need some help figuring out a brake for a C & P
hello all!
I am wondering if you could be of any help to me. I am helping a design company set up a 10 x 15 C&P they purchased from my friends, and it does not have a brake currently. They want me to teach a few designers how to print on it, but my main concern is safety- and I want a brake on it first and foremost. I was a production letterpress printer for a couple years, although it has been a year since I’ve done that kind of work, so I’m a little hazy on how a press-mounted or floor brake would work with this guy. first issue- its on a concrete floor- so we would have to drill into it for a floor mounted brake (does anyone know how hard it is to do that? ). Second issue- I have gotten alot of responses for press brakes for sale, but they are all floor-mounted- and I am not sure if this press would work with a press-mounted one (this is the part I’m hazy on). Any advice/tips? I would love to get this solved asap.
Thanks!
-Chelsea
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I would pursue a floor mount style brake. To use it with your setup, I think it would be easiest to attach some additional wood to the side of your skid under the flywheel. This way you could mount it to your skid attachment and not to the actual floor. If the press moved, the brake would come as well.
Chelsea…. I wish you well in your endeavor. I hope you can figure it out.
However, I would approach this with extreme caution.
As far as I know, there are no brakes currently on the market that will stop a C&P fast enough to render it safe according to OSHA standards…. floor mounted or otherwise. While handy, none of the brakes I’ve seen will prevent it from biting your fingers off.
I’ve gone round after round with those Federal guys about the legality of C&P’s, and their position is that: “…… a Flywheel Operated C&P cannot be rendered legal for use in a commercial shop.” That would include your friend’s design studio. No matter what you do to it, it will still be illegal to use it commercially.
It is true that OSHA is mostly a paper tiger nowadays, but that’s not the problem. The problem is with lawsuits. If there is an accident with a machine that is blatantly non-conformant with OSHA rules, then Worker’s Comp limits do not apply… and lawyers LOVE to get ahold to such cases.
Secondly, unless you are an registered engineer with liability insurance, it would be foolish to install such a device for someone else. In the event of an accident, you could be held liable….. even if the brake itself was not at fault. That’s how our legal system works nowadays. It sucks sometimes… but that’s the way it is.
Since they are a “Design Company” which infers that employees may be involved, I’d recommend declining their request…. at least until they have talked with their Worker’s Comp insurance company. Even then, I’d approach the assignment with caution.