Bending Sheet Aluminium At Home

Simple sheet metal bender using a hand roller clamps and plywood.

Bending sheet aluminium at home.

To make this easier you d start with your 6061 material in the soft t 0 state. Step 1 determine the angle at which you want to brake the metal and mark it on the protractor. Die opening with a relieved profile. Bending a brittle metal beyond its limits could cause the metal to snap and break.

In other words if you re bending 1 8 sheet use a tool with a 1 8 radius to form the inside of the bend. The two m10 bolts in the top are to clamp the sheet between the backstop and the base. When you release the handle the bent material will spring back to 90 not 85. Metal shops have brakes mounted at different angles with automated braking arms however it is possible to bend sheet metal at home without the use of a brake.

For most applications with stainless steel or aluminum you can get away with a zero radius bend on anything under 0 050 thick. As an example if you want to bend 24 gauge sheet metal at a 90 angle the calculation would be. Shaping small pieces with an arbor press. Say you re bending 0 25 in thick 6061 t6 aluminum to a 100 degree external angle 80 degree internal angle.

If you re bending 0 020 thick material use a 0 020 radius. Bending sheet aluminum with a bending brake. You d probably air bend by using a 3 0 in. Monkeys spinning monkeys by kevin macleod.

The idea of adding an angle 5 degrees past 90 is so that you can bend past 90 to allow for the spring back. Tooling aluminum by hand. 0 017453 x 90 x 0 020 0 33 x 0 024 0 0438558984 inch bend allowance keep in mind that some metals are more brittle than others.