How to use a Metal Bender - Steel Sheetmetal Brake (Finger Break)
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- Опубліковано 5 жов 2024
- Fabrication Basics // Tips on how to bend metal on a brake. Having a sheetmetal brake is a handy tool. It can easily bend sheet steel or aluminum. There are a few tips and tricks to using it correctly and getting the bends where you want them.
In this video I share a few things I have learned along the way. Including using a scribe to mark lines. Bending against the grain of aluminum. how to use the setback for tight and wide radius bends.
How to remove the fingers from the brake, and other things. This is kind of a DIY, How to, Tips and tricks video. Showing the basics of metal bending. Metal bending 101. Some people refer to bending metal as folding metal, or fold steel.
Behind the Scenes UA-cam Channel: / @oldbarnhomestead
Good info for beginner's specially about the sharpie line . If using markers always arrow which side of the line you got to bend always works for me
I have tried to explain a brake press to about ten younger people now and they all look at me like I am high on meth!! You see back years ago around 1977 I was in junior high school and we had a finger brake press in our metal shop at school.....and one of the projects I made for class (and grade credit) was a toolbox on the brake press!! My one step son is 38 years old and when I told him about what I learned in 1977, he said to me "I would just make square parts and then weld them together to form a box!"!! He has NO understanding of WHAT a brake press is, and what it can do!! I forget the make of the brake press I used in Junior High School, but I DO recall it is very large (of course that was back in 1977 as I said)!! And you could make a lot of difficult bends on it by removing, positioning and adding fingers to it!! It really was a great experience for me....and I wish I had one of them NOW that I am doing body work on my truck all the time!!
I run a CNC press at work, have been bending for about a year now, was a welder/fitter before that. I have never seen a manual press before, very cool. Good work, I always use a scribe of some sort, soap stone works well too! One thing I really like, are manual calipers instead of digital, so you have more than one way to measure.
Thank you so much. I'm taking applied mechanics and the way the professor explaining everything was incredibly dry with equations and charts. I had no idea what he was talking about for 2 hours. This cleared up everything in 10 minutes!
Awesome Katie, glad it helped ya! Nothing like real world practical application to make the classroom theory more clear :)
I learn something from all your videos but learn even more from ones like this. Thank you for sharing with us Gary.
thanks Jerry
I switched over to a scribe a while back... It's made all the difference. I used to use a mechanical pencil for detail work. Talk about a game changer.... Great tips on the break. It's always a sequencing mind bender to get the panel flipped right and bent properly.
A mechanical pencil is better than a sharpie for precision work, but yea the scribe is the way to go... I saw you using that Randy Richard one.
Yes, and the Diresta pick. Makes me wonder why I didn't use those things before.
cool video. Ive never seen one of these before. Only CNC press brakes, some even as large as 1,250 tons of force.
Great tips for beginners - thanks!
Gap (set back from edge between bending leaf and base) on clamp leaf (upper leaf) should be twice the thickness of material you are bending with a hand brake. This is what manufacturers reccommend. I have an old "Chicago" power leaf brake which bends 1/4 inch 12 feet long and the factory reccommends 3 times thickness of material on those machines, for example 3/4 inch set back on 1/4 inch plate. A 1/2" capacity machine would be set back 1-1/2 inches on half inch plate. More set back is easier on the machine if you can stand more radius. I bend thinner stuff (14 gage or 16 gage at twice material thickness. A properly set up press brake bends a sharper radius than does a power leaf brake. But a power leaf brake is more versatile than a press brake and safer as well. No brake or material will bend sharp 90 degrees with no radius, thin material (24 or 26 gage might look like it but the radius is there.
Nice tutorial, Gary. I don't have much experience with a brake like that and you filled in a lot of blanks for me. I might be in the market for one soon as well so this was great timing.
Best wishes,
Tom Z
Thanks Gary, I am such an amateur on Metal fabrication, I get it done but so basic compares to you.
I hear ya man, we are all learning!
Great info on the brake Gary.
I wish you had been putting these up many years ago when I started doing metal duct work but UA-cam didn't exist yet. :-)
Yea, I should have gotten you to give me some tips to add in to this video, you have bent up a lot of metal in your day i bet!
Great tips, thanks. I know very little about sheetmetal, but know I know a little more.
I don't like sheetmetal work that much, sometiems you have to do i tho, thanks for watching.
I always set the gap at 1.5 of the metal thickness.
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Good tips Gary. I used to do a lot of aluminum bending as we made our own trim and drip edge, etc in the storage barn shop I worked in, as well as when doing vinyl siding, all the wood trim got wrapped in aluminum. Lots of challenges for different shapes.
Sounds like you guys did some interesting things at that job... thanks George!
How can you fold metal along an edge (for strength)? Sounds neat! How long of a piece can you bend?
@@TheRainHarvester We could (I'm retired now) bend up to 12' long pieces, either with a single 90° bend or a fold over. Our brake was 10' long, but with a little practice I could efficiently bend beyond the natural limits of the equipment.
Do a bend allowance and material calculation video. How to measure inside and outside bends.
I would do a video like that if I only knew how! I make basic videos and show the limited info I have. some day when i get more experience on certain topics i will make more advanced videos
hackaday.com/2016/05/18/the-art-and-science-of-bending-sheet-metal/
Thank you so much I have to bend 24ft of flashing before a gutter gets installed. Never used one before.
Thumbs up purely for the little square!
Thank you great info for use beginners
Hi Great video do you know how to convert that finger brake to hydraulic or air instead of manual? please let me know Thank you God bless you
Your videos are good and I enjoy watching them. I also like to watch because I'm envious of your shop and workspace! Keep up the good work.
Thanks JD for watching. Be sure to check out the second channel if you haven't already.
Great set-up video. I have some blokes giving me a hard time about the hydraulic folder at work. They are saying the brake needs packing under the fingers along the length of unused area. Am I right in saying this would only apply if the thickness sensor (cutoff) is incorrectly configured, putting unnecessary strain on the fingers?
That angle iron that is bolted to the bottom part, is that just for extra leverage to bend the peice of material ? i bought a Tennsmith brake with fingers but it does not have the holes to mount that peice. They sell 2 versions, one with and one without. This one is 22ga and the one with is 16ga rated, so I am assuming thats the difference. How come such a heavy duty brake can only do 22ga even with out that ? This one sells for like $900 new.
Good stuff. Do people still use thus stuff? Thought the world 3D printed everything. I learned a lot of this in shop class 1976.
Brake is adjusted too tight, the clamp leaf (upper leaf) should set back twice teh metal thickness on a hand brake (three times on a power leaf brake) otherwise you over strain the brake and it eventually shows up, I have had a number of brakes over theyears of this type from my Chicago 1/4 inch x 12 foot power leaf brake ( still have it , my main bending machine) a a SO 10-14 Chicago, an 8 foot 12 ga Chicago (both of which I sold at over new price) and a 4 foot 16 gage Connecticut (Roper Whitney) box and pan (a still have). The 8 foot 12 gage needed a lot of repair of parts broken from this type of overloading . You will never get a "folded paper" bend in metal that is not very thin, you will just gradualle damage your machine. Stick with the 2X setback
9
awesome video..love the tiny square
thanks
What is the name of that square? Stan Zangowski?
Tiny square? I thought this guy was a giant!!!
you do great teach
You need set the head back to allow room for the gage metal. The space between the clamp bar to the bending edge should be twice the thickness of the Gage metal you are bending.
Thank you
Depending on what you want to do, you could put a mildly bent piece back in the brake by removing some fingers, inserting the work, then sliding the piece sideways under the remaining fingers.
Very limited, yes, possible, yes.
Thanks for all the detail. Like my grandfather used to say, measure with a laser and mark it with a crayon :-)
Well said! thanks Rino
I am a sheet metal worker, and my last name is Ramsey! Props
Just found this. Is there a link to the vid where you built the piece? I have access to a brake and need to do some bending. Your tip on the largest section and work out is a huge help but I learn visually much better.
Cant find you video on the actual build. Thank you for sharing! subcribed
Gary you the man...thanks for sharing the info
Thanks man, appreciate it. Heard Tenn giving you a shout out on his last video bragging about how you spray with one hand while filming with the other... lol pretty cool!
Novice here...I assumed a bendwas a bend. Thanks for setting me straight.
Very precise in calculation. That's how you do a great job. Please who made your break and what is the cost?
It's a grizzly G0542. Runs about 2350 shipped. I'm here as I was searching for more info on this brake (probably will purchase it shortly)
I now have one of these G0542 brakes and it's great. But I need to make closer bends for a project so I need to remove the bending wing angle attachment ( yellow) . It looks removable. Have you ever removed yours?
1.2 steel ... if I have a 25mm fold and set it up 23.8 as I need to - the thickness of the steel and the fold comes out @ 25.9 do I then take 0.9 off or 0.9 on to get the 25mm fold
Super valuable info, thank you
Thanks for posting this, I found this very helpful!
Really helpful video. Thanks for posting with so much detail. New subscriber.
Hi Gary. Great video! You mentioned the levers are used to put tension on the metal piece. But when you pull them downward, what keeps them in place? Thanks!
Gary, how far off the wall does this brake need to be in order to be used? Trying to figure out if I have enough room in my garage or if I need a brake without the counter weights
How can you fold metal in half on an edge?
Thanks for the video..what break is that
My favorite method for marking on metal is to use a machinist square and scribe. I'll slide the rule to 1" and then using the square against the end I need a mark of 1" on I'll scribe it. Hope that makes sense...
Yes sir, makes perfect sense. I hate that I was out of the range of the camera when i filmed that part. Thanks for the comment.
Where can I get the small square and what’s its name
I would like to know also
Looks like a quality brake and a reasonable price. Was it made in Taiwan?
I work a trumpf cnc press brake for work. I have been interested in buying a small manual press brake for bending up light fixtures. Pretty interesting stuff. First time I've actually seen how one works. My question for you is if you had a square piece but with a small amount extra material on each side except for the corners of .060 and wanted to put a 90 on each side to create a perfect square with a lip on each side is there a way to adjust the length of tooling to so I could fit it inside of two 90 degree angles? or if I wanted to gauge a 90 degree bend off of a 90 degree bend to make a U(couldn't think of a better way to explain the shape) shape on the ends would that even be possible? Doesn't seem so how the machine is set up. Thanks for any advice if you see this haha
Hi Gary,
Thanks for the informative video. I have just bought the Baileigh equivalent of this machine, they are identical - probably made in the same factory and branded differently.
Do you find that there is back and forth play in the top clamping beam? So you can grab the clamping beam and move it towards and away from you? Mine has some and that's because there is a bit of a gap on the backstop adjustment mechanism.
Just wondering if in use this becomes a problem?
Thanks,
Andy
Many Thanks. This was very informative.
Great video, thank you for sharing
GREAT VIDEO I JUST ORDERED THE SAME BRAKE FOR MY SHOP CANT WAIT TILLIT GETS HERE
How long have you owned that break? Would you buy it again?
I have the same brake. I’ve never done 12/14 with it though.
Does the material grow like on a press break ?
How you like that box and pan. I'm thinking about getting one. Thanks for the video
How do you rate that bender. Looking at the same one for my projects at home. Cheers
A white out marker with a ball point end is the most accurate marker on metal we gave ever used .pentel brand blue and white bottle you will never go back to markers
Interesting i wouldn't have guessed that
Just found your channel and I'm blown away. I do have a question though, how do you account for the radius that is put in the metal after you bend it?
Yes! This is exactly what I was trying to search for. On an Aluma Brake I've been using, it seems to give me the best result when I put the marks exactly on the edge of the clamp bar. It seems they accounted for that radius (at least on thin sheet aluminum) when designing the brake.
For a minute there I was thinking pulling it out .5 to 1mm would help, but no, that fucked up a handful of practice attempts at matching an existing piece of siding lol
Hi, I just found your channel. Your doing some great work here. Keep it up.
Hey Dale. I have been subbed to you for a while and watch most of your videos, loved that last one on the hand turning on the lathe. I just watched click spring this morning do some hand turning. My videos are not quite as polished as yours! Thanks for stopping by !
you should back the finger up to the thickness of material with aluminum or back side will split
When I had my company before I sold it I would get any trade person to do a small project in the hand box and pan to see if they knew how to fold it. If they could not fold it I then knew they could not use a hydraulic CNC press brake so would have to teach them the process of folding. It is not something that is easy for a lot of people.
Very helpful, thank you
Good video. Good explanation.
good info Gary...
Thanks man
Today a manufactured 2 L\ brackets by hand with 18gage steel, wish i had a hand break
Some great tips
Why aren't you using some kind of angle finder?
Good tips Gary
Thanks Ron
I saw a guy put his thumb in one on accident. It wasn't pretty. He ended up with a flat thumb. Be careful. Safety first.
cool tips ...
I have an 18 x 80 inch piece of 14g. sheet metal I need to bend. Is there a way to do this if I don't have this machine? Also, what was the name of that tiny square you ude?
Man, bending 14 gauge across 80" would be very difficult, even its the 18" length, still pretty much impossible without a brake. You might be able clamp it between 2 pieces of angle iron and heat it cherry red, but honestly i have never tried that. The small square is a Z square from Stan Zinkowsky, you can find him on youtube
Thanks for the video.
Great video.
thank you sir.
One thing I think you should cover is bending to a drawing or dimension. Say you have a drawing to make a channel or cap rail. The distance between both inside legs needs to hug something or slip into something that's 6" wide. (inside width vs outside width) Show how to compensate for different gauge thickness, in say, 12 ga vs 18 ga sheet metal.
I can't tell you how many parts I've had ruined by asking a shop helper, assistant or whatever try and bend sheet metal. When you ask them if they know how to use a brake and can make the part in the drawing.
+1 on this. I am the guy that destroys all of the parts that Eco Mouse is talking about!
Dude, this is a fabrication basics video, what you are talking about is more advanced. I doubt i can even do it once, much less make a video on it lol
HAHA! I think it's kind of basic. I mean, when guys who call themselves fabricators come to my shop looking for work, it's one of the go-to on the spot tests I can give them.
"Here, bend this sheet metal into a pointed cap rail like this drawing. Make sure it fits around this 2x6 snugly. I'll check on you again in 15 minutes."
+Eco Mouse couldn't agree more.
THANK YOU GARY !!!!!
Thanks for watching!
Where can I get that lil square from? Cant seem to find one that small
Stan Zinkowsky Bar Z industrial on youtube makes them, they are not cheap though
Thanks!!
thanks for sharing useful knowledge. in this video if the camera had been better positioned between 2:21 and 2.45 the viewer could have understood what is being attempted.
I didnt know what a scribe was. That's what I used my calipers for. Better get a scribe so I don't wear out my calipers.
Can you hem on this machine?
Yes u can
Sheet metal brake, press brake. What does brake mean? Is it just another word for machine.
Looking up definitions for brake, it refers to a lot of different types of machine, but not machines in general. Generally, I would say they are all things that apply pressure or resist pressure, but a lot of different meanings
Hey ramsey that's a cute machinist square. Where did ya get it?
checkout shadonhkw on youtube, he makes them and sells them. very nice pieces
5 Friggin' minutes on the art of putting a 1" mark on a piece of flat stock ? C'MON MAN-- ARE U SERIOUS ??? Even got a micrometer involved--- WOW
I really want to get a set of Stans little squares. Those babys are sweet!
what is the name of those small squares? Stan's??
l use a center punch on my line, shows up much better
that's a good thought, anything to make it easier to see..
Saan po ang location,
magkano po,ang bending sheet,para po gutter
Where you get that little mini square ?
It's called a Z square, Stan Zinkowsky sells them, you should be able to google them and find them
I found a Bar Z Industrial Development website. Looks like they sell a 2" square for $144 usd ! Thats crazy lol
Lol, yea they are not cheap. He makes them all by hand, and they are sent out for heat treat and then precision ground on his surface grinder, so prob $70 in cost and materials.
anyone else watching this in a manufacturing class or somethin?
Just broke my finger from dis machine lol
Can't we just use a robot that runs on booze to bend all the stuff for us?
i hate when i didnt think a bend out right....then there is no way to fix it BUT start with new metal PEEEACE
Yes sir. One of my videos a while back someone asked me how come i bent part of it on the break and finished it in the vise, lol thats exactly why. Backed myself into a corner only way to do it was in the vise lol
No speaking spanish, traduccion en español
This department is the worst department all you do for 8 hours is bend shit just to hear the next department yell it dont match up to walk over to the build to see they built their frame wrong and added to many pop rivets and their angles don't match up who do you think get into trouble the guy who build the giant frame or the guy who cut the metal how he was told. I recommend the plexiglass or electric or paint department
Dangerous and incorrect information being dished out here. 😬👎