Sheetmetal Brake I build

Here is my sheetmetal brake,has a full 5 feet capacity. Simple design and construction , the clamping angle is tightened down with the threaded handles at the ends,so its very easy and precise to line stuff up.It can also easily be removed to use other pieces of metal to clamp stuff for custom applications. Cost me about $ 150 in materials.

looks good!!

Very ingenious![cl Nice job...CR

Very nice, well made.

Nice job, simple yet effective.

Just a thought, but if you had bevelled the inner edge of the angle iron clamp, instead of the outside edge, you could have got a 135 degree bend rather than having to stop at the 90 it appears to now.

True, but I figured the angle would be stiffer in this orientation,cause it is pretty long at 5 feet. I can actually get a little bit past 90* the way it is right now. I figured I see how it works and improve things in the future.

Nice work... I think I will build me one of those... I like it.[

Nice build ...... one improvement I might make on your design is a stiffner at the peak of the 5' angle using 3/8 solid rod with a 3" piece welded in the center and the 2 ends welded at each end of the angle and the 3" piece also welded to the center of the angle. Something like on this Tennsmith

http://www.tennsmith.com/f6_series.html

Yes ,I was planning on doing that also, I got the rod and all, Just wondered how it worked without it because it gives you more room for multible bends. But I think it needs it over that length.

Have you tested what ga. of steel it will handle at various widths yet? Would be interested in how it performs without the stiffener.

Mostly I have been using 18 and 20 gauge about 45" has been the longest I've bend,worked ok. I have bend short stuff even 1/8" thick for brackets etc. and seems to be good for that,I just do it towards the outside edge.All in all its does the job and I can move it easier than one of those big heavy ones,since I dont have room for it all the time.

Do you have a pic of the back? Is that attach point where the bolt is sticking out horizontally in the back slotted or what to allow the top to move up and down?

brake

Hi

Great job
What is the thickness of the angle (3/8" ???).
How did you bevel a 5' angle???
I guess you need to stand on the legs when bending.

have fun
Tom

Yes there is a sloted piece of angle welded to the top angle with a bolt welded to the base which allows it to move up and down and you can adjust it back and forth for metal thickness with locknuts.
The material is 5 X3 1/2" by 3/8" thick angle for the two base pieces and 4X 3 by 3/8" thick clamping angle.
Bevelling was done with anglegrinder,keeping it flat and going back and forth the whole length and finished it with a belt sander. Was not as hard as I thought it would be.

smile for the camera

Thanks for that info
like 62chevyII I would like to see a picture from the rear at one end.

have fun
Tom

acourtjester said:

Hi

Great job
What is the thickness of the angle (3/8" ???).
How did you bevel a 5' angle???
I guess you need to stand on the legs when bending.

have fun
Tom

Click to expand...

Walk smoothly along it with an angle grinder.

mat'ls list

could you please list materials required so a novice can figure it out. did you fab the hinges as well or is that a pre-made piece? nice work, thanks.

Ok,took some measurements. The two main angle pieces are 64" long 5"X3.5" and 3/8" thick, that way it gives a full 60" or 5 feet of length between the clamping bolts. The clamping beam is 61.5" long, 4" X3" angle, 3/8" thick also.
The legs and feet are 2X2 with 1/8" wall, legs are 33" so the surface that the sheetmetal sits on is 33" of the floor and the feet are 30" long offset a bit towards the rear to make the brake more stable.I also stand on the feet when breaking wider stuff.The whole thing does weigh close to twohundret pounds I figure. The hinges I made out of 1.5" X 1/2" thick material about 3" long pieces with 5/8" rod as the pivot.This has to line up very precise so that the two corners of the angles line up exactly when they move thru the arch. Here are a couple more pics of the ends.

I think you did a nice job!
I have always wanted to do the same, but currently don't want the extra space taken up so I think I am going to build a similiar design but with that will clamp down to my bench.
I like that you machined your clamp down with a grinder. Just shows what you can do without going to the machine shop.

401ton said:

I think you did a nice job!
I have always wanted to do the same, but currently don't want the extra space taken up so I think I am going to build a similiar design but with that will clamp down to my bench.
I like that you machined your clamp down with a grinder. Just shows what you can do without going to the machine shop.

Click to expand...

I have the same space problems, thats why even if I had the money to buy one of those Brown + Boggs type brakes,I would have nowhere to put it. This one two people can easily carry it to get it out of the way, cause most of the time my shop is full of cabinets, no room for metal tools.I try and do everything myself,about the only thing I would farm out would be engine boring and stuff like that.