Bending large chassis without a traditional brake.

[Guy77]

I had a 19 in long chassis that I had to bend and I did not have a traditional floor standing brake to bend it in. I found these clamping jaws at my local hardware store. they are called "Vise mount bending brakes". It cost me $36.

I was very impressed at how well it worked out! I was able to convert a chassis that was made for a head build into a chassis that would hang down in a traditional tweed style cabinet I had built. The chassis was 8 in deep and I needed it to be 5.5 in deep . I was able to easily resize it with the Vise mount brake!
Even though the jaws are only 6in wide and the chassis was 19in wide, I would just bend it a little then slide the chassis and keep bending until all 19 in was bent a little, then I would make another pass and bend it more until I had a full 90 degree bend. It took me about 3-4 passes to complete it.

Cheers

Guy

bending.jpg

Tweed cab.jpg

[joeboo88]

thanks Guy!
I was just wondering the other day how to accomplish what you just posted.
this will help alot

nice cabinet too

[M Fowler]

Unusual to find those bending brakes like that but that's what box breaks use.

Nice job.

[TUBEDUDE]

Used to use 2" angle iron. Clamp 2 back to back with the sheet between them on a table edge. Then with a rubber mallet and a section of 2x4, hammer the crap out of it until it submits or you do.

[Guy77]

thanks Guy!
I was just wondering the other day how to accomplish what you just posted.
this will help alot

nice cabinet too

Thanks Joe. Glad this was helpful ! One thing I would do over again was to mark a darker line to follow where I needed to bend. Other thing I noted was that these things are fairly heavy and a little sharp and if they fall off the vise be careful they don't land on your toes !

Cheers

Guy