Finger brake for the shop press

[bobs409]

Just got done building my new shop press finger brake with "goose neck" dies. lol This fits my 12 ton HF shop press. The goose neck dies I bought as a kit on swag offroad for $99 w/shipping. (link below) Worth every penny as cutting these 24 pieces accurately out of 1/2 inch steel plate isn't my idea of having fun. They are laser cut and come still tabbed together in 6's. You then cut them apart and assemble them how you like. I chose to make a 6, 5, two 3's, two 2's and left 3 as singles. You can hit any measurement in 1/2's for a total of 12 inches with this setup.

Finger Brake Gooseneck Dies That Fit The HF 12 Ton & The 20 Ton Finger Brake Only

The rest of this I built going from a picture of the ones they sell, mostly from stuff out of the drops box at my metal supplier. These dies will bend up to 1/4 inch thick material. I tested it on some 3/16 and it worked great. I only have a regular sheet metal brake so it's not able to make boxes and lids as you can't bend the last 2 folds as the first 2 get in the way. With these finger dies, you can do that by using only what you need to fit. The purpose of the goose neck shape is to allow more shallow or complex bends.