Pressing Matters

Some small progress got made in the last couple of days. 

First, a friend of mine welded up the SWAG Off Road press brake kit.  This is a high quality, very hefty product.  I am very impressed. 

Getting it home I couldn't wait to bend some metal and check out the results.  Which turned out somewhat disappointing.  On heavy gauge metal, like 1/8" and thicker, this thing is killer.  But the bend radius on lighter gauge metals (like .050") is far too generous.  Also, I couldn't bend a flange less than 3/4".  To do the fittings on the airplane I need to get down to 3/8".

After some soul searching, fussing, and inventing, I acquired various sizes of angle iron from 1" down to 3/8".  By stacking these in the female die of the press I was able to bend flanges down to 1/4" and achieve a reasonable bend radius with .050" 4130.

Here is the SWAG unit mounted in a Harbor Freight press:

And this shows, if you look closely, my modifications for lighter gauge metals.

I played with welding up my modification, but it works well loose.  I am not sure how well it work welded up.

I also considered grinding the taper on the male die to a sharper point.  But I am getting a good bend radius without taking that drastic step.

And here is the product of the day:

The wooden piece is the cutting template.  This part is the brace for the aileron hinge.  This is a great day for me.  I have not produced an airplane part since the end of August, the time (and money) being taken up figuring out how to bend up these parts without having to purchase a $2,500 press that would take up too much of my limited shop space.  The SWAG press works well, was a reasonable price, and takes up very little shop space.