8' finger brake for 1/8 aluminum

Im looking at a finger brake for sale near me thats looks identical to this model from baliegh Heavy-Duty Metal Box and Pan Brake for Sale | Baileigh Industrial

The tag on it says 12 gauge and made in Taiwan, so same as the baleigh. Im wanting something that will bend 1/8 aluminum at 8' wide. If that bender does in fact bend 12 gauge at full width then it shouldn't be a problem. Im finding all kinds of conflicting information on the internet. One thing ive been reading is that it probably takes 2 strong men to make the bend. Im not so concerened about that as much as I am that it wont damage the brake or make the bend with a bunch of deflection in the work piece. I have an overhead hoist in my shop I could rig up to lifting the bending arm. Im hoping to hear from someone who has actually done it on a similar brake. I would just drive out with a test piece and give it a try but its about 5 hours away.

Bending 8 ft. of 12 GA in a 1" bottom die requires about 60 tons of pressure. The same bend in 1/8"
aluminum (5052) requires about 30 tons with the same die. It will probably bend it but I wouldn't want to
do a lot of it. When you get into that size material you should really be looking at a power brake...

I ran a 10' manual apron brake but we only did up to 060 alum. As a scrawny 120# kid, I couldn't do it by myself.

Yes, a 12 ga machine will be able to do 1/8" alum bit it depends on proper set up of the machine

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Which aluminum, what temper, what inside radius? Those details can affect the force required by greater than a factor of 3. Many manual brakes have been ruined by people using power to make the bend, so automate with caution.

Your best move is to show up with a sheet of material and your checkbook. If it makes an acceptable bend, buy it. If it is not sprung, the first thing I'd check is the squareness of the bend along the full length. The center always tends to be more open, you must decide if its close enough.

gbent said:

...The center always tends to be more open, you must decide if its close enough...

Click to expand...

I forgot about the springing in the centre--becomes more of a problem the closer you get to the maximum
capacity of the brake. Many people have tried to "get by" with a finger brake when a power brake was what
they really needed...

Do you know the brand of the one you are looking at? Made in Taiwan, and similar to the Baileigh could be a newer Dreis and Krump, which is actually the machine that the Baileigh is a copy of.

If so, or if it's another similar clone (not an issue, as long as it's roughly the same weight - so many of the clones are lighter/less stiff), then yes the machine is capable of doing it.

I've got the 6' Dreis and Krump version, and have done more .125" aluminum than I cared to admit - that tool basically made my living for 6 years until I bought a CNC press brake over the winter.

The reality is, anything over 4' of 5052 aluminum becomes a 2 person job. I've done a full 6' a handful of times, but it truly took my all, and put me at risk for hurting myself. I'm not saying I 'never' used the forklift to lift the beam, but I don't know if I'd go so far as to recommend that. 8' solo simply isn't happening. These numbers are with 5052-H32. 3003 will be substantially easier.

One thing you have to understand is that for these machines to achieve rated capacity, you have to put the front angle bar in the topmost position, meaning that the angle is actually what's bending the metal. That limits you to a minimum 3.5 or 4" reverse bend. The machine is derated (either 2 or 4 gauges, would have to find the manual to check) if you don't have the angle bar in top position). Also, the angle bar tends to give a decreasing radius bend, so depending on your requirements, that could be an issue.

Also understand that these machines are rated with a minimum 1" flange.

If 8' of this is a occasional need, and it's a beefy machine (it'll need to weigh around 3500 pounds), and you're within the flange limitations, it'll work, but you'll still wish you had a press brake.

Thanks. That particular machine weighs about 3200 I think. Anyways I just bought a 7' 40 ton brake for $5000 cdn. So 1000 less then this finger brake. Although by thr time Im all said and done with tooling and a phase converter it will be atleast another 3 grand

Good job getting a real press brake and best of luck getting it all running. Can you talk about your application at all? I saw you had that thread about slip rolling decent sized parts as well.

Thanks. I just started a small welding shop this year. Trying to figure out a few products as I believe that's the way to go. One of the things I wanted to do was built pontoons / pontoon boat kits. That's what the slip roller is for. But a lot of the enquirys Ive been getting is people who want docks. Most of the people who do want a boat don't seem too concerned with speed, or they are looking for huge pontoons to build their own house boats. Ive been telling people who want docks they should use a square pontoon as they would be way simpler to build therefore cheaper. I can also use thicker materials in that case.

http://www.silvercreekwelding.com/images/pontoon2.jpg

http://www.silvercreekwelding.com/images/pontoon4.jpg

Excellent and best of luck to you sir. Now you mention it, why are pontoons hulls round anyway? Couldn't they be V-hulls which would be easy to weld up and have better directional stability? I guess that's a whole other discussion, but I hadn't thought about it from the fabrication point of view.

Thanks. I never thought of it too much I guess but did some reading on it last night. Round probably has the advantage on a large scale manufacturing process. Round gives the most area / volume per length of material. It also leaves you with only one seam to weld. A cylinder has good strength so you can use lighter gauge material..

On a small scale I think square is way easier to build. They also would plane better. A vee bottom takes some of the planing advantage away but would cut waves better. Square also has the advantage of less draft. It would require thicker material or more stiffeners on the other hand.