DIY mini sheet bender

When performing carpentry and other work, mounting brackets may be required. Sometimes you really need a lot of them, which costs a pretty penny. It is much cheaper to make them yourself using a miniature sheet bender. As a material for making corners on it, you can use tin or aluminum sheet cut into strips.

Materials:

• corner 30x30 mm – 60 cm;
  
• steel strip 70 mm wide – 15 cm;
  
• strong window hinges – 2 pcs.;
  
• bolts, nuts, wings.

Production of sheet bending machine

First you need to make the basic preparations. A piece of 15 cm should be cut from the strip. The corner is cut into 4 pieces of 15 cm each.


The handles of the machine are made from two corners. One hole is made in them. You need to drill in the center of one of the sides at a distance of 12 mm from the edge, as in the photo. Important! The hole in the second corner is made in a mirror image relative to the first workpiece.


The remaining 2 corners are connected by a pair of strong window hinges. To do this, a pair of through holes are made in each of them. You need to get the design as in the photo.


On the corners connected by loops, a hole is made for attaching handles. You need to drill at a distance of 12 mm from the edges, as in the photo.Another hole is made in one of the corners and at the same distance from the second edge.

For a piece of strip you need to make 2 holes at a distance of 12 mm from the edges. It is important that they completely coincide with those on one of the corners with loops. In this case, they need to be shifted 3 mm closer to the long side.


Now you need to put all the parts together. The corners for the handles are placed from below under the workpiece with loops. The side of the machine with one hole is tightened with a short bolt. The two hole half uses long wing bolts. This allows you to grab and press the strip.

How to use

A plate of soft metal or tin of the required length is inserted into a sheet bending machine under the strip. It is set exactly 90° relative to the machine parts. The workpiece is clamped by twisting the wings. After this, by pulling the handles you need to bend the sheet bender. In this case, the plate will bend into the mounting angle. Then all that remains is to make a hole in it and use it for its intended purpose.



The machine is made very quickly, and with a minimum set of tools. The resulting corners can be used in the production of homemade furniture, animal cages, strengthening frame structures, etc.
Original article in English