hi looking for a good small metal brake anybody can reccomend a good one for train repairs?

Harbor Freight keeps this small 18” brake on the shelf. I’ve seen it there before....I have one similar, infact it’s probably the exact same one....perfect for the small kinda jobs we do....I keep this little guy in the repair shop so it stays nice.......Pat

I just use my bench vice, what sort of brackets are you building that you need a tool like this?

heat sink brackets for mth ps32 mounting when mth don't have what I need or can't wait for 2 months for parts! plus any other special hardware I might need quickly for upgrades!

Alan 

Gee, I just take some 1/16" aluminum sheet and cut a 1" strip.  I then put it in the vise and bend it to suit.  No waiting for months, and I certainly don't need a sheet metal brake to make those!  I've made dozens of heatsinks as well as mounting brackets for smoke units, and custom coupler mounts that way.

IMO, buying a sheet metal brake for making stuff the size of a heatsink is like killing flies with a sledgehammer.

I use mine for a host of jobs....I fab my own tender frames, car frames, whatever....it’s handy for nice, clean, long bends/ folds. I had no idea what Alan had in mind....but yes, a couple strips of steel, or aluminum in a vise, instant small brake.......Pat

If you're building car frames, the brake makes total sense.  However, for hacking out an aluminum heatsink, it would seem to be overkill.

I am looking for one as well.  Actually for making tinplate train parts.  I looked at the one at harbor freight and don't like it.  There doesn't seem to be any built in method for clamping the working piece.  My wife knows I want one and tells me there are some on amazon she is looking at for Christmas for me.  I will post back to here if I see something I like.

John Z.

John how do bend the fold over around the rectifier full wave bridge and not have the top aluminum crack when you fold it over 180 degrees in your vise ? do you preheat the aluminum ?

First off, you're not going to fold aluminum 180 on a sheet metal brake in any case.

I don't fold it 180, I just put the aluminum on one side.  I put a large flat washer on the other side to spread the load and then a nut.  So, I just have to bend it in an L shape and then another fold on the bottom for the mounting screw.

jhz563 posted:

I am looking for one as well.  Actually for making tinplate train parts.  I looked at the one at harbor freight and don't like it.  There doesn't seem to be any built in method for clamping the working piece.  My wife knows I want one and tells me there are some on amazon she is looking at for Christmas for me.  I will post back to here if I see something I like.

 

John Z.

John, you’re quite right, the small brakes there is no method to clamp the work piece to do a fold. When I’m making let’s say a tender frame, and I want reinforcement bends along the sides to keep the tender frame from flexing, I keep the tiny pairs of duck bill vise grips ( they have no teeth) clamped on till I begin the fold.....once the fold is committed, the piece ain’t goin nowhere, I pop off the vise grips, and complete the motion...I get exactly what your mentioning and it was a learning curve to adapt to the slide that was happening........Pat

This pair of duck bills worked for the small project I had. Parts were etched, at the bend lines.   Mullet River caboose kit. 

For a "real" sheet metal brake keep an eye out for your local auctions. I have one like the one in Pat's pic but rarely use it. Mostly I use my smooth jaw machine vise.

A useful alternative is a drill press vise with smooth parallel jaws or you can just use machinist parallels in a bench vise. Harbor Freight has some budget versions that would work fine for what you are doing.

Pete

John would you put a picture on here of one you made? thanks!

any help would be appreciated ! 

The duck bills are useful, I actually have a set of those somewhere around here.  I also have a smooth jaw machine vise that would work well.

Alan, I don't have any pictures right now, they're all shipped out.  It's just a couple of bends in a piece of aluminum.

thanks john for fast shipping!

Alan

Grizzly Industrial has a few small brakes -- I don't own one but have many other of their products.

https://www.grizzly.com/search?q=(categoryid:520014)

Micro-Mark has a few as well.

https://www.micromark.com/search?keywords=brake

Here you go Alan.  This is the SW-1500, had to mount the board upside down to make it fit and give connector clearance.  The heatsink was simply bolted to existing threaded holes, one 90 degree bend and a few holes.  On the inside of the bridge there's a large flat washer and a nut holding the heatsink on.

It doesn't need to get any more complicated than this to do the job.  Not something you need to overthink.

thanks John now I understand no need to wrap around rectifier definitely t he better way to go!

hope you have a very nice thanksgiving dinner and holiday!

Alan