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Thread: Making a Swag Offraod 50" finger brake our own

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    Default Making a Swag Offroad 50" finger brake our own



    It has become apparent that the big 250 ton brake press we started designing before we moved, would continue to stay on the "back burner" due to time constraints. The need and desire for a HD finger brake (something able to bend plate and not just sheetmetal) is overwhelming. But the cost of a new brand name unit (new or even just new to us) and all the required tooling can not be justified right now, especially only a year removed from the big shop move. Until it was realized that buying a Swag Offroad (www.swagoffroad.com) DIY finger brake kit, plus a few air/hydraulic jacks and some materials laying around the shop, would be affordable option. So a 50" (actually 48.5" useable) kit, extra die kits (48" of Gooseneck and 32" of hemming top and bottom dies), and a few misc other items were ordered during Swag's only sale of the year.

    The kit arrived and was fairly basic and straightforward. Even though the directions seemed to be for an earlier version and really only referenced the narrower 20" brake kits. This wasn't a big deal as they are almost the same, except for width. Here is all the parts and pieces as they arrived, once unpacked:



    Having assembled a 20" kit long ago after they were first introduced, we opted to not exactly follow the instructions, and promptly tossed them to the side. We start with something not in the instructions, to layout and drill some holes down the center of the base plate. These will line up with the bottom of the angle iron that is used as the bottom die. This will allow for the angle iron to be welded to the bottom of the base plate, as well as the top. Adding strength, rigidity, and to help to keep things from moving during welding the long top stretches.









    Next, 2 carriage bolts are installed into the square holes in the bottom die. These will be used to secure the back stop into the assembly. Once the bolts are securely fastened, the head on the inside of the die get welded into position.








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    Default Re: Making a Swag Offraod 50" finger brake our own



    The base plate and angle iron are then clamped together and to the fab table, once they are planed out to each other. They are tack welded together in a few areas across the top and sides. Then the piece is unclamped and flipped over, and clamped again. And then center holes get plug weled.











    Once cooled, the bottom die assembly is unclamped from the table, and cleaned up.



    With the bottom die tacked together and cleaned up, it gets moved to the small H press to get the side guide rods pressed in. They are then squared up and welded solid from the bottom.









    Once cooled, the bottom die assembly is cleaned up and clamped to the table using a piece of square tubing to keep equal pressure along the length of the die to help keep from moving during the welding process. We opted to weld only certain areas along the top of the die instead of the recommended entire length. Again, to keep from sinking too much heat into it and wraping it even in the slightest.




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    Default Re: Making a Swag Offraod 50" finger brake our own



    The bottom die fully welded:



    And assembled with the back stop:






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    Default Re: Making a Swag Offraod 50" finger brake our own



    With the bottom die being mostly finished, attention gets turned to the top die assembly. The side guide tubes were laid out, tacked into position, and then fully welded.
















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    Default Re: Making a Swag Offraod 50" finger brake our own



    After it was cleaned up, everything was assembled together.









    Next up will be designing and building a "H" frame press to house it.

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    cnstaco (February 17th, 2020)

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    Default Re: Making a Swag Offraod 50" finger brake our own



    Pictures are not showing up.

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    Default Re: Making a Swag Offraod 50" finger brake our own



    Pix: Curious, they are showing for me. Externally hosted at Colorado4x4.org.

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    Default Re: Making a Swag Offraod 50" finger brake our own



    Jim previously posted:
    "Pix: Curious, they are showing for me. Externally hosted at Colorado4x4.org."

    Showing for me too.
    ___________
    Tom
    -.- . ----- .-- - -.-.

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    Default Re: Making a Swag Offraod 50" finger brake our own



    They now show up for me.

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    Default Re: Making a Swag Offraod 50" finger brake our own



    Same here, text only. Exited thread and reloaded, now the pics show up.

    Looks like a heavy duty piece of work!
    ___________
    ~Not All Who Wander Are Lost~ (at least not all the time)

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    Default Re: Making a Swag Offraod 50" finger brake our own



    Having the finger brake assembled, started on designing a "H" press frame to house it, using stocked materials and some drops that are left from past projects. Wanted to make the load capacity a bit overkill from what is actually needed since this will be used in a shop environment. And because there is a strong possibility that a larger hydraulic system may be attached if the air/hydraulic is too slow. Came up with a chop list and got most of the pieces for the main frame cut. There will still be a few more added in, like all the plasma cut pieces, but this will be a good start.



    The "H" frame design will be fairly simple. The main top and bottom horizontal pieces will be custom I beam fabricated from 2 pieces of 10" x 15.3lbs channel and a section of 3/8" x 6" flat stock. This will give us a slightly thicker than standard 10" I beam. The 2 pieces of C channel are drilled in an offset pattern then clamped together and welded solid, top, bottom, sides, and plug welded throughout the center. Then they will be stiffening plates or ribbing welded into them and then outer 1/4" plates will welded to each sides of the I beam to completely box them.























    You will notice one section was fabricated from 3 pieces of C channel and not just 2. Using drops from different shop projects, we were unable to find enough material in long enough lengths. And since we were already fabricating I beams out of them, it didn't add much time to weld to3 pieces together instead of two. And large gusset plates to cover the sides of the I beam will cut and installed into the frame later.

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    Default Re: Making a Swag Offraod 50" finger brake our own



    Cut and drilled 2 sections of 3/8" x 6" flat stock that will be welded to the I beams. One to each I beam. This will add some much needed thickness.



    Then clamped them onto their beams



    Also cut a small section of the flat stock for the middle of the opposite side of the beams. These will be for making the fabrication process easier and will eventually be cut off:



    Then welded the plates into position and sanded the welds smooth












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    Default Re: Making a Swag Offraod 50" finger brake our own



    Fabricated 3 top plates that will help hold the jacks into position





    And while at it, made a couple mounting plates for the casters



    Then drilled the needed holes in the I beams using the mag-base so the heavy beams didn't have to come off the fab table.



    And tapped the holes with the tapping arm








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    Default Re: Making a Swag Offraod 50" finger brake our own



    The vertical legs are next on the agenda. Each leg will consist of 2 pieces of 3" x 3" x 1/8" wall square tubing welded together to create a section of 3" x 6" rectangular tube. But these will offer much more strength with the 1/4" thick center wall. Then there will be another piece of 3" x 3" square tube run perpendicular at the bottom of the 3" x 6" to create a wider base. The ends of that section will have mounting plates for casters welded on.

    The verticals and top caps fresh off the saw:



    They are clamped together and to the table. The top cap is tacked on, then everything is welded, and unclamped and sanded smooth. They are flipped over and the same process happens again, minus the sanding.









    The bottom pieces are capped, welded, and sanded smooth.






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    Default Re: Making a Swag Offraod 50" finger brake our own



    Once cool, both sections are fitted together with the addition of some gusset tubes. Then the entire assembly is welded solid.









    Once cooled, the caster mounting plates are welded on.



    All assembled:


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    Default Re: Making a Swag Offraod 50" finger brake our own



    Having the uprights and the horizontal pieces mostly fabricated, means we can finally start assembling the H frame. The fab table is cleaned and then a long, straight section of 2x4 is clamped to it to be used as a stop. One upright is then clamped to the table perpendicular to the stop, with the top of the upright shimmed 3/8" away from the stop.







    The top horizontal beam is clamped along the stop. The ends are shimmed the same 3/8" but the middle isn't, as it already has the small section of 3/8" welded to it, and is the reason the other pieces need to be shimmed.



    A couple sections of scrap tubing are cut to be the exact same length and are used as spacers for the bottom horizontal beam to be clamped into position.



    Then the other upright is clamped into position, and the assembly is tacked and welded in certain areas.








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    Default Re: Making a Swag Offraod 50" finger brake our own



    Took a little time to design the outer plates for the press. These will be 1/4" thick and will sandwich the I beams with gusset plates between them perpendicularly in the webbing to create some pretty burly beam assemblies.

    Top plates as in Solidworks:



    Bottom plates as in Solidworks:



    And how they turned out fresh off the plasma table:





    All cleaned up:



    Also cut some gusset plates for the webbing out of the same 1/4" plate while the plasma table was running.



    And received in some goodies from various vendors. Three 20 Ton air/hydraulic bottle jacks and a 3 way coupler from HF:



    Three thumb knobs for the bottle jack releases from Swag Off Road:



    And a foot pedal switch meant for compressed air from Amazon:



    And some 8" x 2" locking swivel casters to match the rest of my equipment from a local supplier:


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    Default Re: Making a Swag Offraod 50" finger brake our own



    Test fit the freshly cut plates to the frame:



    Since they fit like they should, they were removed and the web gusseting was tacked into position:











    The gusseting was welded solid. Then the top plate was fitted into place and plug welded to the gusseting and tacked around the edges:







    And the same was done to the bottom plate:




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    Default Re: Making a Swag Offraod 50" finger brake our own



    Look'n great!

    You have a fair bit of time on that project. A tool to be used for a LONG time.

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    Brucker (January 19th, 2020)

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    Default Re: Making a Swag Offraod 50" finger brake our own



    That is looking sick!!!

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