Gotcha! Looking for pictures and ideas for home made sheetmetal and light steel brakes. I have a few ideas to make one out of some HEAVY material I have here, as I'm going to need to build some pieces and parts for my Dubble A, but wanted to see what you guys have created or built in the past. I *KNOW* this is the place where the best ingenuity on the planet thrives. Show me what you've got! Please?
maybe put up some specs, like what gauge you will bend, and maximum width. Even a USA made 4' rated at 16 ga, has a hard time with 4' 18ga
heres one I put together from some left overs (I beam for the main base, C channel for the brake pan, and 2 different sizes of angle iron to make a stiff rigid top clamp) jeff
What I'm wanting to see are examples of what others have already created and use. The one I'm thinking of - mainly due to the materials on hand - will be a huge and massive bitch, but may also be able to reliably bend small pieces of up to 1/4" plate... and on some stuff may require the use of a rosebud to help 'coerce' the steel into whatever position I want it to be in. I like what I see so far. Keep'em coming guys!
Years ago, we cut up some bridge supports and have them in about 5-6' sections. It is "C" channel, about 15" wide and 3.25" deep. I'm wanting to say the cross section is 1/2" or 5/8". It's some heavy, heavy stuff! Got plenty, and since it's just sitting, who cares what happens with it! LOL
to make a brake for sheet metal there is an excellent thread in the tech archives http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2048
I don't have pictures but a friend and I built a 4 foot one using 4x4x3/8 angle and it wasn't heavy enough, it still flexed. We re-inforced it and it was better, worked ok on stuff under 2 feet but still flexed when we tried to break 4' of 20 gauge.
36-3w, that's basically the design I had in my head to use, even though I didn't see it! I searched for a sheetmetal brake and didn't come up with anything. Go figure. lol
you should watch a movie called yank tanks, it about cars in cuba, and yea they guys over there they make their brake pads at home! they even fix the shoes on drum brakes. great documentary! great homemade brake by the way!
You may want to look at craigslist; lot of nice sheet metal and box brakes for sale. Factor in your time and it gets to be a deal - and you can sell it when done. former 66 journeyman tin bender.
Thankye sir for the input, but I've got a guy who works for next to nothing and can weld like a dream. I've checked Craig's List around me, and the bad thing is with my wonderful daily getting $0.31/mile, the costs add up quick. I think I'm going to see if he/we can build one similar to the one in the tech archives using the stuff I've already got on hand. Nice thing about this stuff is that it'll be HEAVY and will resist the need to be bolted to the floor.... unless I get crazy with it! I'm figuring on using either one or a pair of heavy wheel studs and nuts to hold the bar across the stock down and be able to use the impact gun to do it as needed. I like to overbuild stuff whenever possible - easier to go smaller to work on stuff than to go bigger, at least IMO. Materials are free, with the exception of the nuts, bolts, and welding rod. If I get it done anytime soon I'll post a picture or three of it.
I got this from Miller Welders a while back in their newsletter. http://www.millerwelds.com/interests/projects/bending-brake/ I haven't tried to make one yet but it looks like the average guy could make one. I'm not sure if a guy could make that big of changes with the size and scope of it but it might be worth looking into.
Subscribe to FARM SHOW magazine. Every few months somebody on there shows a serious one they built and give details. Well worth the money.
I seriously doubt you'll make a hand brake to bend 1/4" plate, I don't even think a hand brake is even manufactured that will do that. 14ga is even a bitch on a brake rated at 11ga.
You read to the 1/4" plate part, then stopped there apparently... as I said, I may have to use the rosebud to help coerce it to bend properly. This brake should be heavy enough to help dissipate heat and allow it to bend on more of a straight line as desired.
I don't bend a lot of long pieces, mostly under 3', so I bought one from the dreaded Harbor Freight in a 30" model for $60. Only drawback was the clamping plate is a separate piece that needed to use C clamps to trap the sheetmetal. I decided to just weld the C clamps to the metal and the brake frame to save time, and then also welded a piece of angle steel to the clamping plate to make it even more ridgid. It's served me well for the small projects I do, but I rarely bend anything over 12 ga. with it; mostly 16ga-18ga sheet material.
Probably not what your looking for, but here is one I whipped up in an afternoon when I got board. REALLY basic design, does good for 18ga and thinner, 16ga is really pushing it tho.
I have a great writeup on making a die for thicker material using your shop press. I scanned it in but it's on my computer at home. I'll post it up tonight.
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