Tapco International Corporation

Tapco Products Company, Inc.

James E Suyak

Arthur B Chubb

Douglas G Break

Daniel J Spencer

Douglas J Chubb

Matthew S Damron

A sheet bending brake and stabilizing assembly wherein the sheet bending brake alone is constructed and arranged such that when a workpiece is clamped for bending when a person stands on the floor facing the handle means and the handle means is grasped and raised in a direction away from the person in order to move the handle means and raise the handles means, forces occur which prevent the handle means from moving sufficiently to produce a predetermined bend and the forces causes the entire sheet bending brake to tip away from the person about the portions of the legs which project outwardly from said bending brake and thus prevent the movement of the bending member relative to the first member and prevent bending of the workpiece. The stabilizing assembly for counteracting such forces on the sheet bending brake comprises transversely spaced rails receiving at least a portion of the ends of the leg assemblies. The transversely spaced rails which receive at least a portion of the leg assemblies have portions extend outwardly from beneath the sheet bending brake beyond the brake toward the side of the brake from which the handle member and handle means are accessible. Longitudinally extending rail interconnect the transverse rails. The longitudinally extending rail is attached to the portions. The weight and positioning of the sheet bending brake, leg assemblies and rails are such that a person standing on the floor and facing the side of the brake, grasping and raising the handle means at desired bend without tipping.

Heavy duty sheet bending brake

An adjustable leg support assembly that includes a cross brace slidably mounted on a center support and projecting laterally therefrom to opposed ends spaced from the center support. An upper clevis is slidably mounted on the center support above the cross brace. A pair of legs each have one end affixed to the upper clevis, a lower end and a center portion affixed to associated ends of the cross brace. An attachment arrangement is selectively mountable at the upper end of the center support for attachment of structure to be supported. The upper clevis may be adjustably affixed to the center support such that the attachment structure on the center support is adjustably positionable with respect to the lower ends of the legs.

Adjustable leg support assembly

A combined sheet bending brake, coil holder and cut-off mechanism that includes a sheet bending brake having a support base, and elongated fixed and movable clamping members carried by the support base so as to clamp sheet stock extending longitudinally between the clamping members. A coil holder has a support frame removably cantilevered from one end of the support base. A trolley is removably mounted on the support frame, and has a pair of spaced rollers that extend axially in a direction transverse to the elongated fixed and movable clamping members on the brake for extending through and rotatably supporting a coil of sheet stock. Bars are carried by said support frame for releasably clamping a stock end extending from a coil on the trolley. A cut-off mechanism is removably mountable on the coil holder for severing sheet end stock extending from the holder into said bending brake. The coil holder has structure for guidingly supporting the cut-off mechanism for controlled severing of end stock clamped by said clamping bars.

Coil holder for a sheet bending brake

A portable saw table for a portable saw or router comprising a table base for supporting a workpiece, and a slide track support pivoted about a pivot axis to the table base. A slide is movable with respect to the support and slide tracks are mounted on the slide. A protractor is movable with the support and has indicia about the periphery thereof. An indicator on the table base is associated with the indicia of the protractor. The pivot axis and the protractor have common axis. A lock lever is pivoted on the protractor and a threaded shaft extends through the support and is threaded into the lock member for causing the lock lever to frictionally engage the table base and lock the support and slide in angularly adjusted position relative to the table base and longitudinally adjusted position relative to the support.

Portable saw table

An automatic indexer a portable sheet bending brake having a first longitudinally extending member forming a clamp surface, a second longitudinally extending member movable with respect to the first member for clamping sheet material against the clamp surface, and a third member pivotally coupled to the second member for bending sheet material clamped between the first and second members over a bending anvil on the forward edge of the second member. The indexer includes a pair of slides having means for mounting the slides parallel to each other and spaced from each other lengthwise of the clamp surface on the bending brake. A pair of carriages are each slidably disposed on one of the slides, and a bar extends longitudinally between the carriages for engagement with an edge of sheet material inserted between the first and second members of the sheet bending brake. The carriages are resiliently biased toward the clamp surface of the sheet bending brake, and means are coupled to the carriages for relating distance between the anvil to the edge of sheet material in engagement with the bar. This distance is either a direct measure to the edge of the anvil for forming indexed bends, or an offset distance with respect to the anvil for indexing the sheet material for a cut employing a manual slitter that cuts the material at a predetermined offset distance from the anvil edge. Thus, the indexer automatically squares the cut or bend to the edge in engagement with the indexer, and automatically positions the bend or cut with respect to the anvil edge as controlled by the indexer.

Automatic indexer for a sheet bending brake

Combined portable sheet bending brake, coil holder and cut-off mechanism

A portable saw table comprising a saw track pivotally supported on a saw table. An improved lightweight plastic protractor and indexer plate are rotatably mounted with respect to each other by an improved pivot mount. The pivot mount comprises a plurality of lobes received in a complementary recess in the indexer plate in a spline-like engagement providing strength and rigidity to prevent flexing to ensure accurate pivotal movement. The improved protractor is guided by a gib mounted on the indexer plate for smooth pivotal movement. The plastic protractor includes indicia to indicate the degree of angular movement and the plastic indexer plate includes a window for viewing the indicia. In one form, the protractor has an angled portion with indicia and the indexer plate has an angled magnifying sight lens for easy viewing of the adjustment angle. A hollow material stop is provided to accommodate workpieces of varying thickness. U-brackets hold the saw shoe plate to the saw slide and a spring loaded saw stop prevents the saw slide from sliding past the ends of the saw tracks. Additionally, an adjustable leg assembly is provided for adjusting the height of the saw table and is removable therefrom.

A portable slitter for selectively roll slitting rib forming or perforating sheet metal workpieces and having a beam-type frame, a pair of spaced thin walled and light weight rotary torque tube roll shafts mounted in the frame and supporting the work rolls, and a plurality of pairs of opposed stabilizing support blocks disposed between the shafts and the associated frame beams and providing further strength to the shafts by functioning as intermediate span shaft journal supports carrying the roll work loads imposed on shafts directly into the frame beams. The bearing members can be readily removed and adjusted longitudinally of the shafts without taking the frame apart. The slitter can be readily manually transported to the work site because it has a high strength-to-weight ratio and is light in overall weight. The slitter has substantial operational strength and improved work roll registry and alignment under continuous and/or adverse on-site operating conditions.

Portable sheet metal work-roll apparatus

A sheet bending brake comprising a first longitudinally extending member having a clamping surface, a clamping member having a member movable toward and away from the clamping surface for holding a workpiece in position for bending and a second member extending longitudinally with respect to said first member. Each of the first and second members have substantially the entire length of the longitudinal edges thereof formed with longitudinally spaced intermeshing integral projections, the projections on the second member having a plurality of aligned openings and the projections on the first member having a plurality of aligned openings comprising slots extending axially with respect to the longitudinal axis of said member. A hinge pin extends through the openings of the second member and the slots of the first member. The second member has a workpiece contacting portion spaced from the projections. The slots have a configuration such that as the second member is moved relative to said first member to bend a workpiece, the hinge pin is guided along said slots such that the contacting portion of said second member remains substantially in the same position relative to the workpiece. A handle member for manipulating the anvil member is constructed to minimize the stresses thereon. The clamping member is constructed to maximize the strength thereof. A stabilizing assembly is associated with the legs on which the clamping brake is mounted.

A sheet bending brake comprises a first longitudinally extending member having a clamping surface and a second member for bending a workpiece clamped on said clamping surface extending longitudinally with respect to said first member. Each of the first and second members has substantially the entire length of the longitudinal edges thereof formed with longitudinally spaced intermeshing integral projections. The projections on the second member have a plurality of aligned openings. A hinge pin extends through the openings of the second member. The second member includes an integral upper tubular portion and integral upper portion comprising an outer wall that extends upwardly and outwardly from a vertical wall of the lower portion; an integral horizontal upper wall; an integral rear wall that extends downwardly and inwardly to the front edge of the upper flange.

Sheet bending brake

A portable saw table comprising a saw track pivotally supported on a saw table. A protractor is mounted on the saw track and an indicator-indexer plate is mounted on the saw table. A hand operated locking mechanism is provided. The saw table includes laterally extensible side members and longitudinally extending end members.

Growing community of inventors

Lincoln Park, MI, United States of America

James E Suyak