Buying a used brake, what to look for?

[Graham08]

I'm going to look at a used box and pan brake on Saturday at a used equipment dealer. I've bought from this guy before with good results, but I've never bought a brake before (other than my POS from Tractor Supply).

What should I be looking for, other than obvious signs of abuse? I'm thinking I should take a piece or two of aluminum to try it out (0.090", which should be fairly close to capacity).

The brake in question is a 4' x 16 gauge capacity Chicago, 6" depth of box. I'm pretty sure it looks like a scaled down version of one of their monster 12 gauge brakes, from what searching I've done online.

Also any advice on moving a brake? I've never moved one, and according to my search, its in the neighborhood of 1400 lb, or about the same weight as my lathe...but appears to be even more top-heavy.

Thanks!

[Benderboy]

First and most importantly, all the fingers must be flush with each other, all with nick & ding free edges.

Check that all the pieces are there, including the apron stop rod, which you need for repeat bends, the counterweight, etc. Cycle all moving parts to check for binding or rust.

Brakes are pretty much trouble free if they're not abused. A good visual inspection should show up any abuse.

As far as moving it, long ago when I purchased and old Pexto 52" x 16ga. shear, which weighs around 1000 lbs. and was located in a inaccessible area, I made a lowrider dolley for it so we could roll it out to a trailer and then winch it up the ramps. The shear is one item in our shop that gets relocated quite often as other machinery comes in, so the dolley has become a permanent fixture on it.

FYI, on my Roper-Whitney 48" x 16 ga. finger brake, I made a full width 3/8" radius bending die, using a piece of 3/4" C.R. round bar welded to a piece of 1/4"x 2" C.R. flat bar, then welded two 1/2"x 2" fingers to the die that replace 2 of the standard fingers on the brake. With the apron moved to the rear as far as it will go, I'm able to put a nice 3/8" radius, 90 degree bend on .090 6061 T-6.

Good luck,
Benderboy

[Graham08]

Thanks for the info.

One of the things I like about the Chicago design is the fingers are made in two pieces, allowing the bending edge to be replaced. Looking at the catalog I downloaded, it does not appear they would be too difficult to duplicate or make custom radius edges.

If I end up with the brake, radius fingers are definitely one of the first upgrades I'll make.

I'll keep the dolly idea in mind...

[TitanFab]

I picked up a chicago 72 x 10 ga powered finger brake. Stole it at 3k.
Yes the fingers are easily replaceable and can fix if worn.

Make sure the bushings in the eliptical (hold down) cam is good and not worn. Mine is a little loose when I bend heavy stuff the right side of the finger bed moves a little not enough to mess the bend up. But enough for me to notice.

[Graham08]

Thanks for the tip on the hold-down bushing.

A 72" x 10 ga must be a beast! That is a steal at 3K, and would bend anything I would ever need to do...it should do 14 gauge 4130 the full width.

[PRConnection]

3k for a 10 guage is a steal. I bought last here in Canada a 72" 12 guage box and pan and it cost me 7k new but it is not powered. I wish it was cause bending full length .125 5052 aluminum is a two man job and third man would be a nice help

Dan

[TitanFab]

the thickest i bent so far is 73" of 10 ga diamond floor plate. perfect bend could not even tell the motor was under load.

The only other thing I can think of is before you start bending tighten all the bolts on the whole thing. alot of mine were loose

[Graham08]

Minor update...some pictures...







After I got it, I spent some time straightening fingers and machining the bending edges. It was in a maintenance shop, and the fingers were sort of chewed up, but the major components are all arrow-straight. As it turns out, this is actually a 14 gauge brake...bonus!

Thanks for the advice...this is a huge step up from the HF 3 foot brake!

[mikefrombc]

nice find some TLC and some fresh paint and she's brand new again LOL , have fun my future purchases are gonna be a stomp shear and some kind of brake

[fantom]

Looks like a good set up, I'm going to be looking at a 5-6' one in my very near future. Does anyone have pics of setting up a radius bend die on one of these? I'd be looking at doing radius (or softer edge) bends for a lot of the body work I have to do on a couple trucks.
Thanks

[Graham08]

That's in my plans. I'll post some pictures when I get it set up.

If you're going to do a radius die, IMO this is the easiest type of brake to do it on. The Chicago-style brakes have a two piece finger, so its just a matter of making a radiused bending edge. It looks to me like you could do it with some round bar (or heavy tube) with some flat stock welded to it.

I think National and Tennsmith also make this style brake. I was told Chicago production has moved offshore, and the quality of the new ones has taken a dive.

[shifter]

Any updates on the radius fingers? I would really like to see how they turned out.

[Graham08]

Not yet...too many other things going on. Probably a winter project...