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Metal shaping

T

TBJ

Gawd
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Joined
Oct 9, 2002
Messages
827
Where can I get (what type of stores) tools that shape metal?
 
i ordered probably one of the cheapest tools from harbor freight tools..
that was like 2 weeks ago..
and it barely got here today.Im from texas by the way and they are in Cali., so if your nearby ..
They use their own courier service to send parts out to UPS, then UPS takes over.
i ordered their 18 inch bending brake.. im not definitely 100% impressed by it. but what can you say for 30 bucks. I mean if you have the time to wait for 14 + days
I figure its just easier and faster to buy stuff from your own town. Although i was lookin forward to buying a bigger bending brake and a slip roll, I think im just gonna get it here in town...hope anything helps.. lettme know if yall find somewhere better.
 
Crazystick said:
i ordered their 18 inch bending brake.. im not definitely 100% impressed by it. but what can you say for 30 bucks.
Click to expand...

I got a 30" brake from them .. Not the best thing in the world, but it will work and I dont think I want to spend the money on a high quality brake since I wont use it much :)

Metal shaping .. well what exactly do you mean? Hell sometimes I use my hands to shape metal :)
 
Put it this way, i was trying to bend metal for homeade pci slots, but I don't have tools to make 90 degree angles.
 
Harbor freight is a great place to start for cheaper tools, the basics, these won't last you a lifetime but they'll get the job done for a few years. Other places would be hardware stores, like home depot, lowes, menards etc... these places will carry generic and name brand tools. Here you'll also find things for professional duct hangers, tin snips, small breaks, power tools like jigsaws and hole saws, etc.. Other places to look would be jewelry supply catalogs, Rio Grande has a nice selection but you have to order their catalog, $10, but you get a $10 off coupon with the catalog. You can find all kinds of hammers to shape metal, like rawhide mallets, plastic and rubber tipped hammers, depending on your budget you can also get a hydraulic press that you can die form vessels, if you're not into hand pounding them. You'll also find old school metal forming stakes, for hand forming sheets. Still other places are car body and paint stores, you can find metal working hammers and blocks that with enough practice you can expand and shrink sheet metal at will. You can also find other larger tools like english wheels in auto body catalogs, large floor breaks, rolling mills. you just have to start looking at careers where they use and shape metal everyday and ask where they get their tools from.

It all depends on what kind of metal shaping you want to do.


edit: sorry was typing while you posted. If you just want to make small bends in sheet, head to home depot, or lowes and go into the ducting section and find some small breaks. They use these for custom making ducts. If you can't find any stop a worker and tell them what you want to do.
 
Ah ... then you want a bending brake. Harbor freight has the cheapest brakes I have seen. here is their 18" brake. The one issue is if you need to make 2+ bends within a short distance of another.

The real cheap option is to just use a hammer, some steel bars and a vise/clamps. It you are carefull you can get a decent bend like this, but it will not be perfect and really only works well for small widths.
 
by the way .. since i just got that 18" bending brake.. lmao.. how tha f do i use it..
instructions are gAy.. and plus i dont really have the time to play with it
it came with what is called Pressing Plate..
my question is how do you secure it to the Supporting Plate. with very small c clamps? wtf
i will try and post a pick so you guys can see example of a bad .. or at least not so good metal shaping supplier..but hey .. why waste 30 bucks.. lol

but as mentioned.. best thing to do is head down to a mechanical / automotive shop and figure out where they get some of their stuff from...
 
Ok here's your instructions.

Take your piece of metal and line up the line you want to bend to the line in the middle of the bending brake. Place the pressing plate and put the edge of it directly on the line you wish to cut. So basically all 3 of your lines (the edge of the pressing plate, the line you draw on your metal piece, and the line on the bending brake) all line up. Use MULTIPLE c-clamps to clamp the pressing plate to the bending brake so your piece isn't going anywhere when you bend it. Once it is super secure, grab the arms of the bending brake and bend away.


edit: the thicker the piece, the harder it is to hold in place.
edit2: the bend isn't as nice in the center as it is towards the ends of the bending brake if you have a cheapy bending brake.
 
Qtip42 said:
edit2: the bend isn't as nice in the center as it is towards the ends of the bending brake if you have a cheapy bending brake.
Click to expand...

The 30" brake has an issue with this. The gap in the center can get up to 1/16th an inch or more.. It was expected, but oh well.
 
Would this bending brake work only to make 90 degree bends? I want to curve some aluminum to make my next case's edges rounded like a Lian Li V1000's front and didn't know what tool to pick up to accomplish this.

Thanks for any suggestions... sorry if this is a bit off topic
 
JesDer said:
The 30" brake has an issue with this. The gap in the center can get up to 1/16th an inch or more.. It was expected, but oh well.
Click to expand...
Dang.... glad to learn this as I'm needing a 30" brake to do what I want to do....

Wonder if anyone's modded a brake to fix this issue? :D
 
Actually I have been thinking about picking up some steel to try and lessen the problem. Those brakes are basicly 2 lengths of L shaped steel. Adding in some extra support should help at least a little.
 
JesDer said:
Actually I have been thinking about picking up some steel to try and lessen the problem. Those brakes are basicly 2 lengths of L shaped steel. Adding in some extra support should help at least a little.
Click to expand...
Hmm- so just run another L-beam down the length? It shouldn't be too hard to drill holes to bolt a reinforcement in but I'm wondering if welding might be a better solution.

I haven't picked up a brake yet (don't need it just yet) but I might go ahead and get it now just so I can see if I can't spot a solution. I need the brake to bend pieces that will be the 'skin' of my modded case, so any screwups on the brake's part will be glaringly obvious and hard to cover up.....
 
lamarth said:
Hmm- so just run another L-beam down the length? It shouldn't be too hard to drill holes to bolt a reinforcement in but I'm wondering if welding might be a better solution.
Click to expand...

I was thinking more like adding two supports running from the center to each end at as much of an angle as possible. To be effective you would need to weld it. You dont want to mess up the plain used to bend the metal, so you would have to bolt the support to the other side of the channel which I do not think would work as well.

I really have not used it much yet. Just did some tests with scrap steel I had laying around.
 
JesDer said:
I really have not used it much yet. Just did some tests with scrap steel I had laying around.
Click to expand...
Hmm... so this was with steel you tried it out with? I'm going to be using aluminum, so maybe in its 'stock' form the brake won't have as much trouble with aluminum. If you have any scrap aluminum around I'd be interested in hearing how it handles that.
 
mj007 said:
Would this bending brake work only to make 90 degree bends? I want to curve some aluminum to make my next case's edges rounded like a Lian Li V1000's front and didn't know what tool to pick up to accomplish this.

Thanks for any suggestions... sorry if this is a bit off topic
Click to expand...

hmmm that's a tough one, why not just sand the edges smooth? I'm not a machinist nor do I know anything about shaping. I just learn as i go :D You could always bend it as much as you can with the brake and then use a mallet the rest of the way.
 
back to topic..
Wholesale tools . I dont know if anyone has got something off of them. They are a bit obscure, but they seem to have offices in Florida, Massachusetts, N Carolina, Indiana, Oklahoma, Texas, Michigan. I am in Houston, so i think ima go check out their store sometime this week but they might close when i get off of work. So anyways. I myself in in seach of metal shaping tools. I hope you have better luck.. happy searching.

):-|
 
yeah. i thought so but thought some pieces were missing. thanks anyways qtip
clamps + bender
28050055.jpg
 
by the way. would anyone know where to buy industrial hammers. Maybe one a smaller scale than the ones seen on like monster garage or hot rod building shows..
 
I guess I just take it for granted that my family owns a sign shop. :) I do all my metal work there after hours or on the weekend. Saves me from having to purchase the specialty tools like a break, or a shear.

ok... just my $0.02... :cool:

 
for the love of power tool gods.. where do you buy industrial hammers..
maybe even something like a air hammer that works off a compressor
 
I'm Canadian by the way, good advice though, I just need a steel plated work bench, vise grips, clamps and a bench vise :)
 
Crazystick said:
for the love of power tool gods.. where do you buy industrial hammers..
maybe even something like a air hammer that works off a compressor
Click to expand...


the small ones are called Planishing Hammers. they range in price from $750 to over $7500.
cheap planishing hammer

powert hammers, the big ones, are getting harder to come by. depending on size (5 lbs to 50,000 lbs), condition, and manufacture, you can spent from $1200-$150,000.

list of power hammer manufactures
 
thanks for the tip Now i at least know the name. time for more research. But i think ima go with the cheaper ones. although i hate going that route because usually its less quality. Has anyone bought one that works great?
 
I've got a cheapy metal brake and it works OK for me..... I'll often score the metal with my roto-zip, but you can use other methods..... in all honesty, this does weaken the metal slightly, but this has never really been a factor.

this also "coaxes" the metal to bend along that line....

as for tools, I also recommend harbor freight.... especially if you have one locally, like I do. Some of their stuff is surprisingly well made..... some is very poorly made. If you can look at stuff in advance it's nice. Also, sometimes their prices are so low that as long as they last the warranty length... you've gotten your money's worth. Harbor Freight has a pretty good return policy from what I've seen at mine.

If you're looking more upscale..... Eastwood has a ton of metal working tools, but they're not cheap. If you've got the money they have nearly anything you'd probably need.

Finally.... if you have some basic tools and are pretty good with them, you can do a lot without fancy tools.... it often just takes longer. You can make wooden forms to shape metal over..... bending jigs.... lotsa stuff like this.

Good luck, and make sure to post the results here!

-Hex..
 
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