"Jon Danniken" wrote in message
...
I had never heard of these before today, when one of these showed up in the
local Craigslist (no connection to the seller). Found a video on youtube,
and it certainly does look like an interesting tool.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OipSiPSRti8

I don't do enough bending (or have the space) to justify getting one of
these, but this caught my eye. Anyone played with one of these before?

Jon


Magnabends are standard issue in most NSW Gov't high school metal shops.
(Australia)

Brilliant devices. More capacity than you would imagine, and more than I
usually need. Fine for all sheet work, only a problem when I try plate
rather than sheet. Able to do stuff a simple brake cannot do, due to the
placement of the keepers.

There is a safety issue, however, particularly with adolescent kiddies.
They have a two-stage magnet:
1) when you press the "on" button, the magnet comes on gently - just enough
to hold the keeper in place on the job.
2) when you lift the arm up, a microswitch turns on the main clamping
magnet, which is one mother-of-a-magnet. (*tons" of clamping force, it feels
like)

This is good, unless you are silly enough to have your finger under a keeper
when the second switch goes on. Your finger would then be converted to 2D,
and quite useless for picking your nose (or anything else).

Now - you would have to be extraordinarily stupid to actually arrange to
*have* your finger under the keeper when the second switch goes on, but,
....did I mention these are used in our schools? With 11-18 year-olds?

A likely scenario: two people working on the job (not unlikely with long
jobs which are tricky to line up well), and one of them lifts the handle
before the other one clears his finger out of the line of fire.

Hence rule #1: One person at a time, no exceptions.
And rule #2: No fingers under keepers.
And rule #3: See rule #2.

They are great machines. Thoroughly recommended.

Some folk may be under the misapprehension that the clamping force is
applied directly to the ferrous job. No. The metal being bent has nowt to
do with the magnetic clamping, which is *all* applied by the steel keepers.

Oh - and I have made some special-purpose keepers from 1/2" steel for
special projects. Works beautifully.

--
Jeff R.
(from not-flood-affected Sydney)