FridgeFreezer Posted April 5, 2016 Share Posted April 5, 2016 Having a bit of sheet metal hammering to do soon I realised I'm missing the facility to put a neat fold in anything. After a bit of shopping around I'm being drawn to "3-in-1" metalworker machines such as this one:A fair chunk of metal for a fair chunk of money but they do look rather useful - and even ropey old vice-mounted sheet folders seem to be fetching the best part of £100 these days which makes them seem like not such terrible value. So - anyone got one, used one, lost a finger to one? Are they any good? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete3000 Posted April 5, 2016 Share Posted April 5, 2016 http://www.rdgtools.co.uk/acatalog/SHEET_METAL_MACHINES.html some more to peruse. Think the limiting factor with most of these is the capacity. i.e it will do 1mm over the full width. Some of the cheaper machines will state 1.6 or 2mm but only at say 100mm wide Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonr Posted April 5, 2016 Share Posted April 5, 2016 I bought a couple of short lengths of press brake tooling - now mounted on my fly-press for folding. That (with a bit of brute force) will bend 6mm+ If you only want to form thin steel or Ali - I suspect it would be fine! Buy it with a Credit Card / PayPal - then at least if it's c*** it's easy to get a refund! Si Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studmuffin Posted April 5, 2016 Share Posted April 5, 2016 It does look OK for light work. What always amazes me is how DIY kit can be sold with next to no guarding. At work I have an industrial rolling mill and flattener/shears and I have to guard them to the nth degree. It doesn't say what the max thickness it will take, but as a very very rough guide, if its 1.00mm mild steel, then perhaps 2.00mm Ali and 0.5mm stainless? Barry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cynic-al Posted April 5, 2016 Share Posted April 5, 2016 I have been very tempted for a while, there is a long ish second hand one on lathes.co.uk which might be worth a look. Only good for about 1mm which is fine for cabinets, gauges etc but a bit thin for brackets. I bodged a set of folding tooling up out of some scrap for the hydraulic press which is good enough for general thick stuff. There's also a load of independant ones at auction with cjm for the last few months. They're on bid spotter, not sure when this month's sale ends but I noticed some in it again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anderzander Posted April 6, 2016 Share Posted April 6, 2016 Topically - this just landed in my inbox ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted April 6, 2016 Author Share Posted April 6, 2016 Axminster do one that's ~750mm and claims ~1mm steel / 1.5mm ali which seems reasonable - also they're round the corner from my house! I assume that for less than full width they might manage slightly thicker material. I've got a big arbour press I picked up for a song (no tooling though), I've looked round for press tooling going cheap but nothing's popped up yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miketomcat Posted April 6, 2016 Share Posted April 6, 2016 I've got a folder you can borrow if you want it's a cheapy but it did bits on the ibex ok. It's 800mm but the fold in the middle of 1.5 Ali at full length is not as tight as the ends. I've also got a blade and vee block for a press only 250mm long but I've managed over a 1m by bend a bit move on then come back and do a bit more. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted April 6, 2016 Author Share Posted April 6, 2016 Is that available to borrow currently or when it's been excavated from the back of a certain storage unit though...? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffR Posted April 6, 2016 Share Posted April 6, 2016 Topically - this just landed in my inbox ... image.png Same here, wife said no.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete3000 Posted April 6, 2016 Share Posted April 6, 2016 some good ideas here if you fancy making one, http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/mini-sheet-metal-folder.3710/ or not as spendy as 700 sheets, but depends what gauge you are after. http://www.frost.co.uk/auto-bodywork-welding-metalworking-machine/metal-working-machines-tools/sheet-metal-folder-vice-mounting-precision-bench-folder-24inch-600mm.html pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miketomcat Posted April 6, 2016 Share Posted April 6, 2016 Is that available to borrow currently or when it's been excavated from the back of a certain storage unit though...?I've got to extract something at or before the weekend so I'm sure I can pass it to Dave for you.Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonr Posted April 6, 2016 Share Posted April 6, 2016 or not as spendy as 700 sheets, but depends what gauge you are after.http://www.frost.co.uk/auto-bodywork-welding-metalworking-machine/metal-working-machines-tools/sheet-metal-folder-vice-mounting-precision-bench-folder-24inch-600mm.html pete Someone gave me one of these years ago - but it was about as good as using your teeth to bend metal! It went in the scrap! I bought an old Edwards 2' bench top Box pan folder - which is fantastic! Si Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted April 7, 2016 Author Share Posted April 7, 2016 I've got some angle iron kicking round that could make a folder like the frost / machine mart vice mount jobby, but that's a different prospect to a box-pan / roller setup in terms of what you can achieve with it. I've got a hefty arbour press minus tooling that could also do some stuff. But time spent farting about making this stuff means less time making the things I actually want to make If Mike finds the blade & vee block that could solve the current problem in combination with the arbour press. Doesn't stop me looking at useful tools though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Superpants Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 I've got a Gabro BF620 which i have found great- It and the guillotine take up far more space than the unit linked, but they are incredibly versatile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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