How to make a leaf bender. We make a sheet bender with our own hands from improvised materials

Many masters do not even imagine how much money they could save, and therefore earn money on the independent production of sheet steel elements. For example, roof details: ridges, planks, valleys, gutters. They cost many times more than the material from which they are made. We start saving by making a regular manual bending machine.

1 Sheet bending tools - buy or make?

A tool with which sheets of metal will turn into details of the desired shapes can be easily built in a barn or garage, with a minimum of tools and very little free time. But be sure - it will become a "workhorse", without which none of your undertakings related to sheet material can do. Spoiled by an abundance of tools, many will ask a completely natural question - why do it if you can buy it?

Imagine your surprise if it turns out that a home-made tool can be much more convenient and more efficient than a factory one. In practice, this happens very often. Firstly, most of the units are designed for bending sheets up to 3 m wide - you must admit that the dimensions of such a unit will make even the owner of a large garage or workshop think about it. Secondly, the price of the finished tool can significantly hit the budget of the master.

The mechanical drive that many factory sheet benders are equipped with is inconvenient for delicate work - at the beginning of the working stroke, the mechanics give out a sharp blow, which weakens towards the end, but for bending the process must be reversed. In addition, the cost of electricity does not justify itself if the dimensions of the part are small. The hydraulic drive is more convenient - it can adjust its force to the resistance provided. However, such tools are very expensive and complex; it is not rational to buy them even for permanent work in small volumes.

Remains manual drive. You yourself can regulate the effort and distribute it in the work. The hand tool is absolutely easy to operate and maintain, and no worse than mechanics and hydraulics will be able to bend sheet steel blanks. The traditional mallet and mandrel are a thing of the past - no matter how skilled the master is, he will not be able to bend the necessary part of the sheet with these tools without deforming it, and it will take disproportionately more time. Draw your own conclusions.

2 Bending machine for half an hour (for small jobs)

On the Internet, you can find home-made manual bending machines in a variety of options, detailed drawings and explanations are attached to them, so the question of how to make a bending machine with your own hands is solved very quickly. If you understand and summarize all the drawings, homemade The press brake consists of three main parts: a clamp, a crimping punch with a handle-lever and a base. Who said they have to be strictly metal? The simplest compact bender can be made from wood - ideal for garage work when you need to bend a small piece of aluminum or iron sheet of small thickness.

It is best to use hardwoods for such a tool, but if this is not at hand, then ordinary pine can also be used.

You can strengthen it with the same sheets of metal or corners. You will need several strong loops - with their help, the bending link of the tool will move. If you decide to make the bending link large enough, then you are unlikely to need to attach an additional frame to create the necessary pressure on the sheet of metal.

It is recommended to fasten the crimping punch to the base with wing nuts, and do not forget to substitute washers under them. If you have to work with sheets of metal of different thicknesses, you can make several punches with grooves of different thicknesses. To get a 90° bend, the surface that limits the span of the bending element should be made with a slight slope (at least 5°), otherwise it will not be possible to obtain a right angle. If the bend is inaccurate, it is recommended to make a guide notch at the bend.

3 Do-it-yourself manual bending machines - use drawings

A tool with decent dimensions for processing large sheets of metal is best made from corners and channels. In addition to the material, you will need a welding machine. The design as a whole is the same as that of a wooden tool: base, clamp, crimping punch - only the scales are different. For the base, a section of channel No. 6.5 or No. 8 is best suited. The clamp is also made from a channel, No. 5 is best, but a punch from corner No. 5, and the thicker the walls, the better. The punch and clamp should be made a little shorter than the base - a 5 mm difference is enough. In the clamp strictly along the axis, retreating 30 centimeters from the ends, holes for the bolts are drilled.

From reinforcement with a diameter of at least 15 mm, bend a bracket-shaped handle-lever, which is welded to the corners with both ends. It remains to supplement the structure with cheeks made of sheet steel 5 mm thick, and the structure is ready. Be sure to remove 30 mm chamfers 7 * 45 ° at the ends of the blanks of the punch and base. The chamfers are removed along the edge so that it is convenient to weld the axles from a 10 mm steel rod to the punch. You need to weld the rod so that its axis coincides with the edge of the corner.

Before welding the cheeks, it is necessary to carefully verify their location. To do this, pre-assembly is performed - the punch and the base are clamped in a vice so that the working area of the punch angle and the wall of the channel-base are in the same plane, but there is a gap of about 1 mm between them. To do this, it is enough to install a gasket made of cardboard. After that, the cheeks are put on the punch axis and gently tacked by welding in several places. Then a test bending of thin sheet metal is carried out, during which the position of the cheeks relative to the base is corrected. After these elements are finally welded to the ends of the base.

Using the pre-drilled holes as guides, drill holes in the base with a diameter of no more than 8.5 mm and cut an M10 thread. Clamping bolts are screwed into it, onto which they are screwed and immediately welded to the base of the nut. After that, the fasteners are unscrewed and inserted into the clamping holes expanded to 10.5 mm, and stop nuts are screwed onto them from below and fixed by welding. For ease of use, provide the heads of the bolts with "lambs" or install the knobs.

Many advise leveling the clamp with a file or even a grinder. For home use of the tool - maybe, but not for daily work, when your earnings depend on the quality of work. Permissible unevenness on the clamping plane - no more than 0.2 mm. Is it possible to achieve such an indicator on the entire surface of the part with a file? But with large roughness, the sheet will “flow” under pressure - it forms waves. Therefore, you need to give the part only for milling. And only after all the details were welded and assembled, when everything that could go wrong and lead was already done. In this case, the router can really help you with alignment.

When using a tool, remember that special conditions and tools are needed to bend sheet metal with a thickness of 10 mm or more. If possible, heat the metal at the bends - this will facilitate the work and reduce the likelihood of cracks and signs of deformation.

In the manufacture of metal structures from profile pipes, the need for bending them often arises. Arched ceilings, greenhouse frames, playground elements - this is just a small list of objects that require the installation of rounded profiles. In production, special equipment is used to produce pipes with a given radius of curvature. Given the bulkiness and high cost of such machines, it is not advisable to purchase them for occasional domestic use. For a home workshop or garage, a profile bender can be made by hand. Everything that is needed for this can be found in the same workshop or found in the garages of friends and acquaintances. Interested in this design? Then put on your work clothes and get to work!

Profile bending machine. What is it for?

Universal production bending machine

The purpose of the roll forming machine is indicated by its name. This is the bending of metal profile pipes in order to obtain a certain radius of curvature in the required area or along the entire length of the workpiece. Using a profile bender, or in other words a pipe bender, you can perform several technological operations with rolled metal of various types:

bending metal bars or fittings, including spring steel blanks;
bending of profile metal-roll of square or rectangular type;
getting knees from round pipes or bending them at the right angle;
rounding of parts of any length from long products (corners, I-beams, channels).

There are several models of bending machines. Some allow you to apply effort only on a certain section of the workpiece. Others roll the pipe between rollers, applying pressure along the entire length. For some reason, it was the latter that received the name "profile benders" from specialists, although both of them directly relate to equipment of the same type. By the way, rolling the workpiece allows you to obtain a product of complex configuration without preheating, and bends can be made at an angle from 1 ° to 360 ° in arbitrary planes.

Roll type profile bender

Just like industrial counterparts, self-made profile benders are electrically driven or run on muscle traction. Of course, the use of an electric motor makes it possible not only to facilitate the processing of workpieces, but also to significantly speed it up.

Profile bending classification

Depending on the type of drive, which, in turn, directly affects the power and productivity of the machine, profile benders are divided into several types.

Hydraulic machines

Profile bending machine with hydraulic drive. Powerful and very expensive

Hydraulic pipe benders are industrial equipment, therefore they have high power and are designed for stationary installation. Such units are used mainly in small-scale and mass production, when it is required to obtain a large number of the same type of workpieces. The hydraulic drive completely removes the load from the operator, giving him the ability to control the machine by pressing buttons.

Advantages of hydraulic machines:

high speed of work;
complete absence of manual labor;
ease of operation;
the possibility of bending a profile of a large section.

The disadvantages of devices of this type include high cost, stationary design and complexity due to the use of a hydraulic drive.

Electric profile benders

Electric profile bender with screw drive. Inexpensive and functional

Bending machines that use electric motors are also stationary equipment, since they require an electrical connection. The electric drive is usually combined with a screw gear, which reduces the cost of equipment, but also makes it impossible to bend large section profiles. That is why such machines are found in small enterprises and even in private workshops. By the way, there are designs of home-made devices with an electric drive that function in no way worse than factory counterparts.

Advantages of electric profile benders:

relatively low cost;
workpiece processing speed;
simplicity of design;
high bending accuracy;
the possibility of using digital technologies for machine control.

The disadvantages include the same lack of mobility and the inability to bend oversized profiles.

Manual machines

Manual profile bender. Cheap mobile option

Manual bending equipment is simple, compact and low cost. Due to the uncomplicated design with driven rollers and a movable roller, this type of profile bending machine does not require any qualification. If necessary, the machine can be easily transferred to the installation site, and the affordable price of such devices determines their widespread use in the household. Of course, the design is not without its drawbacks:

there is no way to accurately control the bending radius;
increased processing time;
high physical loads on the operator;
processing of profiles with a small cross section.

The advantages and simplicity of the design of manual profile benders make them attractive for handicraft production, which is why such machines have gained immense popularity among home craftsmen. By the way, manual bending devices can be transferred to the middle category, if necessary, supplementing the design with an electric drive.

The design and principle of operation of bending units

The design of the simplest roll-type profile bender

The main elements of the roll forming machine are shafts mounted on a solid metal frame. In this case, a pair of rolling rollers is responsible for the longitudinal movement of the workpiece, and the movable roller provides pressure on the part. Depending on the design of the unit, the clamping force is regulated over a wide range using a screw pair, a jack or a hydraulic mechanism. The rolling rollers are driven by an electric motor or manually. The latter option is used on small devices and is most often repeated by craftsmen at home.

In addition, there are other designs of profile benders:

units with a left movable roller are used to produce spirals. Most often, such machines are equipped with CNC and allow you to bend parts, accurately controlling the bending gradient;
machines with movable lower shafts bend overall workpieces, therefore they are equipped with a hydraulic drive. The presence of a position controller for each shaft makes it possible to obtain parts of complex shape, up to twisting the workpieces in a spiral;
models in which all rollers are movable are the elite of roll forming equipment and can work with parts of any configuration and thickness.

The main difference between roll forming machines and other pipe bending equipment is that the workpiece configuration is changed not by bending around a fixed roller, but by cold rolling. This allows you to change the configuration of blanks of any section and length. A similar design will serve as the basis for a home-made machine, which we propose to do on our own.

A diagram that shows the principle of operation of a rolling pipe bender

Necessary tools and materials

To manufacture a machine for bending profile pipes, you will need a fairly large number of parts, but this does not mean that you will have to buy all the items from the list. Most of the necessary materials can be found in any garage or workshop. Here's what you need to get started:

The tool that will be needed in the process of work can be found with each master:

angle grinder;
electric drill;
a set of drills for metal;
hammer;
welding machine;
a set of open-end and socket wrenches.

The only difficulty you will have to face is the manufacture of the drive rollers and the pressure roller. Only the happy owners of such equipment have the opportunity to carve them from a workpiece on a lathe. Nevertheless, do not despair - in any organization there is a turner who will inexpensively manufacture parts according to the presented drawings. The remaining elements of the machine can be used second-hand.

Everything you need to make a profile bender

The chain transmission mechanism can be borrowed from the gas distribution mechanism of automobile engines, and the bearing housings (and the bearings themselves) can be borrowed from old agricultural machinery.

Manufacturing options for manual roll forming machines

To make a roll forming machine, it is not necessary to repeat the existing design exactly. It is much easier to create a device according to your own drawings, based on what is at hand. This will save time and money and will allow you to design a fixture that is ideally suited both for its intended purpose and for the installation site. That is why on the network you can find many devices that use the same principle, but differ in execution.

Drawing of a pipe bender with radial action on the workpiece

One of the designs allows radial bending of rectangular profile pipes due to the use of two rollers, one of which is movable, and the other is support (guide). The deformation of the workpiece along the desired radius is carried out by pressing and moving the working roller around the guide. The body of the device is made of steel sheet up to 8 mm thick and metal corners. To avoid involuntary displacement of the workpiece, before bending it is clamped between a fixed roller and a specially installed stop.

Homemade rolling machine for bending profile pipes

More versatile is a rolling type machine, the design of which is described above.

In addition, there are other really simple designs that allow you to bend pipes in a pattern. Unfortunately, the quality and accuracy of the deformation performed leave much to be desired, and in order to obtain a different radius, a new template will have to be made.

Pipe Bending Tools

When making a manual machine, some points should be considered:

so that when bending the overall workpieces, the profile bender does not tip over, its frame is made stable and massive. The best material for manufacturing can be considered a channel or an I-beam;
machine rolls must have low roughness and increased hardness. It is better if their configuration repeats the shape of the profiles of the most used sizes;
the design of the housing must provide a change in the distance between the axes of the drive shafts. An increased distance will make it possible to roll billets with a large cross section, then with a decrease in the center distance it will be possible to obtain bends of a small radius;
the drive lever must be able to rotate easily during operation, so it should not be made too short.

Most of the connections in the manufacture of the profile bending machine are performed using a welding machine. However, it will not be possible to completely do without bolted connections - movable structural elements are attached in this way.

Making a rolling structure with your own hands

For self-production, we recommend using the most common design of a roll forming machine with two lower shafts and a pressure roller. The easiest way is to install a manual drive on the unit, which, if necessary, can be easily converted into an electric one.

Device drawings

As already mentioned, it is better to design a profile bender yourself, based on your own conditions and preferences. In the work, you can focus on the drawings of machine tools, which the craftsmen who made them are happy to share.

Assembly instructions

Production of drive (support) shafts and rollers. It is better to entrust this work to a turner, after which the parts must be hardened.
The manufacture of shafts and support rings will have to be entrusted to a turner
It is possible to make cylindrical rollers without grooves for profile pipes. In this case, two restrictive rings are made for each shaft. Such cylindrical nozzles are installed taking into account the width of the workpiece and are fixed with bolts.
Bearings are installed in cages. If it is not possible to use factory parts, then they can also be turned on a lathe.
Shaft supports with installed bearings
Sprockets are tried on the shafts and the location of the keyways is determined. The grooves for the key can be cut with a drill and a file or a dremel.
The keyway can be made with a drill
Holes are drilled in restrictive nozzles and threads are cut for clamping bolts.
Thread for fixing restrictive rings
A platform for installing a pressure roller is made. To do this, take a thick metal plate or channel, in which two pairs of holes are drilled for mounting clips with bearings. In addition, a hydraulic jack will be installed on the reverse side, so in some cases you will have to cut off one channel shelf.
Top roller support
The pressure shaft is screwed and the eyes from the M8 nuts are welded to the platform for fastening the springs.
With the help of welding equipment, support legs and a frame are made. Particular attention should be paid to the part of the housing in which the bearing platform of the upper roller will be located. The corners that will form it must be even, and when installing them, the geometry should be carefully observed using measuring equipment.
Bed with top roller deck installed
The platform with the installed roller is suspended on springs from the upper cross member of the frame.

When working with tin, two main tools are used. Metal shears and bending machine.

Of course, when making a gutter for the roof of a barn, you can use the old-fashioned way - tap a galvanized sheet on the edge of a workbench with a mallet, or use a metal corner.

Examples of such work can be seen on the roof in the private sector. However, the quality of the product leaves much to be desired, and the metal is damaged at the site of impact.

In addition, artisanal bending of metal is only suitable for simple structures. If the bend profile has several multidirectional edges, you cannot do without a professional tool.

For example, you can’t bend the right ridge for a roof “on your knee”, and the appearance will always remind you of the negligence of the owner.

Buying an industrial machine is an unforgivable luxury. In this article we will tell you how to make a bending machine with your own hands from simple and affordable materials.

A little about the design of a homemade sheet bender

The simplest design is to clamp the edge of the sheet between the steel corner and the rule (or two corners) with a clamp, and bend the workpiece with your hands. This is how the simplest elements of the roof are usually created.

IMPORTANT! All work with metal must be carried out in protective gloves.

However, it is quite possible to make a traverse bending machine yourself. Requires accuracy and patience.

The design and principle of operation are visible in the drawings.

Step by step instructions for making

For the manufacture of a traverse bending machine, we need:

4 meters of steel corner, side - 50 mm;
Ball joint for car, with mounting bracket;
The stabilizer rod from it, with a diameter of 10 mm;
Bulgarian, drill, electric welding.

We cut the rolled metal with a grinder into pieces of 1 meter each. If there is a need to work with metal of greater width, the length of the corners increases. At least 100 mm must be added to the width of the working surface.
Using the angle grinder, we cut out two lugs from the ball joint bracket. These will be the working loops of the movable traverse.
From the stabilizer bar - we make an axis on which the hinges will rest.
IMPORTANT! The future play of the rotary mechanism depends on the quality of the fit of these elements.
We carefully measure and mark a sample on the corner for mounting the axis.
Strictly in size, we grind the flats for installing the axle shafts. This must be done as accurately as possible so as not to waste time and material on subsequent adjustment.
We apply the markup exactly in the center of the axis, and combine it with the top of the corner - the traverse. This moment is important. because if the alignment is incorrect, the quality of the bending of the workpiece on the machine will deteriorate, or the bender will be unsuitable for work.
We weld to the semi-axis samples in compliance with the parallelism to the top of the corner. To improve accuracy, when welding, use a jig. For example, vise and clamp. The length of the protruding part of the axis does not exceed 1 cm.
The result should be a structure with perfect alignment at the ends.
We put the corners to each other.
We mark up the sample on the second corner strictly opposite the axes of the first corner.
The corners relative to each other should be located as follows:
We fold both traverses, observing the plane, and fix them for welding. We weld the loops on the second corner on both sides.
The corners should rotate freely relative to each other on hinges. When turning 180 degrees, there should be no hooks and wedging. In this case, the gap between the traverses should be minimal.
The metal clamp will be located as follows:
Having previously marked out, we cut out with the help of a grinder a selection around the axis on the clamping corner. The underside of the clamping angle is ground at an angle of 45 degrees.
IMPORTANT! The edge should remain perfectly flat, it is along it that the fold line will pass. In case of unevenness, creases and folds on the workpiece are possible.
Opposite the axes, we mark and drill holes for 10 mm bolts. We weld the bolts with the thread upwards to the lower fixed traverse.
We also make a hole in the center of the traverse, but do not weld the bolt. This will be a removable element, so we weld a short axis to it in a T-shape.
Bolts are needed to press the workpiece to the traverse when bending. The central bolt is used when the workpiece is half as wide as the traverse. When working with wide workpieces, the bolt is removed.
From a circle of 15-20 mm we cut two handles 30 cm long. A thinner rod will not work, since the force on the handles can be significant, and you can simply bend them.
We weld the handles from the bottom of the swivel corner (traverse).

This publication presents the development of a home-made sheet bender, which was built by a YouTube channel blogger hot master. In his video tutorial, the master will show a sheet bender of his own production, designed for processing coils with endless sheet iron. It is through and through it you can stretch an arbitrarily long strip of painted metal. This machine can be used for bending galvanized iron and other metal up to 2 mm thick. If the thickness is 2 millimeters, then the length of the fold could not be more than 30-40 centimeters.

The drawings for this sheet bender were found on the Internet.
The presented machine is made of channels and corners. The corners are welded into a box. This is a working node. The clamping bar is also made of corners welded together into a box. The sheet is clamped from 2 sides, on which clamping screws are installed. However, as experience has shown, it is enough to confine ourselves to one side. Valve springs are installed between the working elements into which the sheet is clamped so that the clamping bar rises freely when the clamp is loosened.
Hinges installed in the swivel mechanism. Rotation angle over 90 degrees. The handle is made of hardened rod in a shortened form and does not interfere with the movement of the worker. The iron sheet can be installed both in front from the side of the worker, and from the opposite side. The lever is located horizontally, which creates additional convenience when the worker does not need to bend down to grab the handle. In addition, the surface created by the handle can be used to feed a sheet into the machine. If desired, you can install an additional table on the lever, creating a flat work surface.
The opposite clamp does not have to be a quick adjustable one, it can be a simple nut that can sometimes be turned to adjust the gap.

How is the work on this bending machine.

After the sheet is clamped, the lever rises and a bend occurs with a slight movement. By changing the angle of the handle, you can adjust the depth of the bend. If you need to bend the full angle, then, accordingly, the lever rises more. It turns out a completely even and straight bend. If the bend is carried out with a margin, then it turns out even more evenly. The work doesn't take long.
Behind is a table, which iron is supplied, it is convenient to cut off the excess on it.
The machine is disassembled, for example, you can remove the table. The entire bending machine is disassembled into parts, so it is easy to carry. When disassembled, it easily fits in the trunk of a Volga car.

Explanations on the design of the sheet bender

Separate nodes of the sheet bender with comments. The machine has been operated in the workshop for a long time and showed very good results. The most basic part is the clamp. This is the device that presses the sheet of iron to the base. The better and more accurately this is done, the better and smoother the bend will be. The clamp is made from corners welded together.

The desktop or base of the sheet bender consists of one piece. This is a channel. The longer the blanks, the more powerful this channel should be. In this case, its length is 1.5 meters. If you plan to bend blanks 1.5 times more, then the channel should be installed twice as powerful.

All the main work is done with the help of a bending bar. A massive bending lever is welded to it. The bending bar is mounted on hinges, which are embedded in a special way. It produces a direct iron bend to the desired angle.
It is recommended to orient the bending bar together with the lever so that it is horizontal. In this case, the lever should be at the level of the belt. On many factory benders, the lever hangs down vertically, which creates great inconvenience during operation. You have to bend down and lift it up each time. It is much more convenient to push from chest level, which is especially important for large volumes of work.
The lifting clamp is a set of springs from the head of a car block, along with washers, rings, to center the whole device on the threaded studs. She not only presses the clamping bar, but also raises it to the position when the upper lamb nut is pressed to the desired lift level. If you leave the wing nut, then the bar rises and is at a certain height. Hinges - hinges are ordinary garage hinges. The hinge should fit into the groove up to its very axis. The axis should rise from the base by no more than 2 millimeters. The pressure level is regulated by a lamb, which is tightened on a hairpin, pressing the bar against the iron sheet. Under the lamb there is a nut, to which a 6 mm wire is welded, forming a lever.

The indicated form of the lever has been verified by a large number of works performed with its help. A large nut is put on the stud, which is loose, not threaded. Next, a washer is put on from the head of the block. In no case should you put a fine thread on top. It should be noted that if you make the lever horizontally extending from the nut, then it will interfere with working with certain types of workpieces. Therefore, it is better to make the shape shown in the video. If you make a flywheel with two handles, as shown in some drawings, who will interfere with filling the workpiece and taking it out.
The length of the pin must be correct. It is necessary to make sure that the thread fits completely when the lamb is turned to the upper maximum position. So that fingers and palms can enter at least halfway into the clamping bar. How high is the lifting level of the clamping bar required.

Sheet bender drawings

Is it possible to make a box using a sheet bender?

Suppose there is a piece of galvanized steel, from which you need to make a box. Skeptics believe that this is beyond the power of this device. However, this is not the case with this model. Moreover, at its maximum length, equal to the width of the working machine. And the height of the sides is practically not limited to anything at all.

First, watch the video to see how the whole process will take place. Next, the master explains the theory of this for large boxes.

The most important thing is to correctly mark up the future product. We will assume that conditionally we need a box with sides of 5 centimeters.
To do this, we must set aside 5 centimeters from each corner. When the marks are already ready, we connect them with the previously marked marks in order to make it easier and more accurate to make the necessary cuts and not cut everything, but leave a little in order to bend, rivet or weld with spot welding.
When the markup is ready, we need to make cuts. Since everything will be done on electric contact welding, it is advisable to leave the releases. That is, the master leaves the alleged cutting lines. The selected parts will remain on the workpiece, that is, they will not go to waste. And the shaded parts will go to waste.

Another development example

Homemade made of black metal. The base is a channel for 12, a hinge is welded to it, a pipe for 16. A rod is embedded in the bending roll. All this was welded on. The lever is made of reinforced construction. The bending beam is made from 75 angles. Half shelf cut off. The clamping beam is made of 75 angles and reinforced on one side with 50 m. An additional emphasis was made, since the beam was bent in the middle. Along the edges of the eye of the 75 corner, bolt, valve springs. Made a primitive eccentric.

A sheet bending machine is a fairly simple tool that allows you to make blanks for construction work from sheet metal. In practice, such equipment is more often used by manufacturers of metal products, and household consumers, to solve economic problems, prefer to buy finished products.

In part, we can agree with this, because a new machine is an expensive and inappropriate purchase. However, using a little engineering thinking, you can make the simplest manual bending machine yourself.

What is a sheet bending machine

The manufacture of high-quality products from such a durable material as metal is impossible without the use of special devices. In order to facilitate manual labor and increase productivity, new equipment is being created. One such discovery was a sheet bending machine.

A sheet bender is a metal rolling machine that is used to bend aluminum, brass, steel and other metal sheets. The sheet bending machine bends sheets at a given angle, while the flatness of the material is not disturbed.

To organize a small production or perform work on a personal plot, it is not necessary to purchase expensive equipment; you can make a manual bending machine with your own hands.

A home-made version is capable of processing sheet metal up to 1.5-2 mm thick and a workpiece length up to 4 m, the bending angle is 180 °. The manual type bending machine consists of a base, a crimping punch with a lever and a clamp.

Factory benders are often equipped with additional features. One of the most popular is metal cutting. The roller blade is made of high-alloy steel alloy coated with a special varnish. The service life of the cutter is practically unlimited, however, the knife will need to be sharpened periodically (one sharpening is enough to process 25 kg of metal with a thickness of no more than 0.8 mm).

Scope of the bending machine

The sheet bending machine has a wide range of applications in the following sectors of the economy:

Types of bending machines

The main criterion by which all bending machines are divided is the type of drive of the working body.

Listogib with manual drive- the product is bent due to physical impact on the rotary beam. Some models are equipped with a pedal. The machine is designed for processing metal of small thickness at small angles.

The manual bender is often found in the sheds and garages of home users who use tin plate bending machines. By setting brackets or support beams to the desired bend radius, you can create complex parts at home.

Homemade manual bending machine: video

Models of a manual bending machine do not provide sliding and friction units - this makes the equipment less whimsical and more durable.

Sheet bender with mechanical drive- a stationary machine powered by a flywheel. The principle of operation of a mechanical bending machine is as follows: bending is carried out by pressing the lever. Changing the length of the lever (the junction of the pusher and the handle moves) leads to an increase in the force acting on the workpiece. The use of such machines is somewhat limited, since working with them requires the use of physical strength.

An improved version of the mechanical bending machine - electromechanical machine. The source of energy in this case is the power of the electric motor. Electromechanical machines have gained popularity among users due to their versatility and ease of use.

The workpiece is placed on the matrix, the operator presses the start button, and the engine drives the gearbox, pusher and punch - the sheet is bent or deflected in the desired plane and with the specified parameters.

The force on electromechanical machines can reach several hundred kilograms, and in the presence of a powerful engine - even a ton

The modern engineering industry is 70% staffed sheet benders with electromagnetic drive. These installations have a number of advantages:

small overall dimensions;
noiselessness of work;
high bending speed.

The principle of operation of the electromagnetic sheet bender is based on the creation of a magnetic field between the punch and the matrix. The punch is freely fixed on the spring, the matrix is installed under it, based on the shape of the future product. In the punch, or under it, there is an inductor, which creates a powerful magnetic field when voltage is applied to its winding. The magnetic field attracts the punch and the matrix to each other - the workpiece is tightly clamped between them and takes on the specified geometry.

The use of this method allows you to “stamp” several hundred parts per minute.

The design of the manual sheet bender

The design of a manual bending machine consists of the following main elements:

the clamping beam clamps the bent or cut off sheet;
the bending beam bends the metal sheet; bending possibilities in different models are different - usually the bending angle is from 0 ° to 180 °;
circular knife made of high-strength steel and coated with powder paint; on average, the resource of the knife is 2500 running meters. tin with a thickness of not more than 0.5 mm;
goniometer - a dimensional disk that allows you to quickly bend sheet metal at any angle without installing a limiter;
rear table (feed limiter), on which a work sheet of metal is placed and moved;
the clamp handle allows you to bring the clamping beam into working position;
tensioning device of the bending and main beams - setting the shape of the beams to create a high-quality bend of the product.

Some models of machines are equipped with swivel wheel blocks with brakes - this allows you to freely move the bender and fix it in the selected position.

Making a bending machine with your own hands

Consider an example of the manufacture of a manual bending machine, since its design is the simplest, and the performance of such a machine is quite enough for metal processing for domestic purposes.

Development of specifications and drawing of the machine

A home-made bending machine must be designed in such a way that during operation the main load falls on the most enduring and strong muscles (biceps, broad backs, calf and thighs), and the recoil of the machine (reaction) of the machine presses the feet to the floor. With such a device, work will not be exhausting.

The scheme of a home-made sheet bender will depend on its purpose:

The first version of the device is more acceptable for the domestic consumer. To develop a drawing of the machine, it is necessary to determine the technical characteristics that are assigned to the equipment:

maximum thickness of the processed metal: 0.6 mm - galvanized, 1 mm - copper, 0.7 mm - aluminum;
metal sheet width - no more than 1 m;
flexion slope - not less than 120°;
the number of uninterrupted work cycles - about 1200;
processing of non-standard blanks or special steels is not desirable.

Drawings of sheet bending machines can be peeped on the Internet. Quite successful for self-production is the design below.

The machine will give a stable result, and the maximum angle of inclination is 135°.

Selection of materials

For the manufacture of working units of the machine, the following materials can be used:

wooden beam - to create a "cushion" (in the drawing - a wooden insert);
channel 100-120 mm - the base of the sheet bender;
metal sheet 6-8 mm - right cheek;
it is better to weld the pressure beam from the corners of 60 and 80 mm;
pin with a diameter of 10 mm for the manufacture of the axis of the punch;
the punch can be made in the form of a corner of 80-100 mm or a channel of the same size;
the punch lever is made of a bar with a diameter of 10 mm.

Advice. It is better to make a punch from a channel, and not a corner. The return from the bent metal to the punch is uneven in width: in the center it is maximum, and at the edges it is minimum. This leads to the fact that in the middle the corner bends and the fold turns out to be swollen. The additional side of the channel takes on the tensile stress, converting it into compression.

In addition, practice shows that a punch from a corner can withstand about 200 bends, and a channel of the same width - more than 1200

Structural detailing and assembly

The assembly diagram of a manual bending machine is shown in the figure, where:

chimney (M8-M10 screw with heel and collar, angle 40-60 mm);
cheek;
base;
corner 110 mm - bracket;
clamping beam;
punch axis;
punch.

The lower surface of the pressure beam must be milled. This must be done after complete welding of the entire assembly. Moreover, “smoothing” the clamp with a grinder or a file is unacceptable.

The maximum allowable unevenness of the clamping surface is no more than ½ of the thickness of the bent sheet. In our case, the minimum thickness of the sheet to be bent is 0.2 mm.

The entire assembly process of the machine can be divided into the following steps:

Safety precautions when working with a bending machine

The sheet bending machine is a traumatic device, and when working with it, compliance with safety regulations should be in the first place.

Before starting work on a purchased machine, you must read the instructions, determine what material the equipment is designed to process, and follow all prescribed safety measures.

Before starting a home-made or purchased machine, you must:

Having spent not too much time and using inexpensive material, you can make a convenient and practical manual bending machine with your own hands, which will become an indispensable assistant in the household.

home > Agriculture