Mountain-Metalworks
03-22-2017, 09:03 AM
There are mixed reviews of the Harbor Freight metal brake on the forums, but depending on your intentions, it's a GREAT deal.
Background: I do lots of metal fabrication, but mostly Jeep 4-link suspensions, bumpers, etc... in anything from 1/8" to 1/4" thick steel, not sheet metal or aluminum. For my MKIV I'm changing the passenger footbox, firewall forward, lowered trunk, and battery box, all in .050" 6061, and needed a way to do the bending.
I've always wanted a large shear and brake but high quality tools like Baileigh Industrial are just a little too pricey for my blood. Instead I had the Eastwood 20" brake as far as my digital shopping cart as a lower-mid grade option(better than HF but not suitable for serious work on steel). The Eastwood would be a relatively small dent in the wallet, but worth the slightly higher quality I thought. I had done a ton of research on the Harbor Freight 30" and just wasn't sold. But at $58 plus the inevitable 20-30% off HF coupons, I thought what the heck, give it a shot, how bad can it be.... So I picked up the HF brake instead of the Eastwood.
http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=65395&d=1490190954
http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=65394&d=1490190953
OK, first let's be realistic, it's a <$50 metal brake. That being said, as long as you setup each piece correctly with the right offset, it does a fine job. Not perfect, but bending 20" long .050" aluminum it does a pretty good job. The ends closest to clamps are much sharper with the middle flexing a little more and giving it a slightly larger radius. But not visible to the naked eye once installed.
For everything that I'll be doing on this car in .050" aluminum, it was the RIGHT choice in tools. If doing things in .090" I'm not sure it would work well but that's pretty thick and the Eastwood wouldn't do it well either. I already have two upgrades that will make a ton of difference on the HF tool, both are common on the interwebs as ways to improve the brake.
1) Drill/tap the bed so the bend bar can be clamped with bolt-levers instead of your own c-clamps. This improves convenience more than performance.
2) Weld a crossbar across the top of the bend bar to stiffen it both longitudinally and vertically. This will make a TON of difference in getting the same bend radius across the entire length of a long bend.
Does that make it more than a $50 tool in both time and investment? I'd say yes but my time and scrap metal is free so it's still the right tool for simple aluminum work. Even without these upgrades, the HF brake will do a more than acceptable job with simple bends. In the end, if in doubt, it's worth the $50 investment even if you'll never use it after your car is built.
*Public Service Announcement: I'm in no way associated with HF and think lots of their stuff is nothing but cheap Chinese pot-metal junk. I don't buy much from them, especially anything that uses electricity, but every now and then you can get a diamond in the rough.
-TJ
Background: I do lots of metal fabrication, but mostly Jeep 4-link suspensions, bumpers, etc... in anything from 1/8" to 1/4" thick steel, not sheet metal or aluminum. For my MKIV I'm changing the passenger footbox, firewall forward, lowered trunk, and battery box, all in .050" 6061, and needed a way to do the bending.
I've always wanted a large shear and brake but high quality tools like Baileigh Industrial are just a little too pricey for my blood. Instead I had the Eastwood 20" brake as far as my digital shopping cart as a lower-mid grade option(better than HF but not suitable for serious work on steel). The Eastwood would be a relatively small dent in the wallet, but worth the slightly higher quality I thought. I had done a ton of research on the Harbor Freight 30" and just wasn't sold. But at $58 plus the inevitable 20-30% off HF coupons, I thought what the heck, give it a shot, how bad can it be.... So I picked up the HF brake instead of the Eastwood.
http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=65395&d=1490190954
http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=65394&d=1490190953
OK, first let's be realistic, it's a <$50 metal brake. That being said, as long as you setup each piece correctly with the right offset, it does a fine job. Not perfect, but bending 20" long .050" aluminum it does a pretty good job. The ends closest to clamps are much sharper with the middle flexing a little more and giving it a slightly larger radius. But not visible to the naked eye once installed.
For everything that I'll be doing on this car in .050" aluminum, it was the RIGHT choice in tools. If doing things in .090" I'm not sure it would work well but that's pretty thick and the Eastwood wouldn't do it well either. I already have two upgrades that will make a ton of difference on the HF tool, both are common on the interwebs as ways to improve the brake.
1) Drill/tap the bed so the bend bar can be clamped with bolt-levers instead of your own c-clamps. This improves convenience more than performance.
2) Weld a crossbar across the top of the bend bar to stiffen it both longitudinally and vertically. This will make a TON of difference in getting the same bend radius across the entire length of a long bend.
Does that make it more than a $50 tool in both time and investment? I'd say yes but my time and scrap metal is free so it's still the right tool for simple aluminum work. Even without these upgrades, the HF brake will do a more than acceptable job with simple bends. In the end, if in doubt, it's worth the $50 investment even if you'll never use it after your car is built.
*Public Service Announcement: I'm in no way associated with HF and think lots of their stuff is nothing but cheap Chinese pot-metal junk. I don't buy much from them, especially anything that uses electricity, but every now and then you can get a diamond in the rough.
-TJ