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Not sure if this goes here so mods, feel free to move it if you want.
I've needed a sheet metal brake for years and have gotten by with the vice, banding pliers, etc. but I decided to go crazy and blow a few bucks at Harbor Freight on one of their bench top models. I caught it on sale with a 20% coupon so it was about $50. You'll need your own clamps so if you don't have a bunch add that to your total. The first thing to note is that it is NOT a box brake. The back-up piece is one solid chunk so you can't add or subtract to bend shorter bends. I'll show how I got around this.
The project is to bend up a mount for an old radio I had to install it in Mutt. The timing guys broadcast on a dedicated FM station and it would be useful to get that signal as I wait in the staging line. I figure I can afford the weight and I bought an inside-the-glass antenna so I won't have an antenna sticking out to mess up my non-existent aero.
Here's the brake as it comes from HF. The bed is essentially 2 pieces of angle iron ground flat (I think they're actually castings but that's the concept) and hinged to give the bending action. These sit on a stand which I lag screwed to a table that I built some time ago. BTW, the bed is 30" long. Note that sitting on top of the work piece is a thick and heavy length of bar which is also ground flat. This takes the place of the clamping mechanism which would clamp down on the work piece in a commercial brake. Here's where the clamps come in - the bar needs to be clamped down to hold the work in place and I found it likes to slide during the bend so you have to champ the heck out of it. After I bent a test piece I worked out the clamping thing and then it worked pretty well.
Here's the general shape of the radio mount.
Making the HF brake into a box brake. This was just a thick hunk of steel plate I had lying around so I clamped it as well as I could and bent one of the short sides - this worked well.
And finally, the radio fitting into the mount. This will screw into the dash with an added piece (I'm making this out of bits I had lying around so there are compromises) and the back of the radio sits on the brace for the intercooler so it's going nowhere.
I'll post finished pics later but this shows the general use of the brake. All in all I'm satisfied with the brake for the money.
Dan
I've needed a sheet metal brake for years and have gotten by with the vice, banding pliers, etc. but I decided to go crazy and blow a few bucks at Harbor Freight on one of their bench top models. I caught it on sale with a 20% coupon so it was about $50. You'll need your own clamps so if you don't have a bunch add that to your total. The first thing to note is that it is NOT a box brake. The back-up piece is one solid chunk so you can't add or subtract to bend shorter bends. I'll show how I got around this.
The project is to bend up a mount for an old radio I had to install it in Mutt. The timing guys broadcast on a dedicated FM station and it would be useful to get that signal as I wait in the staging line. I figure I can afford the weight and I bought an inside-the-glass antenna so I won't have an antenna sticking out to mess up my non-existent aero.
Here's the brake as it comes from HF. The bed is essentially 2 pieces of angle iron ground flat (I think they're actually castings but that's the concept) and hinged to give the bending action. These sit on a stand which I lag screwed to a table that I built some time ago. BTW, the bed is 30" long. Note that sitting on top of the work piece is a thick and heavy length of bar which is also ground flat. This takes the place of the clamping mechanism which would clamp down on the work piece in a commercial brake. Here's where the clamps come in - the bar needs to be clamped down to hold the work in place and I found it likes to slide during the bend so you have to champ the heck out of it. After I bent a test piece I worked out the clamping thing and then it worked pretty well.
Here's the general shape of the radio mount.Making the HF brake into a box brake. This was just a thick hunk of steel plate I had lying around so I clamped it as well as I could and bent one of the short sides - this worked well.
And finally, the radio fitting into the mount. This will screw into the dash with an added piece (I'm making this out of bits I had lying around so there are compromises) and the back of the radio sits on the brace for the intercooler so it's going nowhere.
I'll post finished pics later but this shows the general use of the brake. All in all I'm satisfied with the brake for the money.
Dan
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