Best small finger brake- Need ASAP

[tarbellb]

Picked up a new job that requires a brake. Need to have it no later then end of this week (1/19).

Would love to have a 24" Pexto or Di-arco but they are north of $1000 and will need freight shipped.

Would prefer a finger brake, and a small footprint ie < 24".

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Scope of job: 300pcs of

Material- 1/8" x 2" aluminum flat bar

Bend- 100º wings at a 5º angle

Not a heavy duty bend at all, but speed and precision are important.

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I plan on making a jig to hold the angle (5º) and a backstop. Most brakes seem to handle 135º, so 100º shouldnt be a problem.

Options that are easy to get NOW:

Amazon 2day - Shop Fox (rebadged Asian bottom tier) 24" finger brake - $330
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001R23S7W/?tag=atomicindus08-20

Harbor Freight - 36" brake, not finger, bigger then I want ~$190
https://www.harborfreight.com/36-in-metal-brake-with-stand-62518.html

Is there anything else I should consider? Ive checked my local CL and Ebay.
And I dont have a press of any kind.

 

[Mohawk Dave]

SNIP

Is there anything else I should consider? Ive checked my local CL and Ebay.
And I dont have a press of any kind.

Just something to consider. Swag Offroad finger brake for the HF press. Good reviews, and you get a press in the process.

http://www.swagoffroad.com/SWAG-Press-Brake-Kits_c_53.html

https://www.harborfreight.com/20-ton-shop-press-32879.html

Might be a little more up front than a dedicated finger brake, but you get the press....

Just an idea.

 

[turbowoodworker]

That ShopFox looks nice but it is only rated to 20 g. Will that work for you as it seems very limiting?

 

[dr_clyde]

Just a few notes. Aluminum needs to be the right alloy to bend and not crack. 3003 is best. 6061 T6 will crack easily. Make sure you get the right bar.

1/8" is beyond the capacity for small brakes. It's not about the bend force in this case, but about the spacing between finger and the apron. It will make a bend, sure, but it will deform the metal where it squishes between the two when you swing the apron up. If you can find one that is adjustable to accommodate this, good. Otherwise your bends are gonna look funny and have a weird crease in them.

You also want to make sure whatever you buy has stroke control, or you're gonna go nuts trying to keep everything consistent.

This is a press brake job, IMO. I'd sub it out if it was me.

If you really want to keep it in house, I'd look into making a little dedicated bending jig of some kind. You'll get better results.

 

[leg17]

Just a few notes. Aluminum needs to be the right alloy to bend and not crack. 3003 is best. 6061 T6 will crack easily. Make sure you get the right bar.

T6 is the more brittle of the "heat-treatments".

Also, watch the 'grain' orientation.

 

[tarbellb]

Thanks guys, all good info. Definitely addressed some of my concerns.

Clyde- I wasnt aware of the pinching and poor bend at 1/8", I figured it was a physical capacity or bowing effect that was the issue.

As for hitting my bend angles, I will either rig up a limiter or use a digi angle readout?
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Reading through the reviews looks like the Shop Fox will physically handle 1/8" material, but may not give the best looking bends? Thats fine for this purpose, the bracket will be hidden and only needs to provided limited structural support.

That Swag brake looks nice but is way overkill for this, and I think a press brake will be a very slow process.... I am paying some pfd (pimple face ****) to run 300 of these.

Although there is this light duty option on Ebay that looks a little better suited, or maybe just weak? https://www.ebay.com/itm/Mini-Porta...240351?hash=item2a9a78e3df:g:erYAAOSwPcVVr~hr

Here is a quick mock up of what this bracket looks like-

 

[NeuseRvrRat]

The HF compact bender will do 1/8" x 2" aluminum flat bar no problem.

https://www.harborfreight.com/compact-bender-38470.html

 

[tarbellb]

The HF compact bender will do 1/8" x 2" aluminum flat bar no problem.

https://www.harborfreight.com/compact-bender-38470.html

Actually no, it maxes out at 2" @ 90º. There would be no way for me to bend at that 5º offset.

I have this bender, good for other stuff, not so much this.

 

[dr_clyde]

T6 is the more brittle of the "heat-treatments".

Also, watch the 'grain' orientation.

Yes it is. And it's the condition most 6061 is sold in. Annealed 6061 will bend different than T6. My point was to know ahead of time that there is a difference and what it means.

Good point on the grain direction. That makes a difference.

 

[dr_clyde]

To be clear, when I say press brake, I do not mean an attachment for a shop press. I mean an actual sheet metal brake. I realize you can't just buy one of these for this job, which is why I recommended subbing the job. Cream cheese job for any bending hand.

If I was you, I'd sub the job to a sheet metal shop. You'll have a couple hundred bucks into bending it, way less than buying a brake and paying a kid to bend parts. Plus they'll all be consistent coming off a CNC brake.

 

[machine_punk]

The 1/8" / 10 gauge / 3mm thickness of the material is what makes this bend difficult. Most small brakes are simply not built for that thick of material. I have one of the heavier-duty, Chinese press brakes (Baileigh 5216) and it only does 16 gauge.

If you have the right sort of heavy, angle-iron scrap lying around the shop, it would be relatively simple to quickly weld up a bender about 6 inches wide for this project (making it a little wider than what you need now gives you some versatility for future projects). For 200 bends, you could even build something out of wood (I've done that before).

Before you have someone else make 200 of them, make sure you take the time to make a few test bends and get the dimensions exact. There's a lot of math you can do to calculate bend radii, but the quickest way really is to just bend one, check the final dimensions, adjust the next one, and keep test-bending until you end up with the final dimensions you want. Aluminum (aluminium) is also known for its 'spring back.' Make sure you also test for how far you need to bend it for it to spring back to the angle you really want (or at least build a gauge, so the operator can check each bend). Then, you can turn someone else loose with the project.

Here is the bender I made of wood and heavy door hinges from the big box store. I made this one out of dimensional pine lumber, with a 3/16" aluminum plate attached, for better durability. I attached the plate, then sanded the aluminum and wood to the radius I wanted. I just used a heavy C-clamp for clamping, but you could make the clamping system as complex as needed. If you make something like this out of oak, I think it would easily last 200 bends. With the pine and aluminum combination, I'm sure it would last 200 bends too.

View media item 20095
View media item 20096

 

[Ericgst]

In a pinch you could bend it with this vice finger brake. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0000DD4UW/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[Uncle Dave]

I think you'll find 2'' x 1/8 FB to be pretty stout stuff.

 

[iajonesy]

Where did he say he was using T6 material? If it doesn't have to be T6 he could use T3 or find some annealed 6061.
I would take my 300 pcs. to a sheet metal shop and offer someone cash to do the job over a few lunch hours. It would save you a lot of hassles.

Mike

 

[dr_clyde]

Where did he say he was using T6 material? If it doesn't have to be T6 he could use T3 or find some annealed 6061.
I would take my 300 pcs. to a sheet metal shop and offer someone cash to do the job over a few lunch hours. It would save you a lot of hassles.

Mike

Nowhere.

I was simply pointing our the difference in case he was unaware. Could be an expensive mistake, as most flat bar is not 3003, it is 6061.

 

[jmarkwolf]

5052 alloy will bend OK also.

 

[tarbellb]

Clyde- thanks for the heads up on material choice, I was NOT aware of the bending qualities of Aluminum as I usually work in steel.

I will be placing some calls to see what a local shop wants, unfortunately there are few shops where I am, and most want top dollar.

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I am considering building my own brake for this, specific to this job makes it a easy build.... came up with this quick design last night: (shown open and closed back to back). Channel, 1/4" plate, permanent positioning brackets, static upper jaw with slip-in fit?

 

[nes999]

What is the chance you might need to bend something similer again. This might be a good time to invest in the proper equipment.


By the way I like your website. It is very colorful.

Sent from my VS988 using Tapatalk

 

[tarbellb]

Thanks ness999!

Problem is I dont want to commit the footprint of a large brake to my shop right now, space is at a premium.

The other is that this is a heavier bend then the size machine I would want to commit to. So I am stuck either going big, or compromising speed or performance.
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All this is a moot point, I ended up building my own and it works great!

Ill post some pics tomorrow.

Thanks guys!

 

[rsanter]

Actually no, it maxes out at 2" @ 90º. There would be no way for me to bend at that 5º offset.

I have this bender, good for other stuff, not so much this.

It will do it, you just have to make your own block

 

[rsanter]

Also, look at the option of using an iron worker. Most have a press brake built in and can bend that no problem.

If you will need more of this stuff in the future, there are things like generic punch presses and rivit presses that could be adapted to do the job and some of those can be bought cheap. You would just need to make the tooling (which is not that hard)

 

[tarbellb]

Here is what I ended up doing. Built my own using scraps from the shop.

4" x 1.5" Channel main body (lower jaw)

1/4" Flat bar for pretty much everything else

Built specifically for the is job, bending 1/8" x 2" Aluminum flat bar at exactly 10º offset to a 80º angle. Built-in adjustable angle limiter (not shown), dynamic jaw plates are removable if I do want to bend something else.

I suppose it may pinch more than a standard brake, but for my application it works great.

Fast, repeatable, cheap.

 

[dr_clyde]

Nice. I think that will be better than any cheap brake you could have bought.

How do you control stroke?

Do you have a line burner or are you just that good with a hand torch? That bevel looks machine burned on the top finger.

 

[2oolhound]

Nice work!

 

[morrillm06]

I see you already built something but this would have been my choice

can bend 1/4 steel plate and only $260

https://lowbucktools.com/products/lowbuck-plate-brake

 

[tarbellb]

Nice. I think that will be better than any cheap brake you could have bought.

How do you control stroke?

Do you have a line burner or are you just that good with a hand torch? That bevel looks machine burned on the top finger.

Thanks! Stroke is controlled via a adjustable bolt that hits the dynamic jaw, its not shown, I probably shouldve grinded those quick (ugly) welds before posting too

No torch action, that was all done with a flap disc.
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That brake you linked morrilm06 looks a lot like mine, ha. Thanks, that would have been a good option.

Thanks guys

 

[royce]

Excellent Tarbellb
Well done

Royce

 

[tarbellb]

Update- practically assaulted it with orange paint. ha.

Painted it a stupid bright color so the operator can make sure they are lining everything up , see gaps, etc...
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Check out those bends? Do they look structurally sound?

You can see some grain checking or whatever it would be called. These are for hanging a 10lb wall decoration essentially.

 

[EdT]

That bend looks to be right on the edge of too tight or maybe a little over the edge. The "orange peel" appearance on the outside of the bend means it's close. You could increase the bend radius if that would work for the part's use or try annealing the material in the area where you want to bend it. It's not hard to do, but it would get old for as many parts as you have to do. For the intended purpose it might be fine just like it is. What alloy did it end up being?

 

[theoldwizard1]

You could increase the bend radius ...

How do you do that ?

 

[tarbellb]

Thanks EdT.

Could I simply take the upper jaw and grind down the leading edge to a larger radius? Right now it is almost a knife edge. Would that do the trick?