Do-it-yourself sheet bender: designs, drawings, descriptions

A lot of products are made from sheet metal – gutter systems, shaped parts for roof sheathing covered with corrugated board or metal tiles, ebbs for the basement, corners for profiled sheet structures, etc. All this can be done by a special bending machine – for sheet metal. How to make a sheet bender with your own hands and talk in this article.

Types of sheet benders

There are three types of sheet bending machines:

• Simple manual, metal bending in which occurs when force is applied in a certain place. These units make it possible to bend sheet material in a straight line at any angle – from a few degrees to almost 360 °.
  

  

• Hydraulic machines in which the sheet metal is bent into the shape of a die by impact. The matrix can be straight, it can be curved. This equipment is professional, used in enterprises of medium and large capacity.
• Roller or roller bending machines. In them, the sheet of metal is not bent in a straight line, but rounded off. With this equipment, you can make pipes or other similar products yourself.
  

  

All these devices are classified as sheet bending machines. With your own hands, it is easiest to make an aggregate of the first group, a little more difficult – the third (rollers for sheet metal). Let’s talk about them – from how to make a bending machine with your own hands.

Simple manual

Shaped metal parts cost a lot of money. Even more than corrugated board or metal tiles, therefore it makes sense to make the simplest sheet metal bending machine, and use it to make as many corners, ebbs and other similar parts as you need, and only to fit your size.

If you are worried about the appearance, then in vain. On sale today there is sheet metal not only galvanized, but also painted. In all designs, the sheet is fixed tightly, so that during operation it does not slip on the table, which means that the paint does not wear off or scratch. In places of bending, it is also not damaged. So the appearance of the products will be quite decent. If you try, they will look even better than what they sell on the market.

Powerful sheet bender from Taurus

This bending machine will require a flat surface (table), preferably metal, three corners with a shelf width of at least 45 mm, a metal thickness of at least 3 mm. If you plan to bend long blanks (more than a meter), it is advisable to take wider shelves and thicker metal. You can use tauri, but this is for bending sheets of metal of great thickness and length.

You will also need metal door hinges (two pieces), two large-diameter screws (10-20 mm), “lambs” on them, a spring. You will also need a welding machine – weld the hinges and make holes (or a drill with a drill for metal).

For a home-made sheet bender, a 70 mm tee was used – three pieces of 2,5 m each, two bolts 20 mm in diameter, a small piece of metal 5 mm thick (for cutting jibs), a spring. Here is the procedure:

1. Two brands are folded, cut out from both ends under the notch loops. The edges of the recesses are beveled at 45°. The third brand is cut in the same way, only the depth of the notch is made a little larger – this will be a clamping bar, so it should move freely.
   

   

2. Weld loops on both sides (boil from the face and from the inside).
   

   

3. To one of the taurus (farthest from you, if they are “opened”), two staves are welded on each side. They are needed so that you can install a clamping plate fixing bolt on them.
   

   

4. Weld the nut of the bolt to the bevels.
   

   

5. Install the clamping bar (the third cut-off brand), weld metal plates with a hole in the middle in the upper part. The hole diameter is slightly larger than the bolt diameter. Center the holes so that they are on the same vertical line with the welded nut. Weld.
   

   

6. Cut off the spring so that it raises the clamping bar by 5-7 mm. Pass the bolt into the “ear” of the clamping bar, put on the spring, tighten the nut. After installing the same spring on the other side, the clamping bar rises by itself when unscrewing.
   

   

7. Weld two pieces of reinforcement to the head of the screw – as handles for tightening.
   

   

8. Weld a handle to the movable (closest to you) brand. Everything can work.
   

   

This option is very powerful – you can bend long workpieces and a sheet of solid thickness. Such scales are not always in demand, but you can always reduce them. The video shows a similar design in a smaller size, but with a different clamp bar attachment. By the way, no one bothers to install a spring on the screw too – it will be easier to raise the bar. And this design is interesting in that it is possible to make flanging on it, which usually such devices cannot.

From a corner with a different type of clamping bar

This model is welded from a thick-walled angle, the bed is made like an ordinary construction goat, which is welded from the same angle. The handle is from a luggage trolley. An interesting design of the screws – they are long, the handle is curved in the form of the letter “G”. Easy to unscrew/twist.

This homemade sheet metal bending machine has many features:

• The corners are not located shelves to each other, but are directed in one direction. Because of this, the fastening of the loop is not the most convenient, but it can be done.
  

  

• On the bend of the far (fixed) corner, small stop plates for the clamping bar are welded on both sides.
• A screw nut is welded on the same bar (on both sides).

Now let’s move on to the design of the clamping bar (pictured above). It is also made from a corner, but it is laid on the machine with a bend upwards. In order for the bar not to bend during operation, reinforcement is welded – metal jumpers. Small metal pads are welded on both ends of the bar, in which holes for the bolts are drilled.

Another important point is that the edge that faces the bend is cut off to get a sharper bend angle.

The clamping bar is placed on the machine, a spring is placed in the place where the nut is installed. The handle is put in place. If it does not press the bar, it is raised above the surface due to the elastic force of the spring. In this position, a workpiece is filled under it, exposed, pressed.

Good choice for home use. It will not work to bend thick metal, but tin, galvanization – without difficulty.

Rolls for sheet metal or roll bender

This type of plate bender can have three types of drive:

• manual;
• hydraulic;
• electric.

With their own hands they make rollers for sheet metal with a manual or electric drive. In manual ones they put 3 shafts, in electric ones they can be 3-4, but usually also three.

This machine needs a good solid foundation. It can be a separate bed or some kind of workbench or table. The basis of the design is rolls. They are made the same size. The two lower ones are installed permanently, the upper one is movable, so that in the lower position it is located between the rollers. By changing the distance between the lower rollers and the upper one, the radius of curvature changes.

The machine is set in motion with the help of a handle, which is attached to one of the shafts. Further, the torque is transmitted to other rollers through sprockets. They are selected so that the rotation speed is the same.

If it is supposed to produce pipes on the equipment, the upper roller is made removable on one side, with a quick fixation system. Having rolled the sheet into a pipe, there is no other way to pull it out.