 | Home > Off Topic > Smithfield S400 R/T Hydraulic Metal Folder |
 
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| Supacat Member Since: 16 Oct 2012 Location: West Yorkshire Posts: 11018   
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Has anyone any experience with this, or indeed any of the kit from Smithfield?
 https://www.smithfieldtools.co.uk/smithfie...er-9-p.asp I've been on the lookout for something like this for a while and the claim to bend 5mm thick steel seems to put this model in a far higher class than any of the competitor models from the more generic hobbyist suppliers. |
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27th Jul 2020 8:21am |
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| Supacat Member Since: 16 Oct 2012 Location: West Yorkshire Posts: 11018
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As with some of the best kit, yours looks like it belongs in a museum ~ a true heritage tool.
To answer your question no. I've only seen the swag bits to use with an existing press, nothing else; and certainly nothing else at this price point. |
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27th Jul 2020 4:45pm |
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| sako243 Member Since: 08 Jul 2014 Location: Wales Posts: 1225  
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If you don't have a press personally I'd be looking at press and tooling rather than an all in one. It would be more versatile by being able to use the press seperately as a press, just my 2p. Mine gets used far more standalone for bushes etc than bending metal.
Of course being able to glue metal together helps a lot. For that I just bought a cheapo Clarke 130EN and got cracking - not regretting it in the slightest for £100 for the welder 2nd hand it's saved that 10 fold easily. After last night's escapades I must look at a more powerful one though, it's a little weedy for my current last minute project building a quick attach pallet fork headstock for the JCB. On which point I should really get up and finish that because the intention was to finish it before the remaining half tonne of steel gets delivered today. Mind you same could be said of the plasma cutter, struggling a bit on 20mm steel 
Oh and the press the previous owner said was cast by the Victorians as a screw press before converting over to hydraulics. Only a little 700bar Enerpac ram in there. Ed 82 Hotspur Sandringham 6x6 95 Defender 110 300Tdi |
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28th Jul 2020 6:54am |
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| Supacat Member Since: 16 Oct 2012 Location: West Yorkshire Posts: 11018
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Thanks - can't fault your logic there; I might procrastinate and spend a little more time looking for appropriate tooling to go with a standalone press...I think some man maths might be involved.
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28th Jul 2020 7:18am |
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| sako243 Member Since: 08 Jul 2014 Location: Wales Posts: 1225
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Apparently broken tooling comes up quite often but I've not kept an eye out. By broken I mean 1m "offcuts" from large multimeter presses.
Having said that you can get a long way with a few pieces of angle iron. Never finished making proper tooling for mine so it's always a last minute bodge but that's the beauty of having a welder. Ed 82 Hotspur Sandringham 6x6 95 Defender 110 300Tdi |
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28th Jul 2020 7:25am |
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| sako243 Member Since: 08 Jul 2014 Location: Wales Posts: 1225
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Man maths simple - you're saving money on getting someone else to do bushes on your Land Rovers. Ergo press is way forward.
Plenty of people make do with 10t Chinese presses. Mine didn't even register 10t when I bent that 15mm plate but I have no idea if it's calibrated. Obviously wider stuff requires more tonnage. Ed 82 Hotspur Sandringham 6x6 95 Defender 110 300Tdi Last edited by sako243 on 28th Jul 2020 2:20pm. Edited 2 times in total |
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28th Jul 2020 7:27am |
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| blackwolf Member Since: 03 Nov 2009 Location: South West England Posts: 17450 
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I notice that Smithfield do sell the upper fingers for their folder separately, which is possibly handy. Getting an accurate knife edge is not easy (at least, not without machine tools) and is critical if you want to fold metal rather than bend it (Sako, I'd describe your set-up as photographed as more of a bender than a folder - at least it appears to me that the bend in the piece photo is a very large radius for a folder(was it actually bent with the tooling in the other photos which looks as though it would produce a much sharper fold?)).
If you want an off-the-shelf folder, the Smithfield one looks reasonable and I can't see any reason why it wouldn't work satisfactorily, though I have never used one. As noted above however, it wouldn't be particularly difficult to turn an off-the-shelf commercial Chinesium press into a folder and have change from the price of the Smithfield, which would give you a press and a folder for a similar outlay. I guess it depends on how much you expect to use it and how much pocket money you have. |
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28th Jul 2020 8:26am |
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| sako243 Member Since: 08 Jul 2014 Location: Wales Posts: 1225
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@blackwolf - I wouldn't consider mine a bender or a folder, it's a complete and utter lash-up with what I had lying around and 30 minutes to spare. It probably saved me several hours on the job it was intended for so was a win overall (I was asked to repair a set of, expensive, custom Land Cruiser sliders that disintegrated on the first touch with a rock - turned out they'd been tacked together and fillered and painted, probably intended as show pieces rather than actual sliders).
The "tooling" was just done with a grinder, drill and welder - nothing more. My vertical post in the lathe wasn't big enough to be able to machine down the edge so was just done with a 9" grinder. The 'V' is only a piece of angle iron so not even close to being ideal for bending a 90 because the inside edge will be more like 92.5° and should be more like 85° to get a decent right angle. The bend was done with that tooling but is a little deceptive since it's 4" wide and in a 15mm plate so you wouldn't actually bend it much tighter than that (certainly without some heat) - it was just on the point of beginning to crack on the outer edge. I do agree the Smithfields one does look better than most offerings but I stand by my point that a separate press and tooling for it would be more useful long term. I do have an Edwards 6ft box and pan folder for thinner stuff but the moment you go above ~4mm you're going to be struggling on anything more than an inch or two wide without hydraulics. Stuff I've had to bend recently has been 10mm+ thick (straightened out the neighbours A frame on their topper for example). Ed 82 Hotspur Sandringham 6x6 95 Defender 110 300Tdi |
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28th Jul 2020 10:31am |
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| blackwolf Member Since: 03 Nov 2009 Location: South West England Posts: 17450
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@sako - thanks, and pleased be assured I wasn't intending to be critical of your device, proper "ad hoc" engineering!
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28th Jul 2020 12:43pm |
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| sako243 Member Since: 08 Jul 2014 Location: Wales Posts: 1225
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ad-hoc appears to be the way. This was last night's efforts - a quick attach mount for the pallet forks I picked up on Sunday. Supposed to be getting another 1/2 tonne of steel being delivered today (half of that is one 10mm sheet) so thought it prudent to lash something together for the JCB. No bending involved though.
Ran out of gas, ran out of 9" slitting discs, my drills were too small, my holesaws were too big and the 20mm plate was a little too much for my 50A plasma. Ended up for simplicity practicing my stick welding to finish off the beads. And a little test load (would have thought there was at least half a tonne in there). Must stop practicing new weld processes on high load / force projects... Click image to enlarge Ed 82 Hotspur Sandringham 6x6 95 Defender 110 300Tdi |
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28th Jul 2020 2:27pm |
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| Grenadier Member Since: 23 Jul 2014 Location: The foot of Mont Blanc... Posts: 5829  
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Just curious, but what are you guys using this machine for? What projects do you have that require sheet bending at home? Interested to hear. Monsieur Le Grenadier
I've not been everywhere, but it's on my list..... 2011 Puma 110DC - Corris Grey |
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28th Jul 2020 3:29pm |
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| Supacat Member Since: 16 Oct 2012 Location: West Yorkshire Posts: 11018
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Where to start...
Some proper top hat brackets for the bike rack on the roofrack of the Defender, a bracket for the beacon on the ATMP, a gate design my girlfriend has that is wood, steel and wire combined, a new right angle profile for the top corner of the workshop where the birds are getting in and nesting, the list goes on. |
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28th Jul 2020 3:46pm |
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| sako243 Member Since: 08 Jul 2014 Location: Wales Posts: 1225
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Whenever I want a piece of steel bent... Ed
82 Hotspur Sandringham 6x6 95 Defender 110 300Tdi |
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28th Jul 2020 4:09pm |
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| sako243 Member Since: 08 Jul 2014 Location: Wales Posts: 1225
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After all have a slightly silly house and grounds associated with it.
Click image to enlarge Ed 82 Hotspur Sandringham 6x6 95 Defender 110 300Tdi |
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28th Jul 2020 4:11pm |
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