I am contemplating the idea of making a sheet metal brake. I don't know much about bending sheet metal but I have made some small projects (boat console and some other things) with a cheap brake from Harbor Freight. With the gauge metal I made the console out of, for example, the HF brake was too light duty for bends resembling anything of quality/crispness.
So some design considerations that are in my head at the moment are:
- Ability to put more crisp bends in sheet metal
- Ability to clear 5-6' of width
- Ability to bend complex bends (think 5 sides of a box - bottom and 4 sides as well as 90deg Z bends)
Looking at how the HF brake I have works - the mechanism doesn't seem very difficult to replicate. With heavier metal and some design changes the basic function of it (the clamped piece on the fixed table and hinged press plate) is easy to make. However, I am not sure if there is a logical way on that style press to do complex bends. The kind of brake that mounts to an H frame hydraulic press with the piece being pushed in to a V block, to me, makes more sense for being able to make a complex Z bend, but I don't know how crisp a bend could get. The V block would also mar the outside of the bend (the metal pressed against the V block).
As for generating the pressure I have 2 ideas.
1. Bottle jack. I have a 4-8 ton and the one on my hydraulic press could certainly be used as well - its a 20 ton.
2. Lever. This, preferably, would be powered by a bottle jack, but it would be conceivable to use a long bar or a bar with a cheater pipe, but I think a jack would give me more precision/finesse.
Is my idea crazy and off-the-rocker? Or is there any merit to making my own machine? Does anyone that has good experience with sheet metal work have any words of wisdom on the subject?
So some design considerations that are in my head at the moment are:
- Ability to put more crisp bends in sheet metal
- Ability to clear 5-6' of width
- Ability to bend complex bends (think 5 sides of a box - bottom and 4 sides as well as 90deg Z bends)
Looking at how the HF brake I have works - the mechanism doesn't seem very difficult to replicate. With heavier metal and some design changes the basic function of it (the clamped piece on the fixed table and hinged press plate) is easy to make. However, I am not sure if there is a logical way on that style press to do complex bends. The kind of brake that mounts to an H frame hydraulic press with the piece being pushed in to a V block, to me, makes more sense for being able to make a complex Z bend, but I don't know how crisp a bend could get. The V block would also mar the outside of the bend (the metal pressed against the V block).
As for generating the pressure I have 2 ideas.
1. Bottle jack. I have a 4-8 ton and the one on my hydraulic press could certainly be used as well - its a 20 ton.
2. Lever. This, preferably, would be powered by a bottle jack, but it would be conceivable to use a long bar or a bar with a cheater pipe, but I think a jack would give me more precision/finesse.
Is my idea crazy and off-the-rocker? Or is there any merit to making my own machine? Does anyone that has good experience with sheet metal work have any words of wisdom on the subject?
