Grizzly Pan and Box Brake Question

[tackit]

Anyone know how 12" Grizzly breaks work? http://www.grizzly.com/products/12-Pan-a...rake/G0556

[Highpower]

Never used one but it's probably as good as any other piece of import cast iron tooling I suppose. It's hard to find any glowing reviews of any of it. I've seen some posts about the 24" version having issues with alignment and tracking being off the mark, and needing modifications to make it work better. Typical stuff.

I bought a HF compact bender some time ago and it looked great pulling it out of the box. But it didn't take long to figure out that the pins that hold the dies don't sit square to the frame. It's too heavy to run back and forth to the store to exchange it in hopes of eventually getting a straight one. I consider all the import stuff to come as a "kit", and I expect it's all going to need some work to get it to function the way that it should have in the first place.

So the frame has a date with a tree stump, oxy/acetylene torch, a sledge hammer and a can of spray paint in it's future. I'll just have to git-er-done and move on. If I can't afford the best tools I'd rather have cheap tools than none at all. I'm not too proud.

[tackit]

(06-01-2014, 02:51 PM)Highpower Wrote: Never used one but it's probably as good as any other piece of import cast iron tooling I suppose. It's hard to find any glowing reviews of any of it. I've seen some posts about the 24" version having issues with alignment and tracking being off the mark, and needing modifications to make it work better. Typical stuff.

I bought a HF compact bender some time ago and it looked great pulling it out of the box. But it didn't take long to figure out that the pins that hold the dies don't sit square to the frame. It's too heavy to run back and forth to the store to exchange it in hopes of eventually getting a straight one. I consider all the import stuff to come as a "kit", and I expect it's all going to need some work to get it to function the way that it should have in the first place.

So the frame has a date with a tree stump, oxy/acetylene torch, a sledge hammer and a can of spray paint in it's future. I'll just have to git-er-done and move on. If I can't afford the best tools I'd rather have cheap tools than none at all. I'm not too proud.

Thanks Highpower. I built a brake for the shop but it's not a finger brake, maybe I can modify it somehow to accept fingers. If I have to go through trouble and work to get a manufactured one to bend straight I might as well use the energy building one of my own.

[Highpower]

(06-02-2014, 05:42 AM)tackit Wrote: If I have to go through trouble and work to get a manufactured one to bend straight I might as well use the energy building one of my own.

Nothing wrong with that at all if you have the means to do so. I bought the HF bender because I need to bend some 1/4" flat steel stock into U brackets that need a smooth, accurate 1" radius. I could heat and beat them over a piece of 2" round stock but they wouldn't be smooth nor straight by the time I got done with them.

And the frame on the bender is 1/2" steel bent in a 180, so trying to make the bender would be even worse for me. Tweaking a ready-made one that is a little bit off kilter is a lot more do-able for me.

[tackit]

I have some 12" X 12" X 1" plates. I suppose I could cut one down to 4" wide, mill an angle across the bottom and then take the piece to the band saw and cut a few different size fingers. I was thinking I could bolt the fingers to my benders top hold down lift the hold down about a 1/4" off the platen with spacers so the metal to be bent could slip under the bar. If you click on the pic it will take you to the brakes build.

[Highpower]

Nice! What kind of finish is that?

[tackit]

(06-02-2014, 10:18 PM)Highpower Wrote: Nice! What kind of finish is that?

HP the platen and movable bending arm I polished them with a 3" maroon blending pad on my angle die grinder, the base is painted aluminum.

I use this model die grinder, it's been a great tool for me. I had a red model Dynabraid that cost over twice as much as the $50ish Astro Pneumatic fall apart on me.

http://www.astrotools.com/default.aspx?t...m=1261&

I've bought all my abrasives from this company for years.

https://abrasives4sale.com/

This is the Red Tool Dynabraid that went bad on me after a short time of use. The way I remember the body was two sections, one was threaded right hand and one left, you couldn't tighten the tool tight enough to stay tight. Nice tool though, they may have fixed the design by now, it was probably 5 years ago or better since It happened.

http://www.autobodytoolmart.com/dynabrad...CsFs_w_wcB

[Highpower]

Ah, OK it's aluminum. It looked to me like a galvanized coating. I was just curious - thanks!

[tackit]

(06-03-2014, 12:20 PM)Highpower Wrote: Ah, OK it's aluminum. It looked to me like a galvanized coating. I was just curious - thanks!

HP I mislead you with the pic. It's all made of steel. I posted the pic of the wheel polishing metal for what I thought would make things a bit clearer of how and what I did to clean and polish the surfaces of the metal, I can see how you thought it was aluminum.

Sorry kid.

[EdK]

Thanks for the link to https://abrasives4sale.com/ . They have some good prices with stuff made in the USA.

Ed