Broken 18 gauge bend-brake, repair or replace?

We have a really old Peck, Stow, and Wilcox bend-brake, I believe it's 18 gauge (or 16 ), and it's broken, weld-repaired, and is starting to crack again. The counterweights are missing, but I can live with that. 2 questions

1) is it worth repairing? I can make a new Beam pivot plate out of 3/4 steel, but it will be considerable time invested once you add up the reverse engineering (measuring), CAD file, material, milling, etc. I like old stuff but really would rather send this one to our institutions public auction for someone who's retired to restore.

2) better to replace ? Ideally I would want a heavier gauge capacity than 18 gauge mild steel. If I could get 16 gauge stainless, or even 18 gauge stainless ability that would be ideal. I don't know what the cross-over since most of these are listed as mild steel. I know our shear can do 10 gauge steel, 16 gauge stainless, and 3/16ths AL. I'm guessing the spread on the benders is less?

there is a Woodward, (probably Asian?) , that claims 12 gauge steel for $3500. free ship.
48" Pan Finger Brake Box Bender Bending 12 Gauge Bending Capacity 3" To 48" | eBay

I have read here that these imports are way over-rated, and just looking at weights that seems to be the case. A 4 foot, 12 gauge steel, 16 gauge stainless machine from Dreis-Krump is 800 pounds heavier and $5400. + I'm guessing $500. freight.
Sheet Metal Bending | Hand Brake Machine | Box and Pan Brake

I don't do a lot of sheet-metal, but when I need it I really need it and I need accuracy, like today bending up a 24" square 5 sided AL box out of 1/16th AL. My local machine dealer is a nice guy, but every time I asked him in the past he says " that Fab stuff never comes up, people just hang onto it". The Dreiss-Krump is obviously the better way to go , but the extra $2500. is a chunk of money for a small shop.

So looking for advice from you sheet-metal guys, need your Wisdom. What do you recommend?

Repair
easy fix make a new one from steel burnout make two and upgrade other side

I agree that is an easy fix. If you want a different brake anyway, check out a Magnabend or clone.

For the repair to crack again you aren't setting the top leaf back far enough. Set the top leaf back twice the material thickness. It is not a set and forget setting unless you set it for twice the maximum thickness ever used.

When you get into material much thinner than rated, you can drop to 1 1/2 times material thickness if you need a really sharp bend. But you leave it that way and along comes someone with 1/8 aluminum and then complains how hard it is to lift the apron as they are binding the brake.

thanks, embarrassed to admit I just learned this adjustment yesterday. On the 4 footer it was actually fine, set to 3/32's, but our small 24 incher was way too tight.
The Magnabend is cool, but the capacity is way too low for me.

I also realized yesterday none of these machines would have helped with the job I have now, 19" x 23" box (5 sides) with the side panels 19" tall in 1/16th AL. None of the shears that I've seen except maybe some industrial-scale monsters, will clear this type of bend. I got them bent up about 40 degree's each side, and now fighting the remaining 50 degrees with C-clamps, bars of metal, and beam clamps. What a nightmare!

For now I will will fix the PeckStoW, save up for the Chicago

draganm said:

thanks, embarrassed to admit I just learned this adjustment yesterday.

Click to expand...

Nothing to be embarrassed about. I've been looking for over 30 years for a book that addresses the usage of box and pan/apron brakes and I haven't found more than a couple of sentences outside of manufacturers literature, and most of that literature also expects you already know everything.

I actually found a manual on-line for our 24" shear, and it talks about set-back by way an eccentric cam in the back, and also clamping pressure. Clamping pressure is another where you have to increase or decrease for material thickness to avoid over-stressing the frame. Then there's Lubrication points, for every 100 guys in the shop there is probably 1 that even thinks about the machines well-being.

https://shoprpmachine.com/content/Roper Whitney/U218_U422.pdf