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Comment by Greg Harris on May 7, 2011 at 7:49pm

Well, I made some good progress today. Thought I'd try my hand at building a bending brake. I got all the stuff at Home Depot for around $100 (could've done it cheaper if I scrounged at the scrap yard). I used 4' 5/16" and 1/8" angle iron (both 2x2) along with a 4' piano hinge (without removable hinge pin...made it difficult to rivet). Turned out pretty good. I used "Dave's Cheap Sheet Metal Bending Brake" idea from 601.org. The scrap piece I bent turned out pretty good. I can bend anything up to about 3'9" of any depth, or a full 4' at about 13mm depth (I'll run into the clamping bolts at that point). I need to do a little radius work on the bottom front edge of the top angle. Once I round that a bit, it'll do a perfect 1/8" radius. Now I'm finally ready to order my raw aluminum stock and start building...I'll probable get to work on my forming block while I wait for the aluminum to arrive. I plan on making another brake like this one, only 8' long, when I need to bend longer parts. This one fits in my basement nicely, and was more an exercise in building than the real deal.