Small sheet metal brake?

=========================== If you're anywhere near a 'Machine Mart' store they will usually allow you to examine tools to see how they work / how good they are. I've had one like this for years:

You might also consider a small flypress as they're much more versatile.

Cic.

You could also try

I normally use a 15" folding set in a No 4 fly press for bending small items.

Colin Bignell

Thanks for the replies lads ;-)

I saw the Machine Mart one online (and they are quite near and I have used them a bit over the years) but their one was nealy 50 quid inc Vat..

The Frost one was similar spec and price.

Frost do a 'Hand Folder' but it's more expensive than the bench folder I first spotted!

My 10 tonne press easily straightened some 20mm steel plates ;-)

All the best ..

T i m

suppliers ever.

They sell a Skytronics 150 watt invertor for 41 ex vat TLC sell a Skytronics 150 watt invertor for 22.20 ex vat

Its probably as quick to make one. Thats what I did. A sheet of wood hinged to another sheet with a long bar handle added for leverage, plus add a bar over the top at the bending line to bend the metal against. I put different radii on the different corners of the bar, rutn it round to get the various sized radius bends.

Its all wood, 1" thick base, and uses 3 heavy duty 4" steel hinges. The hinges are only just strongly enough attached to the wood when bending

NT

Well I generally like to make things but 25 quid 'delivered' I could be making more interesting things ;-)

Sounds very versatile ;-)

Ouch .. ;-)

Hmm, and is the 'former' the bit that was screwed down (and bends)?

Food for thought though ..

All the best ..

T i m

I've seen small vice-mounted folders being sold at car restoration shows: the ones I've seen were nigh-on useless. Folding anything much longer than a few inches, and thicker than a bit of Bacofoil, resulted in a nice tight radius at the outer ends ballooning out to a vague curve in the middle, where the formers deflect.

Some models may be better than others, but I wouldn't risk even 25 quid without seeing if it worked on the size of materials I wanted to use. Buying one with a greater length capability than needed may also result in one that produces poorer results. And of course, cheap ones have no "box & pan" capability, which mackled-up arrangements of lumps of steel can have.

The message from T i m contains these words:

Try eBay - folders often come up on there.

I'm looking .. ;-)

T i m

Understood. I know it's surprising how stiff something like that has to be to 'work' in that environment. What seem like a very substantial lump of stell can be fery 'springy' under the right loads?

Ok ;-( (makes sense though ..)

More chance of 'flex' ..

Hmm .. so start mackling you say then .. ?

All the best ..

T i m

It's a dog. Go for the one like the Machine Mart design instead, but with a single central handle and diagonal buttressing. Harder to store, but it gives you squarer bends. If you use these two-handled ones and don't have perfect synchronisation on the bends, then you got cockled edges. Might be OK on ally, but steel is a problem.

Mine was some generic Lucky Golden Hedgehog picked up at the Model Engineer for 30-some squid. At those prices it's not worth welding your own up (it really needs a milling machine with a boring head to accurately cut the counterbores for the bearings).

Dad has a real up-and-down brake, the Axminster 300 quid one. Goodness knows why, the thing is the worst of Chiwanese bucketshop manufacture and bits keep falling off it. There's a proper old British-made 6' wide brake in the shed too, if only he'd move the lawnmowers from on top of it.

There is a simpler option. When I made mine I used steel butt hinges, and use 2 slippery plastic layers on the lift up section, so the workpiece slides a little over the lift up section as its bent. That has to happen becuase the hinge point is not quite in line with the workpiece bend.

NT