If you aren’t putting stop limit switches on the table or mount a set of laser crosshairs, the set-pierce technique may help. When you first zero, hit the manual fire to mark or divot the material. Then if you end up with a freeze scenario that loses the zero point, move to where you can eyeball it as close. Fire manually and see what you need to do to nudge it closer to your starting zero. It only takes a couple or 3 nudges to nail your initial starting point.
You’re doing this for a living so I figure you’re probably doing something like this but for others who aren’t pros, it’s a tip that might help.
The other option is to get a set of laser crosshairs. There’s a post here for it (that’s how I found it) including what to look for on ebay. I think it works better with a machine torch because you generally don’t have to pull the torch out of its holder to change consumables and won’t disturb the setup.
Thanks James, yes I thought about manually firing a hole into each start corner. Maybe I’ll start doing that. I load over 10 diff files a day so you can see why I may decide to skip it. I like the laser idea too. I just rarely have any time to make my setup how I want it. I have to build a new water table, hook up a new air compressor and lines and build a new press brake stat. All while working atleast 6 days a week on orders!!!
Yeah. That was me too. But I figured dedicating the time for the setting it up was probably less than the sum of all the times I would diddle around with the zero burn hole method. I had a laser that had both options so I got used to having them for setting the home position.
sounds good I guess I’ll have to do a search on here and snag some ideas for the laser. I’d like to add a camera to the setup so I don’t have to keep walking over to the table to see how close I am to the edge. I saw a company or guy had one on his table. not sure if it was an add on or not. But yes the initial time added up will be worth it in the long run. That is why Im building a new press brake. It should cut my bending times down over half.
I have a SWAG Offroad finger press brake on a Harbor Freight 20 ton hydraulic press with their 20T compressed air hydraulic jack. Also got a set of their gooseneck fingers (you have to cut those away from each other and weld them up on the groups you’d like). Super for anything up to 20" wide. Added a magnetic angle finder to the setup so I can bend to the angle I want and repeat it for multiple parts.
Here’s the thread on laser alignment that started it all for me here. I transferred my lil abner’s mount to my Pro.
Yah I have a swag setup. Its not very ideal for thin stuff. So I built and bought a new setup. I now need to make a wider press and Im going with two hydraulic cylinders and adding electric pump over air. I have the 20 ton air hobo freight setup and its all messed up now. barely works. I filled it with fluid and bled it, worked for a day and now its back to such a slow pace. I have to hand crank most parts. When that setup was working well it def made bending parts faster. I need something faster and more accurate. also need more power so I can bend more parts at once with accuracy. I’ll def be posting my setup here. I just got a 4 way die with punch off ebay thats 24" but I’ll eventually need some wider stuff.
If you’re not already, a subscription to Homemadetools.net might be helpful in jumpstarting some of those projects
It’s cheap and there’s someone who has thought about nearly everything I’ve ever wanted to do. Sometimes it’s just what I want and others there’s a project that helps with some parts of what I’m building. Worth the 40 bucks.
MAC Firmware - LHS/THC driver available, but won’t install.
Folks, forgive me because I’ve been away awhile and haven’t updated since last Summer. I’m on a Mac (Catalina 10.15.7) I’ve updated Firecontrol to 20.6. I’m trying to update the firmware using the Mac file LHS-THC_Driver_V1.5.pkg, which is a Mac file. In Firecontrol I hit the “update machine” button and it says "firmware flashing is only supported for windows at this time. What is the Mac installer file for?
Do I really have to borrow a windows machine again? What is the absolute cheapest windows machine I can get to upload drivers to the Crossfire? I will never use windows for anything else. Thanks!
I have a SWAG Offroad finger press brake on a Harbor Freight 20 ton hydraulic press with their 20T compressed air hydraulic jack. Also got a set of their gooseneck fingers (you have to cut those away from each other and weld them up on the groups you’d like). Super for anything up to 20" wide. Added a magnetic angle finder to the setup so I can bend to the angle I want and repeat it for multiple parts.