Bend 10 ga without a press brake?

[Clipse3GT]

Thanks for all the help guys. Very good ideas here. I found a local shop that will make the bends for a reasonable fee so that's what I'll do.

Do it once, do it right... call it day... drink beer. Personally, if I would have half-assed it I would have never been happy with it when I saw it.

 

[Buty]

I'd skip-weld... Just curious how much is a reasonable fee?

$25-$45

 

[CCWKen]

That's a good deal. :thumbsup:

You couldn't buy the metal stock for that price. It's worth it for me to make forms, punches and dies since I use them more than once in fabrication and sheet metal work. I also keep a lot of metal drops from the salvage yard on hand so I can typically put something together quickly at low cost.

 

[Buty]

That's a good deal. :thumbsup:

You couldn't buy the metal stock for that price. It's worth it for me to make forms, punches and dies since I use them more than once in fabrication and sheet metal work. I also keep a lot of metal drops from the salvage yard on hand so I can typically put something together quickly at low cost.

That's just the cost to bend it. Material will be around $50.00??? Humm, now you got me thinking just bring him a drawing and have him quote material and labor. Duh! You guys are awesome.

 

[Renze]

I have bent 3mm sheetmetal shields by hammering it around the edge of my metal workbench, whilst holding it down with a 100x50mm (2 by 4 inch) bar for weight. Its hard to keep it straight, as you stretch the lip over the length by hammering it progressively, so you get a curve in the base plate as well.

In the future im going to make a makeshift press brake kit for my workshop press.... But only for flatbar, not long pieces of sheetmetal because its too hard to keep the die absolutely level over its length. For sheetmetal, a press brake allways wins hands down.

 

[crazyal]

If I'm not too worried about looks I'll just use the arbor plates and my press to clamp the steel. With the lower arbor plate lined up on the edge I want bent I just use a heavy hammer and bent it slightly. Then it's just a case of moving over and repeating until you get the the other end. Once you do just repeat the process slowly bending the steel further and further until you get the angle you want. It's slow but it's also free. I suppose I could cherry the steel so it would bend easier but usually I'm not in a hurry.

 

[ray66v]

What I do with metal like that is, mark the line I want to bend it at, and score it along that line, with a cut off wheel.

Once I cut about half way through, it will easily bend by hand, to the angle I desire.

Then, just weld it up, using a skip weld technique.

I have also used my fel bucket, as a press brake.

 

[dragoneggs]

What I do with metal like that is, mark the line I want to bend it at, and score it along that line, with a cut off wheel.

Once I cut about half way through, it will easily bend by hand, to the angle I desire.

Then, just weld it up, using a skip weld technique.

I have also used my fel bucket, as a press brake.

Hey ray... thanks for a a great bending tip! Will have to remember that. :thumbsup:

 

[Sodo]

Great method. Thanks!!!

 

[sandman2234]

This isn't 60 inches, but it is 3/16 that I bent four times to build a replacement pond scoop bucket. Simply cut out part of the bend leaving enough to keep the metal intact, bend it with a (in my case a come-a-long) something strong enough to bend the little bit of metal left and then weld it back up. In my case the welds didn't need to be ground down for looks, but that is an option.
David from jax