sheet metal work

[.RC.]

Sheet metal work is something a bit foreign to me... I did a reasonable amount of it at school but that was with hand tools...

What is the best sort of device for folding?

Pan brakes seem to have the limitation of the the depth of boxes they can make

The open mangabend type seem to be the most versatile, but also the most expensive (although I see in the US they are thousands cheaper then here) and some reports that they are flimsy.

press brakes for the heavy duty bending, but again have their limitations and tooling is $$$. I have a sort of press brake here made up with my 60tonne press.

I want to get a bender but have no idea what to get.... It is nearly like you need one of each...

[wheelinround]

Hi RC during my years of bus and coach building we used a range of folders from yep 60t break press down to a 4ft and a 4ft pan break. It all depends on size of what you require. I do recall the 60t had 2 or 3 bits we could change to do strange and wonderful things with. It also comes down to planning every fold. I spotted a few new ones at H&F last Thursday drooooll.

Oh we had been known to fold between two pieces of steel or hardwood in emergency...........during power strikes etc.

[Grahame Collins]

Sheet metal work is something a bit foreign to me... I did a reasonable amount of it at school but that was with hand tools...

What is the best sort of device for folding?

This depends on your interpretation of what thickness the sheet metal is.
To me, an ex boilermaker, sheet metal is up to 6mm thick but a sheety will see it different.
Is there something specific you are looking at making or are you talking in terms of general jobs?

for long parallel work in heavier gauge - press brake. For air con boxes - pan brake.


For boxes and sheetmetal drawers - finger pan brake.

It depends upon what you will be doing?

Grahame

[harty69]

Hi RC

I have had 2 maganbends and i reckon there worth their weight in gold for the few times i need to bend heavier than 16 gauge i just get it done at the local metal fab joint. aluminium can be a pain as it gets thicker
you can pick them up second hand for about half price i got lucky and got a new Chinese 4ft knock off for $1250 bucks delivered from the engineering expo
i have included a picture of my latest bender although not very accurate and it seems to bend stuff i dont want to bend but my god does it do it with ease
241565
makes a good crane as well
241566

cheers
harty

[.RC.]

Sounds like a magna bend type is the way to go... I only was looking at mostly sub 1mm stuff..

Pity the 1250mm chinese knock off model is near $4000 https://www.machineryhouse.com.au/S540

While a US supplier I found was half that....

[harty69]

Hi RC

i think the electrabrake is made in south Africa the one i have is a different brand again it looks like this one

Magnetic Bending Machine For Sheet Metal Bending And Folding - Buy Sheet Metal Folding Machines,Magnetic Folding Machine,Sheet Metal Manual Folding Machine Product on Alibaba.com (http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/451197591/Magnetic_Bending_Machine_for_sheet_metal.html)


they really are bloody handy


cheers

Harty

[Ropetangler]

Sounds like a magna bend type is the way to go... I only was looking at mostly sub 1mm stuff..

Pity the 1250mm chinese knock off model is near $4000 https://www.machineryhouse.com.au/S540

While a US supplier I found was half that....

G'Day Richard, I was at this blokes facility a few weeks back, and I'm pretty sure that he had a second hand one there. He maintains school metalwork equipment in N.S.W. and has plenty of Hercus spare parts as well. I bought a 200 mm bench grinder on a stand, - I guess that makes it a pedestal grinder, GMF 3 phase 1 horsepower with 2 newish aluminium oxide wheels. He threw in a couple of no volt contactors with emergency stop buttons also fitted to the panel, and I got it for $75 which I am happy with. I found him very pleasant to deal with, and would definitely recommend him. His name is Garry Ferrett, and he trades as G & J Ferrett Mechanical Services P/L. His phone number is 02 9734 6800, and e-mail is <[email protected]>
If he still has it and it is free of technical issues, I'm guessing that you could drive down, stay the night at a decent hotel, pick the unit up and drive back and still have plenty of money left over if comparing his price to a new one. Good luck,
Rob.

[harty69]

these look pretty cool to if your just doing thin stuff
was always going to make one but its way down the list at the moment

DRACO EcO-Bender 3 - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=dXsBHf0LbXA)

cheers
Harty

[Michael G]

I have a 3ft Chambers and Corner finger brake and that does 1mm with (muscular) effort and thinner stuff with ease*. (I first saw an old one of these at a machinery place where the owner admitted that he used it to demonstrate how they worked so he could sell new Chinese finger brakes). Made originally in QLD and Solid as all get out.
The one I would have really liked to have gotten but very hard to find is a Heine manual press brake (they called them an angle bender). There were two versions made one around 0.5m long and another around 1m. I figured that with one of those it was small enough that I could make special tooling from MS if the standard stuff did not do what I wanted and that would be good enough for those odd irregular jobs.
Attached is a screen grab from the Heine web site ( John Heine and Son Pty Ltd - Ferrous Foundry and Machine Shop (http://www.johnheine.com.au) ). They have a section with old brochures but to save everyone's electrons...

241580

I got to use one of the larger ones at a place I worked and was most impressed that I could put a sharp bend in a piece of 3x25 flat. If I had the room I still wouldn't mind getting one

Michael

* I don't have the counterweight fitted as I can't stow it under the bench if I did. With the counterweight it is a lot easier

[.RC.]

G'Day Richard, I was at this blokes facility a few weeks back, and I'm pretty sure that he had a second hand one there. He maintains school metalwork equipment in N.S.W. and has plenty of Hercus spare parts as well. I bought a 200 mm bench grinder on a stand, - I guess that makes it a pedestal grinder, GMF 3 phase 1 horsepower with 2 newish aluminium oxide wheels. He threw in a couple of no volt contactors with emergency stop buttons also fitted to the panel, and I got it for $75 which I am happy with. I found him very pleasant to deal with, and would definitely recommend him. His name is Garry Ferrett, and he trades as G & J Ferrett Mechanical Services P/L. His phone number is 02 9734 6800, and e-mail is <[email protected]>
If he still has it and it is free of technical issues, I'm guessing that you could drive down, stay the night at a decent hotel, pick the unit up and drive back and still have plenty of money left over if comparing his price to a new one. Good luck,
Rob.

Thanks Rob, alas it has been sold....

[.RC.]

Well I have joined the magnabend club....

Picked up a 1000mm model today, an older model that has a slightly different style of hinges to the new ones, but is an Au made one..

yea yea i know pics or it didn't happen.... pics later on in the tool gloat thread...

[Stustoys]

Hi RC,
Little late on this thread but you're right, they will all do things others wont i.e. cutting slots etc in the leaf of a magnabend would be a little costly. They arent the best for making multiple parts(assuming of course that the said part could be made in another machine). They also have a fairly wide leaf.

Not sure how they would get on if you wanted larger fold radius?

Still if I had to pick one machine for use in my shed I think a magnabend would be it. Maybe one day, but then I would need a guillotine to go with it.

Assuming you in fact have a magnabend ;) Congrads on your purchase.

Stuart

Watch your fingers though, came across this.
http://education.qld.gov.au/health/pdfs/healthsafety/magnabend-safety-alert.pdf

[.RC.]

Thanks Stuart...

I am only a n00b when it comes to sheet metal work, although that was nearly all we did at metal work at school but all by hand that was..

Pictures

[Stustoys]

Ok I believe you now :D

It looks like radius bends wont be an issue and by the look of those hinges making a new leaf wont the huge drama I was thinking it would be, which is good as having graps in the leaf can be handy.

Nothing wrong with folding by hand with a hammer if you have the time! A fold that will take 5 seconds in a magnabend could take 30 minutes with angle iron clamps and a hammer.

Stuart