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How to Make a Metal Brake for a Hydraulic Press

A brake in metal fabrication is a tool that bends metal sharply, creating a crease. There are many kinds of brakes. The simplest hydraulic brake bends flat stock to an 90-degree angle, like many sheet metal brakes, but does it using the punch-and-die approach. You can make a simple brake with angle iron and a piece of scrap plate.

Things You'll Need

Steel plate
Steel angle stock
Plasma cutter
MIG welder
Angle grinder

Instructions

- 1
  Cut a piece of six-by-six inch steel plate using a plasma cutter. Remove any slag from the cut with an angle grinder and abrasive disc.
- 2
  Mark a center line on the plate with a white wax pencil.
- 3
  Cut three lengths of six-inch angle iron -- again, cleaning up the cuts with an abrasive wheel.
- 4
  Lay two of the six-inch pieces of angle pointy side up on the plate. Align the edges along the center line and clamp them in place.
- 5
  Tack weld the two pieces to the plate, then run a weld-bead along the outside edges where the angle meets the plate and the inside edge where the two pieces of angle touch.
- 6
  Fabricate an adapter plate so your angle die will fasten to the piston of your hydraulic press. You can use another piece of steel plate, welding tabs to the mounting side of the hydraulic piston to hold it in place with a small clamp or fastening it with set screws. You can also use a magnet as it only has to be held in place lightly.
- 7
  Mark a center line on the adapter plate. Clamp a six-inch piece of angle to the adapter plate and tack weld it in place. Complete the welds with contiguous beads down each side.
- 8
  Set the die on the deck of your hydraulic press, centered under the hydraulic piston and mount the brake punch on the piston. As the press comes together, the punch should fit perfectly into the die the way a "V" fits into the center of an "M."

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