Charles A. Sherwood wrote:

I have been looking at diacro manual benders.
THey come in sizes 1,1A,2,3,4

These benders are expensive new and even seem to fetch a good price on ebay.
It would be nice to have one, but its hard to justify the price for
something I would not use very often.

Anybody ever make a simple version of one? They look simple enough.
See diacro.com under manual benders for pics if you are not familar with them.

Micro mark sells something the looks similar that might be a good
starting point.


I have a Chicago 38" finger brake. It weighs about 400 Lbs. The
construction is
absolutely incredible, the brake beam is a 2x4 of solid steel welded to
a bar.
I had to take it apart to get it out of my car, and it took a couple of
strong guys to
lift the beam back into place! What is amazing is this thing, for all
the MASSIVE
construction, still has trouble bending some pretty light pieces of
aluminum and
really thin steel! Throwing a couple of pieces of light steel angle
together is
NOT going to make much of a tool.

Jon

I have been looking at diacro manual benders.
THey come in sizes 1,1A,2,3,4

These benders are expensive new and even seem to fetch a good price on ebay.
It would be nice to have one, but its hard to justify the price for
something I would not use very often.

Anybody ever make a simple version of one? They look simple enough.
See diacro.com under manual benders for pics if you are not familar with them.

Micro mark sells something the looks similar that might be a good
starting point.

chuck

In article ,
Jon Elson wrote:


Charles A. Sherwood wrote:

I have been looking at diacro manual benders.
THey come in sizes 1,1A,2,3,4

These benders are expensive new and even seem to fetch a good price on ebay.
It would be nice to have one, but its hard to justify the price for
something I would not use very often.

Anybody ever make a simple version of one? They look simple enough.
See diacro.com under manual benders for pics if you are not familar with them.

[ ... ]

I have a Chicago 38" finger brake. It weighs about 400 Lbs. The
construction is absolutely incredible, the brake beam is a 2x4 of solid
steel welded to a bar. I had to take it apart to get it out of my car,
and it took a couple of strong guys to lift the beam back into place!
What is amazing is this thing, for all the MASSIVE construction, still
has trouble bending some pretty light pieces of aluminum and really thin
steel! Throwing a couple of pieces of light steel angle together is NOT
going to make much of a tool.

Just for comparison, I have a DiAcro 24" brake, which weighs 325
pounds (according to the web page, but it seems to weigh more), and the
36" one weighs in at 470 pounds.

There is a *lot* of cast iron in this thing, and a lot of steel
as well. The moving part (which accomplishes the bends) is a 1/2" steel
plate about nine or ten inches from edge to edge (and, of course, 24"
wide). It is applied edge-on to the workpiece -- the maximum strength
orientation. There is also a length of angle-iron bolted to the working
edge, to keep it from bending sideways as the load is applied.

The DiAcro uses large diameter needle roller bearings in several
locations. Something like 1-1/2" diameter in one place, with needles
probably 0.100" diameter at a guess. It is downstairs, and it has been
a while since I partially disassembled it to get it up onto the
workbench.

So -- yes, you *could* build your own, but it would help to have
an iron foundry to make the various rather massive parts.

Good Luck,
DoN.
--
Email: | Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564
(too) near Washington D.C. | http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---

Have you looked at these?

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=44094

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=38470

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=31980

Best Regards,
Keith Marshall


"I'm not grown up enough to be so old!"


"Charles A. Sherwood" wrote in message
...
I have been looking at diacro manual benders.
THey come in sizes 1,1A,2,3,4

These benders are expensive new and even seem to fetch a good price on
ebay.
It would be nice to have one, but its hard to justify the price for
something I would not use very often.

Anybody ever make a simple version of one? They look simple enough.
See diacro.com under manual benders for pics if you are not familar with
them.

Micro mark sells something the looks similar that might be a good
starting point.

chuck

http://www.metalworking.com/dropbox/_1998_retired_files
See brake1.txt and the associated jpgs.
JR
Dweller in the cellar

Charles A. Sherwood wrote:

I have been looking at diacro manual benders.
THey come in sizes 1,1A,2,3,4

These benders are expensive new and even seem to fetch a good price on ebay.
It would be nice to have one, but its hard to justify the price for
something I would not use very often.

Anybody ever make a simple version of one? They look simple enough.
See diacro.com under manual benders for pics if you are not familar with them.

Micro mark sells something the looks similar that might be a good
starting point.

chuck


--
--------------------------------------------------------------
Home Page: http://www.seanet.com/~jasonrnorth
If you're not the lead dog, the view never changes
Doubt yourself, and the real world will eat you alive
The world doesn't revolve around you, it revolves around me
No skeletons in the closet; just decomposing corpses
--------------------------------------------------------------
Dependence is Vulnerability:
--------------------------------------------------------------
"Open the Pod Bay Doors please, Hal"
"I'm sorry, Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that.."

I have been looking at diacro manual benders.
THey come in sizes 1,1A,2,3,4

I have a Chicago 38" finger brake. It weighs about 400 Lbs. The
construction is absolutely incredible,

Throwing a couple of pieces of light steel angle together is
NOT going to make much of a tool.


These benders are NOT brakes.