Vince D. wrote:
"ATP" wrote in message
...
William G Darby wrote:
I want to thank ATP and Mark (on the side) This Tapco Port-O-Bender
is quite the rig. I would love to work with one but they do cost a
lot and I have no plans that could justify owning one.
I guess it's back to the drawing board. Perhaps there are some
common shape components in al or vinyl that are avail. ??

Thanks
Bill D

They're available, but usually expensive. I'm sure you could make an
aluminum trim brake, but if you make it with steel rust marking of
the trim is going to be a problem. I think you could find a used
trim brake for $300 with some patience, then resell it on ebay when
you're done. The simple "windy City" model was only about $700 new
when I bought it, although that was a while back.

William,
We have a couple of those brakes at work for small jobs. They work
good and they would be kind of overkill for trim work, but would work.
I would think one of those 30" cheapie brakes that Habor Freight sells
would do the job and there under $100.00. Has far as marring the
flashing,what we do at work if we have to bend some colored aluminum
is put duct tape on the bed, bending leaf, and clamping leaf. Does the
trick everytime. For many years, I've bent sheet metal at home between
two pieces of 2" angle iron clamped with c-clamps. A soft faced hammer
is used to complete the bends. If you take you time you can get some
good bends.
Vince

The typical bend when you're capping trim is between 30" and 80". If you
don't get everything perfect it looks like hell and you might as well put
away your tools. Plus, the job is a PITA with a 10 1/2' brake. I can't
imagine doing a whole house with a 30" brake. At that point, just do it with
wood and paint it, which would look better anyway, although require more
maintenance. Or, heaven forbid, hire someone. BTW, to answer an earlier
question, IIRC, Fypon makes exterior trim profiles in plastic, and Wolverine
makes a lot of accessories, and the stuff looks pretty good. There is also a
new type of supposedly exterior MDF but I could not find a dealer for it, it
looks like an interesting alternative for creating some interesting exterior
trim.