Reddit user [thetelltalehart] has been making brake press tooling with 3D printed PLA, and recently shared an interesting picture of a hybrid brake press punch, shown here on the right, in blue ...

We’d imagine carbon-fiber reinforced filament would add to the strength as well. To be sure, no matter what tooling you throw at it, a bench vise is a poor substitute for a real press brake.

When the punch radius forms directly into the urethane, the contact zone wraps around the full curvature of the nose. That ...