Thread: Making a Pan Brake "Folder with fingers" for home

Hey rather than mill the steps into the folders fingers
can i weld a bar along the top edge of the main angle
to butt them onto that??

i have assembled my unit as in step #21
and have noticed that the center axis of the
holes on the ends are 4mm lower than the top
of the bed... shouldn't they be level??

Okay answers,

yes you can weld the angle line in instead if you wish, the only reason I milled those edges on are because I had to mill the front angle anyway, so milling a flat section is no big deal, it also guarantees the finger knife edges are square to the upper assembly.

Step #21, Im assuming you mean post 21, this is rods unit that he made, are you talking about the front pivot point in relationship to the main bed assembly.

Steve

Thanks for the prompt reply
Yes I do mean the pivot point should it not be
on the same plane as the base plate...on final assembly
I can see it will be 4mm below.. the folders we have at
work are almost level... hope this makes sense..
I can't wait to get this all together

The first design I ever made never had the reinforing bar across the lifting arm it was just the edge of the 10mm steel, this is one of those, "modifications" to achieve a larger bend capacity than what is realistically possible. By bending the steel from the middle of the lifting arm "which is only 10mm thick" you have less tendency for it to bow and create a radius'd bend, limitations on smaller machines.

Now that it has the reinforcing bar then theres no need for this mod to be present, If you want it to be snug and square then no problems just alter the front pivot hole locations on the end pieces to be 4mm higher, so that way the front hole location is now 206,80, this will align the top of the lifting arm to the same height as the top of the bed.

If you have already made the end pieces then the other option is to mark the underside of the main bed with a scriber on both sides where it sits on top of the end pieces. Remove the bed and mill 4mm out. You should still have enough adjustments in the pivoters to accomodate for this difference, or make a new bed up out of 6mm steel

Alternatively, you can machine 4mm more out of the pivot parts on the lifting assy, but the centreline will be incorrect, it wont however affect the fold

So it will work okay the way it is ?
As i have already had the parts lasercut
and have to access to a mill...
will the folder still fold 1mm MS reasonably tight as it is now?

Thanks for all the info...

I'm going to posted a few pics of an
alternative method to making the fingers
just for those people out there who don't have access
to a milling machine?
Of coarse they will still need to file the angle on the front.

Best regards
HaGGi$

I have attached a pdf for those of you who don't have access to a milling machine.
You don't need to machine a step or a slot in the fingers, I made all my
fingers out of 50x10 Flat bar... you can clamp 2 together and drill a 5 or 6mm hole through where they join.

Then file the angle on the front of the fingers..

Also i'm going to attach a piece of flat bar on the top of the large angle
"see pdf" this can be screwed into place or welded, but make sure you dont
weld the face that the fingers sit into and also be aware that the positioning of the main angle will be slightly different from simso's..

I hope this helps a few of you out


HaGGi$

yep that works nice as well., Yes it will still bend nicely the smaller stuff. The adjustment on the lifting arms allows you to clear the bed as it folds.

Ideally it would be better now that it has a brace to have the lifting arm height raised or alternatively bed height lowered

I finally got around to ordering the steel for my brake. €125 euro - ouch, the price of steel has really risen over the last few years.

So far I have made the four pivot cams and the two bushes for the closing toque rod. I decided to go to round cams and countersunk fasteners.

Started cutting out the side pieces. My mill in in a friends shed an hour out of town, so I will try to prepare a bunch of pieces as far as possible on the balcony, and then go out and do some milling.

I have taken all the instructions and pictures and put them into a .pdf file....It is just under 4MB in size and is downloadable here --->>> http://users.beagle.com.au/lathefan/panbrake.pdf

Simso,Are there any drawings for this pan brake.Photos are great but some dimensions would help.

Originally Posted by Barry Cantor

Simso,Are there any drawings for this pan brake.Photos are great but some dimensions would help.

Mate every piece has every dimension on its individual post, you need to actually read the pages associated with theis topic

Good luck

Just a quick question about the fingers. In step 15 it states they can have an angle of 40-45 degrees. What if any are the advantages/disadvantages of this angle.

Also an update on steel prices. You are now looking at around $190 for steel for this folder.