Cheap Sheet Metal brake

Jim Thompson Inscribed thus:

Do you want to build your own ?

Harbor freight.

Grizzly tool

Ain't American made... but few things are these days. I have their hand pumped hydraulic wood splitter. Works very well and lots simpler when working with knotty wood that won't split nicely with a maul.

Bob Oppenheimer

Few consumer items that are American made -- but the machines that made the machines that made those brakes probably are (or German, etc). At least for now.

Hopefully when they reach wage parity with us we'll still remember how to make stuff. Maybe we'll even realize the foolishness of letting our union help price us out of the world market.

Or we can all go into prostitution, the ultimate service industry.

Try Eastwood. They cater to automotive restoration/customizers but they do (last time I checked) have small brakes. I have an 18" one, does light steel and aluminum, but nothing really heavy is possible.

Maybe I need to find someone to consult that has a machine shop ;-) My 10 years at GenRad Portable Products were a joy for G-jobs... go into a full-fledged machine shop after hours... punch presses, lathes, band saw, drill press, milling machine, fancy brake with moveable shoes... "pants wetting" ;-) ...Jim Thompson

Bob already recommended the places I would suggest looking for fine mainland Chinese tools... of course HF is local to you and you can go in and have a gander at the merchandise and maybe pick out a relatively good one. Grizzly is perhaps a bit higher quality, but not always.

I'm not clear on whether you need a folder or a "box and pan" brake (or finger brake) which allows you to bend.. umm... boxes and pans.. because you can remove bits of the male die to allow space for the folded parts to fit.

I have a cute little 12" version of this behemoth:

which *cuts* thin aluminum like butter, also easily bends shapes like boxes and even more complex shapes etc. (you can also apparently do things with the rolls, which I've not attempted) it also cuts PCB material (but probably not for long..)

These guys seem to have a version of it:

and this guy

I paid about $225 including shipping from HF years ago, and Grizzly used to carry it (but no longer) (apparently the Grizzly one would not cut a full 12" (probably metric) so it p*ssed off people who ordered

Anyway, you have choices from $20 to $1000. All are "cheap" by comparison with good US-made stuff. Even well-used specimens of such.

Someone mentioned the cheap Harbor Freight brake:

I've used that. I can't get precision with it. For example, if all I want is a 90 degree bend twice in a sheet of metal to get a U shape I can do it, but I can't get the legs of the U to be precisely the same length, except by accident.

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Of course there's a skill factor, and I'll rate mine at 0 with this tool, so it is quite possible you might have better results. And, for a quick and easy L bend in light stuff where ~ +/- 1/8" doesn't matter, it's fine.

Ed

Sheeesh! I didn't know they were right here under my nose ;-) I'll venture out Black Canyon after the holidays... that'd be an unpleasant drive during the shopping season :-( ...Jim Thompson

I'm likely to go with something with "fingers" and self-clamping.

Now that Spehro pointed out that Harbor freight is right here under my nose I'll venture forth and "feel" the merchandise ;-) ...Jim Thompson

Jim See for the Phoenix area metal and model workers group. They also have a Yahoo group.

Dave Foreman Tucson

... "pants wetting" ;-)

At your age, that's entirely possible

=A0 =A0 ...Jim Thompson

Most stuff from HF is a bit on the schlocky side. You get what you pay for. That said, I must have 5 of those disposable DVMs.

Now this helps me understand how blessed my high school years were, I had all of that plus the equivalents for wood shop (including a 48=20 inch planer) and welding (gas/electric-rod/GMAW&GTAW) available if=20 i took those courses, and drafting with PMP arms. In the 1960s. Oops, i don't think the HS had punch presses.

Yep, Back when I was in junior high school (middle school for you young bucks)... 1952-1955, males were required to take "shop": drafting (*), wood working, and sheet metal. Females had to take home economics ;-)

My high school was divided into three sections: college preparatory, technical (you name it... electrician training, aircraft maintenance, machine shop, welding, drafting...), and distributive education (secretaries, store clerks, etc.)

All now prohibited under political correctness.

This was in the "backward" state of West Virginia ;-)

(*) I couldn't fit any high school shop into my college prep schedule, so I took drafting in the summer of 1955. Entered the Southern WV Craftsmen's Fair... and won ALL categories in drafting ;-) ...Jim Thompson

=A0 =A0 =A0...Jim Thompson

=A0 =A0 =A0...Jim Thompson

My rural Vermont junior high (actually a 4-room wing of the senior high) required all males to take 2 years of shop (females took home ec and helped out with hot lunch). Shop included woodworking (learned to estimate the board feet in a standing tree and and made a spice rack, a lamp, and and wobbly table), welding, auto shop (which meant helping a high schooler work on his car), plus various ag projects (driving tractors, milking cows, harvesting Christmas trees, making maple syrup). Related optional classes for both genders were Drafting, Business classes (typing, shorthand, bookkeeping) and Commercial Cooking. The shop teacher was the Vice Principal, substitute school bus driver, and Driver Ed instructor.

"Jim Thompson" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...

I don't think even you'd support your own daughters having been forced to take home ec. and missing out on the shop classes, would you? Gender discrimination here is ridiculous.

I am OK with, e.g., GPA requirements for certain classes though, just as there's usually some (really low!) GPA requirements for sports.

Of course, very few of the classes you mention above are even available anymore. Liability killed many of them, and the "everyone must go to college and become a 'professional' and not work at something as 'menial' as welding" mentality of the '80s onward killed most of the rest.

You should scan in and post your old drawings if you have'em!

---Joel

Nope. Considering that one of my daughters is a chemist and the other is a politician.

But can anyone take "shop" in high school anymore? The "education" system seems to think everyone needs to go to college :-(

I should learn to read ahead ;-)

I think I still have them... if I can just remember where ;-) ...Jim Thompson

I buy a lot from Harbor Freight, especially since we got a local store.

Bear in mind: Price is their big selling point. Sometimes it is a work-in progress and you will need to rework a bit for it to meet your needs!

If you buy something like a metal lathe, a complete teardown will be worth the effort to clean up, lubricate and understand the limitations of the equipment. However, you will then understand what a bargain you have!

John Ferrell W8CCW