I started doing my firewalls and finishing up my tunnel yesterday. I finally got around to adjusting the shear to get better cuts on the 20 gauge steel I'm using. Once I figured out how to do it, I snugged the lower knife up closer to the moving knife and it cut much better. I was in heaven! I was cranking out whole panels faster then I could make a single cut by hand.
After about 5-6 cuts, I had one that seemed harder. I put all I had into it, and it finally cut.
The next one was even harder. I had my buddy stand on the table while I lifted the handle.
POP!Huh...that was weird. Hey...it didn't cut it.
Oh! here's the problem...the blades are about 1/8" apart. Huh...I guess I didn't lock down my adjustment. Ok.... I started to adjust the blades back together, but instead of the blade moving in, the foot of the machine moved out. HUH???
Then I saw what happened:
Attachment:
brake.broke.jpg
WTF?!?!? I cursed for a half hour, and refrained from throwing anything as I had company. I never could have imagined I could break a 300# metal machine without a tank or a cheater bar or something.
In retrospect, I'm guessing that the blades hit each other directly. The moving blade does have some lateral play to it. I should have known better than blindly proceeding with my gorilla mechanic tactics (maybe next time...), especially since the first half-dozen cuts went so easy.
I'm not optimistic about having it welded back, as the piece is cast. I'll ask the guy who welded my Miata diff arm back on and see what he says. I'll also call HF parts and see about getting a new casting. If it's under $60 shipped, I'll probably go that route. I'll certainly be repairing it, regardless. It's an incredibly handy machine, and works quite well.
I think there's another way I could have avoided this. You can set the handle up to cut when the handle is going up or down. I use both setups at different times. When I broke it, I was lifting the handle. I think if I was using it the other way, I would have not broken it, as I could not force it more than my body weight. As it was, I can lift more than my weight.
In the future, I'll always set it up to pull the handle down, not push it up. I'll also pay more attention to the machine trying to tell me it's not happy.
FWIW, the machine is rated up to 20ga steel, which is what I was cutting. Before I broke it, it was fantastic. I finished the job with a hand-held pneumatic shear and snips, which was way more tedious that the shear. The brake still works fine, as well as the rollers, which I've never used.
...
So an hour later, we were pressing some parts for another project, when all of a sudden,
POP!WTF??? Deja vu all over again! Post-traumatic Stress Disorder was wracking my nerves. After pressing 200 identical parts, we broke the 1" cast plate in the press:
Attachment:
plate.broke.jpg
Note - It didn't break in the arrangement shown in the photo. I had a single plate under the jig, turned 45 degrees so two corners of the plate were floating in the gap, and the other two corners doing all the work. Very weird that it broke after a full day of work. I don't think I'll bother trying to repair this one.
...
After a hard day in the shop, I was looking forward to cuddling on the couch with my wife last night...but given my track record for the day, I reconsidered. I didn't want to push my luck...
-dave "if it ain't broke, see me" hempy
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...nowadays people are so intellectually lazy and lethargic that they can't build ANYTHING with their hands. They'll spend hours watching whiny people marooned on an island, but won't spend a second adding anything to the world. -weconway
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