Bar folder questions
 

Hello friends, I'm needing a short sharp right angle bend in some 18"
wide sheetmetal and bought an old Roper Whitney bar folder to do the
job.
The table is adjustable for thickness (?) and the backgage is
adjustable to about 1/2".
The problem I have is the sharpest bend I get is a radius since the
mechanisms seem to have a spring-like quality rather than the firm
action of a box or pan brake which I don't have an access to presently.
Question: I've seen bar folders advertised as tools for making cleats
and seams so are they suited for accurate straight bends?
I can't find information on their use anywhere including my vast
library resourse archives.
Thanks in advance for any advise or links
Honest Al Babin
(Babin & Sohns, ISO 9000 Complaint job shop, Machine rebuilting, repair
and brush coating, Bristling, Conn)

In article .com,
Honest A Babin wrote:

Hello friends, I'm needing a short sharp right angle bend in some 18"
wide sheetmetal and bought an old Roper Whitney bar folder to do the
job.
The table is adjustable for thickness (?) and the backgage is
adjustable to about 1/2".
The problem I have is the sharpest bend I get is a radius since the
mechanisms seem to have a spring-like quality rather than the firm
action of a box or pan brake which I don't have an access to presently.
Question: I've seen bar folders advertised as tools for making cleats
and seams so are they suited for accurate straight bends?
I can't find information on their use anywhere including my vast
library resourse archives.
Thanks in advance for any advise or links
Honest Al Babin
(Babin & Sohns, ISO 9000 Complaint job shop, Machine rebuilting, repair
and brush coating, Bristling, Conn)



Bar folders are intended for very thin steel.
Most max out on 22-24 ga steel.

You can bend the edge as is and then hammer it flat.

You need to add a copy of "Sheet Metal Shop Practice", by Leo Meyer,
ATP publications, to your "vast archives".
It has a whole section on how to use and adjust a bar folder.
It says, just like Ernie does, that a bar folder maxes out at 22 ga
sheet. But with 22 ga, you can adjust the wing, or folding bar, up or
down to make a sharper or more rounded bend. Most shops in the old days
had a brake and a bar folder, and mostly used the bar folder for things
like cleats, where you WANT a rounded edge.
You would use the brake for sharper corners, or, if you wanted really
radiused corners, you use a special die on a finger brake.

wrote:
You need to add a copy of "Sheet Metal Shop Practice", by Leo Meyer,
ATP publications, to your "vast archives".
It has a whole section on how to use and adjust a bar folder.
It says, just like Ernie does, that a bar folder maxes out at 22 ga
sheet. But with 22 ga, you can adjust the wing, or folding bar, up or
down to make a sharper or more rounded bend. Most shops in the old
days
had a brake and a bar folder, and mostly used the bar folder for
things
like cleats, where you WANT a rounded edge.
You would use the brake for sharper corners, or, if you wanted really
radiused corners, you use a special die on a finger brake.

Very interesting, thanks everyone for the help.
A Babin
(ISO 9000 comlaint job shop, Bristling, Conn)