Home build Sheet Metal Bender

G'day all, I was thumbing through issue 86 of Australian Woodsmith magazine and found this.


Yes a sheet metal bending brake!

I picked up a 750mm length of angle and flat bar and with some wood I had on hand in the garage I set to task.

I checked the dimensions and adjusted the long sections to fit the metal I had, cut all the wooden pieces first, only bit that did not fit are mandrel backer and the top plate. I left these a bit wider to get a larger clamping area.

I cut the rest to fit around the steel I had. The one in the mag is designed to bend about 550mm in length, mine will do 750mm

here's a couple of action shots..



I will post more detailed pictures and explanation of the build with any mods I made later.

Cheers, Tone

Fair dinkum mate! I have been thing of doing something similar. But have another project I'm dreaming for my next break Home. down the track sometime eh.
That design looks better than what I had planned though. Brilliant!

Cliff

That's clever using the angle that way. Thanks for posting. Look forward to more pics.

Ok a couple more pics, I will scan in the relevant article and post as a pdf for anyone interested..

Ok here a few pics of what I had to modify for my version.

This pic is the hinge where the handle joins the main body, for some reason the screws lined up exactly with the join between the bender plate and the support block. I think the hinge is around the other way from the other end.. Just drilled a couple of extra holes and re-screwed, this took any play out of the handle when bending. The block of ply behind the mandrel stops it falling of the back and keeps the front lined up with the bending bar, the other bit of wood stops lateral movement, same set up on the other end.



This pic is a general view along the brake, the angle (mandrel) and the bending bar should be as close as you can get them. this will allow for nice crisp bends, I guess if you are bending thicker material you will have to adjust accordingly.



This is a shot of how the mandrel attaches to the mandrel clamp bar. and a how the bending bar should be tight with the face of the mandrel support plate. you need to clamp the handle with the bending bar onto the face when doing this or things will get loose and you will have poor bends


The last pic is of the hinge fitting, you will notice the bending bar is as flush as with the mandrel support as its going to get. not perfect but hey, its my first crack at this. Make sure the depth of the mortice for the hinge is as deep as the bar, ie, 3,, in my case, this allows for the bar to mate with the mandrel support nice and flat.



The piece I was bending in the pics above is going to be the hopper for my rocker box im working on. it was checker plate ali. 0.6 i think, I have a piece of zinc sheetmetal I will be bending soon, I will put up more pics on how to set up for a bend.

I need a better way to clamp the sheet under the mandrel, anyone have any ideas, im thinking a couple of bolts and washers with a couple of springs... its a pain undoing clamps, a ratchet system would be easier..

Anyway, thats it for now.

Cheers, Tone

Noiiceee build mate

Just a thought mate...could you maybe replace the tri angular piece of timber that the angle iron is bolted to with another piece of angle iron welded in it's place and make it longer than the piece that sits on the material...and have a hole at each end with bolts to hold it down instead of the clamps.??that way you could bend longer sides without clamps in the way...

You would have to come from the top then Still Looking, you need to be able to feed the material through, I thought about bolts, but they would still limit your width.

I have not measured the gap at the back but I think I have about 600mm gap.

It will do what I need for a while..

Cheers for the input

Tone

I think Still Looking was suggesting turning the "mandrel" into something rigid enough to only need clamping at each end.

I know my welding skills, although school learnt, would result in a warped mandrel...my solution would be a heavier piece of angle...I am sure there is a damaged length of 90x90x10mm at work that might need a couple of metres trimmed off it

Can't wait to get out of this damn bodycorp apartment and get stuck into a house with a shed, so much better making your own gear!
Good work tone!

I see what you mean Marked and Still Looking, but you would need some kind of way to exert pressure across the length of the bend, you would need a brace or caul so the clamping force was spread across the whole piece or you will get an uneven bend.

Nice build tone

Ive built similar brakes with steel but never seen one out of wood wouldnt have thought wood could hack the pressure. Do you get solid right angles or are the bends quite rounded ?

The bends i made in the checker plate were pretty sharp. I think less than 3 mm radius. Getting a sharp bend is about having the mandrel clamped down tight and the edges of the brake bar and mandrel aligned flush. I will make a few bends an take some more pics so you all can see. I will also put up any tips and traps using this

Cheers Tone

BigSam said:

Can't wait to get out of this damn bodycorp apartment and get stuck into a house with a shed, so much better making your own gear!
Good work tone!

Click to expand...

In the meantime if you have a project in mind just do it at my place, we have almost all the tools you'd ever want and a heap of room.

Could be fun getting all mad inventorish, we might come up with the next must have item.....lol

What size material have you tried bending in this?

I have not measured the aluminium but it is about a mil. I am going to put another couple of hinges on the handle. It bows slightly when filding but it does not effect the fold if that makes sense.

I have bent ali checker plate. I have also bent some 0.8 gal with no probs at all

Cheers, Tone

Now that's a creative genius! I was trying last summer to bend an old street sign to form a sluice box. It was impossible without a brake. I finally wound up paying a fab shop to bend it for me. If I'd had this visual to go with, I'm sure I could have made a brake & done the entire project myself.

Great job mate, thanks for sharing that with us! I am certain that half the crowd here would be making one of these since you posted it up :lol: ( including me )