Hello, I see what looks like a nice 90 degree break in the metal shop, but I have no idea how to use it. Is there someone that could help me bend a piece of aluminum?
I was looking at the press again after you left and seems you just crank the jack until it hits the center piece on the new 90degree bender, anyone correct me if I’m wrong as I haven’t used it myself, but I also noticed that 90degree bend piece has a bit of a curve that I would think would be similar to the curve you’d get bending it on a table, anyone know how he’d get a sharper angle than that?
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Is this the Swag off road bender? If so the fingers have a compromise. The bender can bend 3/8" steel for a small width. The fingers are kind of setup for that. I have considered making essentially a cap to make the flat area smaller to decrease the bend radius for thinner stuff.
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The swag hasn’t really been set up yet. It can bend like it is, but nowhere near it’s potential. I’ll be at the shop this afternoon and put some time in on it if anyone wants to show up. There are some really good YouTube videos to learn more. Some by Swag, some better ones by others.
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I popped in last night and set up the swag in the press. I didn’t want to use the air compressor (that bend in the press above the jack makes my palms sweat), so I found a piece of scrap steel to pump the jack manually. It did a fine job of making a 90, but I wasn’t paying close enough attention and my piece slipped and bent in the wrong spot. I had some cutouts in it and they were where the piece decided to bend. I hammered the piece flat and tried again, but couldn’t overcome the piece wanting to bend in the same place. Since the aluminum is now all hammered, I decided to just bend it in a vise. This is a protootype, and I think doing this has given me a good sense of what I’d need to consider for production, so… success! Thanks all
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It Is capable of bending mild steel in the following length and thickness.
19" = Full bending width of the bottom die on anything 3/16" or thinner.
15" in 1/4"
13" in 5/16"
11" in 3/8"
6" in 1/2"
3" in 5/8"