If you want a cheap bender, Harbor Freight has a number of them that
fit the bill. Bear in mind that there are many different benders.
For example, I have a 48" Harbor Freight brake in a style known as a
pan & box brake as it has metal dies that can be removed/moved to bend
insides of pans. If you don't need to do complex bends, there are
cheap benders out there that will just bend whatever size of metal you
put in - depending on the gauge rating though. For example, my brake
is rated to 16 ga mild steel but I rarely bend anything thicker than
20 ga in it.
You can spend a ton for a production bender - Tennsmiths and other
name brands just go up and up and up. They are beautiful machines but
out of my price range at least. On the other hand, There are small
light duty benders starting at $40 that should make short work of thin
aluminum. Do some digging at Harbor Freight, Enco, US Industrial,
Williams Lo-Buck Tools, and MSC and you'll quickly get an idea of
prices and features.
I've heard of guys putting sheet metal on their bench, angle iron on
top held down with clamps and then bending the metal by hand. If you
are dealing with real thin aluminum, maybe that is an option.
Hope this helps,
--G--
On Sat, 12 Jul 2003 21:59:49 -0400, "William G Darby"
wrote:
Hi All
Yea,, I am looking at my windows and I can see that some are rotting
out. They are 20 years old and are near the end of the road. A complete
replacement is a $14K deal. So,,,, to soften the blow I was thinking of
cutting out the rot, replace it as required and refurbishing the surfaces
with a resin paint and then try my hand at surfacing everything with light
aluminium or vinyl. I think I can permanently bond either to the existing
frames with PL Premium and or calk.
I guess there are a lot of ways to tackle the problem but I am partial
to buying a roll of AL at home depot and bending it up as required. I see
that there is a Bandito bender for $449 I.E.:
http://www.toolscomplete.com/t/Tubin...ke_ 23045.htm
But not being a tin man I am not at all sure that it's what I would need and
also I would like to try my hand at fabricating a bender. Does anyone have a
simple plan for a brake and or any advise on the subject??
Thanks
Bill D