Shop Press

[aametalmaster]

A 36" of 3x3 1018 is only 191 bucks at speedymetals.com and they aren't cheap. Maybe its the drilled holes in the plates...Bob

[stevec]

It says they weigh 78lbs, maybe the price is wrong? there's a Q & A button one could click to ask about the price.
(I didn't click it because I don't care )

[EdK]

Now I see why Arvid said to avoid the Northern Tools press brake.
I could weld better than that and I suck at welding.

Ed

       

[aametalmaster]

Wonder if those are welded by a high school kid. Its sad to see how the welders weld today fresh from welding school and 13 grand in the hole. I see some weld tests once a week and some guys are great, some suck and some just leave without even welding. Here are some sure i will hire you in about 25 years pics...Bob

[EdK]

Thanks Bob! I'm feeling a whole lot better about my welds now.

Those are pathetic considering they're done by people right out of welding school.

Ed

[aametalmaster]

I saw welds like that at the last place i worked too. I was giving a test to a kid i knew and he was doing real bad. I told him to just leave and stop over at my shop later and he could practice a little more which he did but they didn't hire him.
Another kid was leafing thru his textbook before he struck an arc to see how to do it.
These kids have it beat into their head at the welding school that they all will be making 30 bucks an hour when done. Hmmm i heard the same thing 38 years ago when graduating Vocational Machine Trades. 15 bucks an hour right up the street. The steel mills closed and the economy when in the sewer and you couldn't buy a job around here. Oh well found a job for $2.25 an hour and never looked back. Got lots of experience ...Bob

[arvidj]

(05-03-2014, 10:13 AM)EdK Wrote: Now I see why Arvid said to avoid the Northern Tools press brake.
I could weld better than that and I suck at welding.

Ed

Ed,

If you are interested in getting a press brake I be happy to dig mine out and find the name. It was better than the Northern Tools version in many ways and yet comparably priced.

Arvid

[EdK]

(05-03-2014, 05:48 PM)arvidj Wrote:

(05-03-2014, 10:13 AM)EdK Wrote: Now I see why Arvid said to avoid the Northern Tools press brake.
I could weld better than that and I suck at welding.

Ed

Ed,

If you are interested in getting a press brake I be happy to dig mine out and find the name. It was better than the Northern Tools version in many ways and yet comparably priced.

Arvid

Arvid,

I'd be grateful if you could get me the name. I've been searching the internet and there is a guy in Montana that makes good ones according to what I've read on numerous web sites but I can't seem to locate a name or address or web site. There's an ebay seller that sells them but only very sporadically.

Thanks.
Ed

[arvidj]

(05-03-2014, 06:01 PM)EdK Wrote: Arvid,

I'd be grateful if you could get me the name. I've been searching the internet and there is a guy in Montana that makes good ones according to what I've read on numerous web sites but I can't seem to locate a name or address or web site. There's an ebay seller that sells them but only very sporadically.

Thanks.
Ed

Ed,

I just looked and mine and it is made by a company called "Danger, Watch Your Hands and Fingers"

Seriously there is no meaningful labels on it. The "sells it on eBay occasionally and is from Montana" does ring a bell. I bought it at least 5 or more years ago. The fellow did have a web site related to his ranch and some of the metal stuff he offered for sale but the purchases went thru eBay.

The things I did not like about the Northern Tool was

(a) Their attitude. They did not stock it in the store so I called them and asked if I paid for it could they ship it to a store. Note that the store was about 40 miles from where the press brake was and the have a truck that goes there every day.

No problem.

What if, when I went to pick it up at the store I did not like the quality or ??? and did not want it. No problem, we'll just charge you the 15% restocking fee and you do not have to take it.

My interpretation of that policy is "Our press brake is so great we will charge you 15% of the price just to look at it!".

Northern also lists it as a 24 inch brake. On their web site they list the outside dimensions of the brake is 23 so I do not know where the 24 came from. The "Montana" brake was listed as an 18 inch brake because that was the widest width of material you could get between the posts even thought the brake is actually 21 inches wide.

The Northern did not come with a "fence" on the "input side"

   

or a "depth stop" on the "output side"

   

Neither is a 'must have' but are nice given it was cheaper than the one from Northern. Regretfully all of this is moot as we can't seem to find the fellow who made the one that I have.

However, as an alternative, I have heard many good things about the stuff from these guys http://www.swagoffroad.com. You can get a "weld it yourself" version for a real reasonable price that includes shipping http://www.swagoffroad.com/20-TON-Press-..._p_40.html or it seems like they have a "we will weld if for you and ship it for free" for less than what Northern wants for theirs without shipping.

Anyway, food for thought,
Arvid

[aametalmaster]

Swag is a member at the millerwelds.com forum also...Bob