How do I bend this?

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HorribleFixer

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Hello,

I am currently trying to bend a piece of 1/4" aluminum but the issue is that it is a super tight bend and I cannot get it right. I have gone through about 4 pieces of aluminum and am getting down to the last of it as I have to make 2 similar pieces.

This is what I am trying to bend out but the issue is that I cannot get the step of 1/4-1/2 inch like I want. It keeps coming out at like 7/8". I don't have the tools necessary to do it correctly so I am just using a hammer and a large metal surface to bend it out. I also think that if I were to score the aluminum with a metabo, it would weaken the metal so I didn't want to go that route. If anyone has an idea on how to do this, it would be appreciated.

bend.jpg
 
You don’t say how long the piece is. If it’s 10 foot long I would suggest a sheet metal shop with a press brake. If it’s an inch or two maybe it could be done at home. When bending most things you need to have an inside radius equal to the material thickness. The type of aluminum you use will have a lot to do with it also. The grade should be 2021 not something like 6061 T6 as that will crack most likely.
I would make a form out of hard wood and use other hard wood as a backer block. And make the first bend. Then clamp it all up again with a piece to hammer it over to give you the ½ dim.
 
there is no way you're going to bend 1/4 inch aluminum to that tight of radius. It will crack at the outer radius every time. like someone said, you need to weld it
 
bud16415 said:
You don’t say how long the piece is. If it’s 10 foot long I would suggest a sheet metal shop with a press brake. If it’s an inch or two maybe it could be done at home. When bending most things you need to have an inside radius equal to the material thickness. The type of aluminum you use will have a lot to do with it also. The grade should be 2021 not something like 6061 T6 as that will crack most likely.
I would make a form out of hard wood and use other hard wood as a backer block. And make the first bend. Then clamp it all up again with a piece to hammer it over to give you the ½ dim.
Click to expand...

The piece I have and have been working off of is about a 4 foot piece and I think I depicted that I cut off about a 7 inch piece and try and bend it. I was hoping to not have to weld this because I am not a welder. The issue is that every time I make the first bend, when I go to make the second one, the first one twists or bends also. The width of the piece is about an inch and a half.

CallMeVilla said:
You do not say how wide your stock is .... if it is not a big sheet, make your own simple break. Here is how one guy did it ...

http://www.instructables.com/id/Inexpensive-Soft-Metal-Bending-Tool/
Click to expand...

I will probably be making one of these in the future but I was hoping to avoid it for this simple project. I saw some people with some pretty impressive setups on how they bend metal.

elbo said:
there is no way you're going to bend 1/4 inch aluminum to that tight of radius. It will crack at the outer radius every time. like someone said, you need to weld it
Click to expand...

I got it down to about a 7/8th step between the 90's. I did get some pieces that cracked after bending it multiple times and I had to start over.

joecaption said:
What's this for, and why so thick?
Click to expand...

I am making a bracket that needs to be fairly solid and nothing that will be moving back and forth.

I am going to retry this again tonight and see how it goes. I will update with progress and hopefully pictures later if not tomorrow. I think I have a general idea with everyones help though. It sparked a few ideas that will help.
 
You make the second bend first and then lay the piece on a board and put another board on top and screw the two boards together. Then you get a thin board and shove it tight to the angle and screw it to the bottom board. Now it is all fixed and can’t move and you can hammer the first bend down. Take out all the screws and you are done.
 
Got it all bent. I was just looking around and came up with how to do it. I bent it at the 2nd bend and made a 90, then attached a pair of needle nose vise grips and clamped them on super tight then hammered the 2nd bend onto the vise grips and it came out exactly how I wanted. it was less than a 1/2 inch step which is exactly what I needed.

Thanks for all of the help.
 
Good job now you can hang out your shingle.

Blacksmith.jpg
 
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