A lot of you occasional metalworking habitancy out there want to know how to make your own sheet metal bender. That is understandable, if you only need a metal bender on a rare chance - or maybe if you are the type of man that has to build everything themselves. If you belong to the latter, I can tell you that making your own bending machine will probably not be worth it in terms of the hours you are going to put into it, as a commercially available sheet metal bending brake assuredly isn't very expensive - a consolidate of hundred dollars buys you a very nice machine indeed, and they can be had economy still.
But alright, you have made up your mind to build a sheet metal brake yourself, so let us look at what goes into a job like that. The sensible thing is to start by looking at how a market metal bending machine works, so try to arrange to go and look at one in person. Bring a digital camera and take loads of pictures for hereafter reference, and if you can, try to get the owner to let you use it a few times, bend some metal and just ordinarily get a feel for how it should be. After this, go home and set up the drawing board - you are going to be making a bunch of sketches now. The only way to try and avoid to make something that does not work first time, is to assuredly plan it down to the smallest detail. Start by making a list of features that you want your machine to have.
Drill Press
- How large pieces of sheet metal do you want to bend? And what is the desired maximum thickness of material? This will have an impact on the size of the machine, the heaviness of the materials needed, and also on the price of course.
- How easy should it be to set up and use? And how fast? What I mean is, will you be using it often enough that it should be ready to go at any time, or could you make do with something that needed a diminutive assembly before each metal bending session?
- What can you assuredly build with the tools, space and money you have? Do you have way to welding equipment, or will you have to assemble your creation using only bolts? How will you make sure the clamping leaf, bending leaf and bed are flat enough? Can you afford to buy a few bars of heavy steel and have them ground flat in a machine shop, or will you have to think of something else?
As you can see, there is a lot to think about. How far you go, will depend on what you expect to get out of it, in terms of the capability of the parts you can make with your complete sheet metal brake, so if you need some even close to precision, make sure your machine is made to tight specs. I have to say, that the closer to expert capability you wan to get, the more it makes sense to just go out and buy one instead! So before taking on a challenge like this, you should probably first ask yourself what is more foremost to you - the corollary or the process?
Make Your Own Sheet Metal Bender