Modifying Princess Auto sheet metal brake

[Jordan Baker]

I thought id post these pictures and some descriptions in their own thread.

I picked up one of the floor mount 36" sheet metal brakes from Princess Auto the other month when they had them on sale. Out of the box its not a bad tool but it is geared more to 18ga and under.

This brake can best be described as a slightly beefier cousin to the Harbor Freight one.

After doing some searches online I found a few modifications that are simple to do and have a huge payoff in the capability of what you can bend.

The first one I did was to weld some 1/4" thick angle iron along the entire front of the bending plate. The bending plate is pretty strong and comes already braced for a downward load. However there is nothing to prevent it bending to the side. I welded the angle on so the outside corner is flush with the top edge of the bending plate. This not only provides a larger bending surface but also substantially increased the resistance to it bending.



The last modification Ive made has been what you see in the picture below. Basically the top clamping fixture is only secured with two bolts. One on each end. You can just see the head on it slightly left of centre. This is fine for an up and down force but when bending the clamp is initially being forced to the rear. The two bolts simply cant provide enough clamping power to hold anything greater then short pieces of 18ga. The solution as seen in the picture is to make an adjustable stop.



That's all the modifications I have done so far. Although I do have a few more planned. First up would be longer handles for the bending plate to get more leverage. Im also looking at making some counter balance weights. The other one I had to jimmy up today was adding weight to the stand to keep the whole thing from moving around while bending. Thankfully I had two 50lbs bags of blasting grit I could use. They helped tremendously when bending the full 36".

[Bob Carriere]

Thanks for the pictures.....

You may already be aware BUT.......HOT rolled stock is easier than the stiffer COLD rolled.......

I can handle up to 16 gauge on my 36 inch pan box.....wish it was 48 inches.......size does matter@@@@@

Nice job on the tail gate...... I may go the same route and get material pre cut and pre bent pon the gargo wide pieces.

Cheers

[Jordan Baker]

I wish I had a box pan brake. I just had the store cut the pieces. I did all the bending and I found it went pretty quickly.

[Wayne Hingley]

Thanks for this info Jordan!

[Bob Carriere]

Although rated at 20 gauge we have managed 18 and 16 in shorter pieces sometimes we resort to heating up the sheet metal and rushing to the brake to make the bend...... with further light tweaking on the edge of the 5/8 work tableslight.

I have read ......BUT not tried yet..... that a few strips of thin fine grit sand paper between the flat locking jaws of the brake would keep the thicker sheet metal from creaping forward when bending.

My wish would be for a 12 gauge pan box in 80 inches ........ hard to justify for just one cargo box....

Cheers

[Bob Carriere]

Although rated at 20 gauge we have managed 18 and 16 in shorter pieces sometimes we resort to heating up the sheet metal and rushing to the brake to make the bend...... with further light tweaking on the edge of the 5/8 work tableslight.


I have read ......BUT not tried yet..... that a few strips of thin fine grit sand paper between the flat locking jaws of the brake would keep the thicker sheet metal from creaping forward when bending.

My wish would be for a 12 gauge pan box in 80 inches ........ hard to justify for just one cargo box....

I would encourage others with bending tricks and experience to chim in on this thread.

Bob C

Cheers