" machine." If the specs for one of the 3-in-1s said it would successfully bend 24ga aluminum instead of 16ga (or whatever it says) people would buy it to bend 24ga instead of 16ga. And they'd be happy because it would bend the 24ga they bought it for.

Good luck in your search for stomp shear building information. I'd like to have one some day. I have made many of the tools in my shop because I too cheap to buy the stuff that would work and know I can build better than the stuff I can afford.

Dave

[vicegrip]

my reason for posting here is for knowledge. i am aware of the logical use of manufactured tooling- i have an interest in building tools. my background includes fabricating and engineering. my searches are for new ways to achieve from new perspectives. .............................
there is a sheetmetal dude in my town selling a 52inch stompshear for a reasonable price- but i am hoping for the satisfaction of overcoming my problems with this tool build and certainly any help i can get is greatly appreciated thanks rettjeeper:)


Don't take Phil's well-intended message the wrong way. Many of us are here for the sake of learning something. Some people just don't grasp the shear (pardon the pun) scope of such a project, and it is often wise to steer them away from something they may not be up to.
......................Good luck in your search for stomp shear building information. I'd like to have one some day. I have made many of the tools in my shop because I too cheap to buy the stuff that would work and know I can build better than the stuff I can afford.

Dave

I certainly don't mean to come across as a Ney-sayer.
Usally some-ones try-ing to stear me away from sand-bars.

I'm just putting an ephasis on the needs for this to work.
I'd still get the 52" stomp....and invest your enthusiasm
in a venture with a greater likelyhood of success.

Cheers
vg

ps:
I do have abackground in this field.
I spent Christmas brake in the late 80s, revamping a cheap
20 ton hydrolic brake-press to get it to perform like the one
that cost twice as much that we really needed to do our work.
It worked out very well , but had I not had the excellant help
of a voluteer that beleived in the project,
it would have been too much, And I would have had Egg on my face
after the Holydays.

[rjeepr]

i certainly never intended any disrespect- nor did i take the advice as discouraging. this post started as a quest to find an old post. the exchange of ideas is the highest aspiration. i always think back to the question how did they make a lathe before lathes? how about mills? technology is a wonderful thing- but there are options. part of my business is signage and i wouln't want to give up my cutter- but i can still sling paint when the need arises.

the reference to cheap is definitely appropriate. the shear was selling for $850.00 which is a smokin deal, but the concept of it costing me maybe a couple hundred to build stokes my FIRE:D i spend money the way i like (mostly because of no kids nor wife-ex) which makes me lucky. i am certainly no rockafella but i like the feel of new steel. the way i can justify it the best is through my own handywork. yes i'll use this in my business but @850 i could buy mucho beer;) just not much gasoline:(. my real world is not about saving money for beer but a couple hours welding or pounding steel to forget my days events is PRICELESS. so i come to this board ,hat in hand, to extend my education with some guys who may have been down the road i seek to travel. thanks rettjeeper