For EddyCurr and those following the 3in1 Machine mods

[CCWKen]

I thought I had posted the mods here before but it may have been on one of the Metal Shaping sites. In any case, I couldn't find it. For those of you with interest, I submit the following modifications made to a Harbor Freight 40" Shear, Brake and Roll Machine.

Here's the stand. It's pretty basic but its job is more than to just support the tool. This image shows a cut-down I-beam added to help support the cutting table. Compression adjustment (support) is provided by the three bolts on top of the I-beam. There's a 3/8x2" flat welded to to top of the I-beam that's drilled and tapped to accept the bolts and provide some adjustment. The nuts (appear later) are to lock the bolts.





At the forward underside of the cutting table, I added four wedges. These wedges are drilled and tapped to accept adjusting bolts that help keep the table from flexing forward or away from the upper cutting edge.




This U-bolt was added later. During cutting, I noticed the machine LIFTING between the leg mounts. Not a lot but it was noticeable. To help reduce the stress on the leg mounts, I added a U-bolt in between each leg bolt. Don't over-tighten this U-bolt--Just snug enough to take-up slack.



(To be continued)

[CCWKen]

Part 2 - 3in1 Mods

This picture shows a piece of 1/2" flat bolted to the upper Brake support. I had to grind an area of the brake support at the center. The casting had an area that projected in the center and kept the flat from full contact. The large number of bolts is to distribute the load.





The next two pictures show the stock cut/brake arm at the upper connection and the stock cam used with the crank arm. The crank had to go!

[CCWKen]

3in1 Mods - Part 3

These two pictures show the parts I fabricated to replace the crank arm and allow for powering the machine. It's really just a spud to allow mounting of a sprocket. The parts were duplicated for each side. The original cams were retained.






The last picture shows the mounting of the motor and transmission. Earlier, I stated it was a four speed. It's actually a five speed. I use reverse for cutting and braking to keep the chain tension force off the idler sprocket. I use the other speeds for rolling.

[sasquatch]

CCWken, i don't have one , just wanted to say the pics and info you have posted here will be a great help to someone with one i'm sure.

Helping others like this is the great part of the HSM forum.

[ed_h]

CCWKen--

Great info!

I have one of these machines, and have been slowly doing mods to improve it. I got a lot of ideas from your posts.

One thing I had on mine was that the stiffening strap on the back of the upper shear blade support was useless. With the adjusting bolt slacked off, my shear blades were already too close in the middle, and too far apart on the ends. Tightening the bolt, of course, just made it worse. I had to put shim stock behind both blades to get them so that I could have some tension on the strap and have the blades parallel. Works much better now.

[Fasttrack]

I've been meaning to buy a shear for awhile and I always wondered about those 3-in-1 machines. Looks like, with some modification, they could be very useful! Thanks for posting!

[CCWKen]

One thing I had on mine was that the stiffening strap on the back of the upper shear blade support was useless. With the adjusting bolt slacked off, my shear blades were already too close in the middle, and too far apart on the ends. Tightening the bolt, of course, just made it worse. I had to put shim stock behind both blades to get them so that I could have some tension on the strap and have the blades parallel. Works much better now.

I'd have to go out and look to be sure but I think that center bolt (and nut) can be adjusted to push or pull the ends. Tighten the bolt to push the ends toward the lower blade. Loosen the bolt and tighten the nut behind the bar to pull the ends away from the lower blade. It takes some tinkering but you should be able to get the upper blade support straight.

[Arcane]

Thanks Ken. Using your mods would turn my 3 in 1 into a much more useful machine.

[jjclear]

3 in 1 upgrades

Ken
The upgrades were posted on the Metalshapers site a while ago. Unfortunately those posts were lost in one of the crashes they had. Thanks for putting this up.

J.

[Bill McLeod]

Modifications

Have the modifications increased the capacity and if so what gauge can you now use in the machine?

[ed_h]

I'd have to go out and look to be sure but I think that center bolt (and nut) can be adjusted to push or pull the ends. Tighten the bolt to push the ends toward the lower blade. Loosen the bolt and tighten the nut behind the bar to pull the ends away from the lower blade. It takes some tinkering but you should be able to get the upper blade support straight.

Ken--

On mine, the bolt will only push the middle because its not fastened to the upper blade support. I remember considering ways to modify it so it would push or pull.

[EddyCurr]

Thank you kindly for going to the trouble of searching out the additional
images featuring close-ups of the details and typing up captions.

Very helpful !

This picture shows a piece of 1/2" flat bolted to the upper Brake support.

The large number of bolts is to distribute the load.

To others who may not have noticed it, CCWKen was able to make use
of ten of the existing tapped holes along the lower portion of the Brake
Support. (These receive the capscrews for the shear blade retaining
clamps that thread from the front of the machine.)

If resources (time, effort, money ...) were not an issue, would you
consider adding external plates/gussets to the web between the feet
in a similar fashion, in lieu of using the U-bolts ?

Thank you, again.

.

[CCWKen]

Eddy - I'm not sure that would help. If a plate was added to the entire side and incorporated reinforcement to the feet it would help. Simply reinforcing the area between the feet would probably break the feet off during a heavy cut. As force is applied with the upper blade, the reinforced table is rejecting the force causing the lifting stress on the legs. The U-bolt was a Q&D but it seemed to help. Perhaps if a full-length reinforcement was welded to the stand then through bolted to the sides it might help. This would lower the stress on the foot mounts.

Good eye on the existing lower holes. I had forgotten about that. I now remember removing the upper blade support to drill the other holes. That thing was heavy even without adding the 1/2" flat.


Ed-H - There should be a nut behind the strap. You can see the extended bolt in the picture above--It's not run in all the way. If you tighten the nut against the strap it will pull the ends back (away from the table). To tighten the nut against the strap, you would turn it counterclockwise.


Bill McLeod - I can cut full length 20ga. and about 24" of 18ga. I've even cut 6x.015" spring steel but I don't recommend it be frequently. It would probably cut full length 18ga but the motor stalls. The motor was salvaged from a water pump that "claimed" to be 1hp. It's been making bearing noises lately so I'll be on the look-out for 1.5 or 2hp motor.

JJClear - Thanks. I knew I had posted it somewhere. I remember posting it on Metal Meet but after the "The Crash" and other difficulties with MM, a lot of posts were lost. It's been a while since I was back there.

[ed_h]

There should be a nut behind the strap. You can see the extended bolt in the picture above--It's not run in all the way. If you tighten the nut against the strap it will pull the ends back (away from the table). To tighten the nut against the strap, you would turn it counterclockwise.

Ken--I just looked at mine. I think it's the same as yours. Yup, there is a nut behind the strap. With this arrangement, as the nut is moved up towards the head of the bolt, the strap is pushed away from the support, which pulls the ends of the top blade back, and pushes the center forward. I don't think it can do the opposite since the bolt is not fastened to the support itself, so it cant pull the center of the support back. That is how mine needed to move to get into line.

[CCWKen]

Well, you had me wondering since I hadn't adjusted mine in quite a while so I went out to the barn to check. On mine, the bolt threads into the support so I can bow the support in either direction. I sure don't remember drilling and tapping it so it must have come that way. I checked the manual but the drawing shows the "crossbeam" from the other side and just lists the bolt and nut.