Well I picked up this 36" Pexto sheet metal bar fold a few weeks back. Here is the story. I was at my sons track meet waiting for his event to start so I got on Craigslist to pass some time. Literally like 7 minutes prior to me getting on Craigslist someone posted an ad for a 4' finger brake for $240 and this bar fold for $160. I immediately call and say I can stop by on my way home after the track meet to check them out. He agreed. So I swing by on the way and pay him for the finger brake. It is a 48" no name but is in great shape and fingers are in perfect condition so it will be good for those small jobs. I have 2 brakes 8' long rated for 3/16" and 14 gauge both Chicagos but they arent finger brakes and that would be real handy to have sometimes. For the price I figured I could make some money if I ever sold it. The other item looked like a pile of chit and honestly Id never used a bar fold before so I didnt know what its purpose was. The guy selling it put a piece of sheet metal in it and bent it and Im like well I can do that and more with my brakes so I told him Id pass on that one. What he didnt do is finish bending it all the way over on itself because one of the stops was down and I didnt know any better. Not until that night I got on youtube and watched a couple videos of them in use and Im like **** I want that thing because many times before Ive wanted to bend over an edge so it wasnt sharp when making a box or pan. The only way I had to do it was to bend it as far as I could in my brake then hammer it down or figure something out to flatten it. So I called him up again and went back to his place. I asked him how much for it again as I couldnt exactly remember and he told me $200. I thought to myself BS it was like $140 or $160 but I paid it happily anyway. He was 85 and lived in a super dumpy old trailer and his whole place was a junk yard. That is fine, Im not saying that is a bad thing, just that the guy needed the extra bit of money more than me I am sure. Heck he was probably a millionaire and just liked living like that who knows. Anyway this bar fold had sat out in the weather for years. The adjustment part was out and sitting next to the bar fold. You couldnt hardly move the adjustment screw because of the rust and dirt. It was in his back yard surrounded by other scrap metal and stuff. I got it home and decided to clean it up. I took it apart piece by piece. Unfortunately there was a sizeable crack which looked like it had been there a long time in the main housing part. So we sand blasted everything except some of the small parts I cleaned in muriatic acid. After blasting I took a 3" x 1/4" x 29" long piece of strap and drilled holes in it and into the brake then tapped them and secured the strap along the underside of the brake with bolts to help support it to hopefully help with the crack not spreading. I painted every part up and slapped some grease in a few places where it needed it and put it back together. Works awesome and looks a whole heck of a lot better than its former pitiful self. I am curious why someone took that gauge part out because after I cleaned it up and put it back together it works great. The guy I bought it from had no clue what it was he said the guy he bought it from years ago said it went with it. Im also amazed the part stayed with it and didnt get lost in the junk pile that surrounded this tool after so much time. Oh and by the way when I took these pics of the finished product Id put the legs on backwards but Ive since flip flopped the legs and put the tension spring on it so it is 100% finished. He also had a 4x8x.120 sheet of aluminum sitting there in perfect condition which he sold to me for $20. Score.
