Press brake tonnage question?

[MC Parts Kid]

I need some help here. I need to buy a press brake but have no knowledge of them whatsoever. For the most part I need to bend .250 X 2" max flat bar. How much tonnage would this require? Thanks in advance Bob L

 

[DDoug]

1/4" thick mild steel with standard 8x die opening is 20 tons per foot.
YMMV

 

[Garwood]

I need some help here. I need to buy a press brake but have no knowledge of them whatsoever. For the most part I need to bend .250 X 2" max flat bar. How much tonnage would this require? Thanks in advance Bob L

How have you narrowed down to a press brake? There are lots of different benders. A diacro rotary bender might be significantly cheaper and better for what you are doing.

Press brakes are not simple. Lots of differences between them. Tooling can cost significantly more than the machine. Tooling is very specific.

 

[BT Fabrication]

hard bend, soft bend? what radius. all makes a difference. but @' wide flat bar takes crap all to bend it. maybe 1-2 ton.
buy a general hydraulic press and buy or make some basic tooling. ive got a 60 ton ironworker but use my home built thing more as i need to change less parts.
most press brakes are large, heavy and expensive. and start in the $10K+ range for garbage ones.