To all you sheet metal folks,
After looking for a couple months for a 24" pan and box brake made in
America with no luck I bought one made in china. As is typical with
many things made in china it is sort of a kit. The fingers are soft
steel and the ends come to a sharp corner. Should these fingers be at
least case hardened? And, is it advisable to put a radius, say .020 or
so, on the ends which form the inside of the bend? It seems that too
sharp a corner might cause cracking. The capacity of this brake is 20
gauge mild steel.
Thank You,
Eric R Snow

Eric,

Opinions/comments inserted below;


To all you sheet metal folks,
After looking for a couple months for a 24" pan and box brake made in
America with no luck I bought one made in china.

Hate to hear that, but I can understand the reason for buying cheap.

As is typical with many things made in china it is sort of a kit. The
fingers are soft
steel and the ends come to a sharp corner. Should these fingers be at
least case hardened?

Probably wouldn't hurt, but with it only being able to handle 20 ga. mild
steel(as you mention below) you should not be able to hurt them. Just be
careful with a hammer on them, and don't try to bend round or square stock
with it.

And, is it advisable to put a radius, say .020 or so, on the ends which
form the inside of the bend? It seems that too sharp a corner might cause
cracking.

Again, as long as you don't try to exceed the capacity of the machine you
should not have a problem. You can cheat some by moving the top carriage
back the thickness of the material you are working with, but this would
probably only let you get down to 18 ga., maybe 16, but that would be
pushing it. The worst you would do is roll the edge of the fingers,
cracking would only be a problem with the likes of 6061 Alum.

Hope this helps,
Jim C Roberts

On Wed, 2 Jun 2004 23:41:53 -0400, "Jim C Roberts"
jimnthem_AT_comcast_DOT_net wrote:


Eric,

Opinions/comments inserted below;


To all you sheet metal folks,
After looking for a couple months for a 24" pan and box brake made in
America with no luck I bought one made in china.

Hate to hear that, but I can understand the reason for buying cheap.

As is typical with many things made in china it is sort of a kit. The
fingers are soft
steel and the ends come to a sharp corner. Should these fingers be at
least case hardened?

Probably wouldn't hurt, but with it only being able to handle 20 ga. mild
steel(as you mention below) you should not be able to hurt them. Just be
careful with a hammer on them, and don't try to bend round or square stock
with it.

And, is it advisable to put a radius, say .020 or so, on the ends which
form the inside of the bend? It seems that too sharp a corner might cause
cracking.

Again, as long as you don't try to exceed the capacity of the machine you
should not have a problem. You can cheat some by moving the top carriage
back the thickness of the material you are working with, but this would
probably only let you get down to 18 ga., maybe 16, but that would be
pushing it. The worst you would do is roll the edge of the fingers,
cracking would only be a problem with the likes of 6061 Alum.

Hope this helps,
Jim C Roberts

Thanks for the answers Jim. The price though was not the problem. Just
finding one for sale was. I even had to wait for the imported one.
Since I will be bending mostly aluminum the fingers are gonna get that
radius on the end.
Cheers,
Eric

I assume you checked out the 36" from proformer...


http://www.dtsgraphics.com/proformer/




erie

Thanks for the answers Jim. The price though was not the problem. Just
finding one for sale was. I even had to wait for the imported one.
Since I will be bending mostly aluminum the fingers are gonna get that
radius on the end.
Cheers,
Eric