DIY Metal Brake for Bending Sheet Metal 

The use of fast forward and minimizing talking worked perfectly. A rare 5 star video. Thanks.

That is very nice! Some tips for bending for those who want to make there own bench folder (brake). 1. When he made the tray, note the relief holes drilled in the center of each notch, that helps with a clean fold. 2. When you scribe your bend lines, measure from your center out. Always start at the center and measure out, especially if you are drilling holes in several pieces and want them to line up. 3. Bend allowances and deductions, you can do two things: a. Google it and get a masters in calculus. b: Try bending a few scrap pieces and see how your radius (per folded flange) will effect the inside / outside dims of the part. Then just take a few notes, and you’ll know how much to add to the blank or flat sheet per flange. He said his radius was 1\8th”, but it will vary with the thickness with the material. Happy fabricating!

great how to video , no heavy metal music , just clear and concise information , well done , thanks

I figured at the end I was going to need to ask for plans. But I was pleasantly surprised that you shared everything as you went. I've hundreds of DIY videos of "How To," but they never share dimensions.. they want money for a sketch. This DIY video is 10 stars The fast foreword is clean and clear. Minimal verbal. Absolutely Awesome Thanks

What a very well presented video. I can’t remember when I’ve seen a clearer presentation of an involved project. I’m excited to go and see your other fabrication ideas like hanging those grinders. Drives me crazy on my wheeled cart. You give me 20/20 hindsight!

Love how you overlay the dimensions as you cut each piece. brilliant and genius combined!

The 1/2 " black iron pipe nipple I purchased has a weld seam inside which prevents a true 5/8 bar from entering. May want to check pin fit before welding hinge pieces in place. First class video and workmanship.Thanks

Awesome Craftsmanship, design , and video i am a retired Woodworker With over 20 years of experience ive aways had a interest in welding and metal working so I’m using RU-vid as a form of entertainment and learning at the moment I’m between shops / homes and one day i hope to set up for doing both metal and wood

Great video. I need a brake, and I love the simplicity and functionality of your design. Thank you for taking the time to video this. I know it adds hours to any project, so I really appreciate the effort and excellent production.

I'm still waiting to see how you bend the other 2 perpendicular sides of your lid up to 90 deg, so you actually have a box or pan with 4 sides. Otherwise, very nice job and works well for single and lateral bends.

I greatly appreciate the fact that you include the measured drawings off to the side where appropriate. So many videos of this type don't include any measurements, which I find very frustrating.

One of the best videos on making your own brake, I worked at metal fav for 40 years,and by far your video is the easiest to understand. Keep up the good work!!! 🍺🍻🍾🤙🏼🌍. Thanks

Gorgeous. I've been putting off buying my first brake for about a year now. But this looks like a fantastic project for refreshing my welding skills. I do believe I'm going to make this.

new sub here, ive been watching a lot of woodworking/metalworking channels. i gotta say, i really enjoy your style. youre elegantly perfectionist i feel, the end results are always 1. pretty 2. somehow really designy objects 3.above all, usefull! your content is great, ive been enjoying binge watching most of it ;-) ive learned a lot, too! neat channel

Not many get the hinge right, you got yours right. I've watched a lot of videos on home made brakes, they hardly ever get that hinge to work well enough to put a tight radius on a bend. It comes down to having the bend at the centre of the hinge. For anyone who don't get what I mean, just need to look at the big pan brakes and you will see what i mean. Where the angle sits between the hinges, you need to get the centre of the angle to line up with the centre of the hinge, that way there is zero radius as it rotates. Most people put the angle on the outside of the hinge bolt, which will give you a few mm of radius before you even start to twist the handle.

I would like to say, thank you for posting that video. I am a VERY beginner welder. I have been around welders and fabricators most of my life. I have recently taken up the "art" of welding. It is tough. You make it look SOOOOO easy. I will continue to watch more of your videos.

best homemade brake on youtube. i enjoyed the clip. i can clearly see i need to get a portaband and table set up. nice work.

need a piece of round bar (L shaped) added to your 3/4 bolt head as a quick acting handle , would eliminate the need for the wrench each time you re-position ,,, , great work

Good to see engineering skills are not dead,i can tell you are a natural with tools,keep up the good work.I have worked in engineering all my life in thirteen different jobs,i don't know what you do for a living ,but your good.I agree with the other comments,get some over centre clamps ( they are quiet cheap ) have the lock down bar floating on dowels and the clamps working down on the bar, this will stop the top bar from pushing back when you fold up.All the best.

For what it’s worth I have dearly missed your videos and still rewatch them! Come Back!!

Love it!!!! Had been waiting to see this since you mentioned it in your welding table video. Great DIY project. Really enjoy and learn so much from your content!!!! Please keep posting you do absolutely amazing work. Thank you for sharing.

Weld some Tee handles to the bolts so you don't need the wrench. Cool Video.

Why do some not like this? Must be jealous, because this guy has skills. BIG TIME!!! Inspired.

Good Video. I enjoy when processes are sped up so that it does not turn in to a 45 minute video. It puts me to sleep. Well designed brake

Nice job. Clean, well thought out, well done. Hindsight is always 20/20 isn't it? I'm sure there are things that you would do differently and things that other people say "you should have done this", but I don't see them posting videos on youtube. Old Chinese proverb "He who has free seets always hisses loudest".Nice. You should be really proud.

A lotta work but elegantly done as always. Great video!

Lots of attention paid to fine detail . A sign of a perfectionist .

Very well thought out and executed it's nice to see someone spread their heat so well while welding. One tip if your interested . when you flatten your ends on a grinder of any sort first grind one way up first and then flip your part and grind in the opposite direction. That will remove most if not all of the burrs made on the first side.

Excellent welding. I need to build one of these.

Brilliant job, Sir. I have immediately subscribed for your channel. Can you tell me, which make that vertical band-saw machine is?

nice work, thanks for speeding it up, tried to watch others build one but they were so slow i couldn't stand it!

That band saw is a real time saver. Great tool. Great video and project.

Thank you for the DIY! I´ll be making mine shortly! Have you got any blueprints or list of materials? Thank you!

could you post a material list and maybe a rough drawing please?

I've been a Tool Maker for many years and it is very refreshing to see such quality work being done. Excellent video!

Well done, and everything ,bender and tray, complete in just 12 minutes.I would just about have the top of the marker pen by then.You have given me an idea to make a small one for model making purposes-thanks.

Another great one ! Thanks a lot for sharing :)

Nice job. Need to wear some kind of gloves while welding. Skin cancer from UV would suck.

I like how you stuff 3weeks worth of cold metal shop class into 12 minutes time. great video.

Long time viewer, first time commentor: that was an awesome build, reminds me of one I built in high school (27 yrs ago) I added sprockets and chain mechanism on top of the bolts...out if necessity because doing small production runs of small sheet metal tool cabinets, unscrewing the top platten by hand became tedious and tiring. Thanks for the video...it brought back old memories

fantastic build! would you mind sharing the drawings? I want to build the same. great attention to details and lots of tips, especially scrubbing the square on the tube to draw the centre line. By the way, what is the table for the Milwaukee bandsaw? I have the same /but on battery) and want to use it as a table saw, I think I'll buy swag off road kit. Cheers.

Brian this is gorgeous, as always. You have quickly risen to to the ranks of Howarth, Wandel, and Diresta; and by the looks of it you're just getting started. Really excellent video. Now get back to work on that damn domino box, y'hear?

You don't even need to ask for subscribers. This is excellent know-how! Thank you so much!

Best video I've seen to make a handy sheet metal brake! Thanks Man and Great Job!!!

Liked your drawing video overlays. Brian you do very nice work and your video editing is excellent. Keep-um coming.

Great job!! No gloves required. xD

FANTASTIC EVERYTHING !!! Fabricating, Design, Welding AND...Video Production. Very cool.

A great job. It’s nice to finally see someone on you tube that knows what they are doing. Thank you. I’m saving this as it looks like a good piece to duplicate with your ok that is.

you're crazy I can't believe you don't use gloves while welding

HI Brian, do you have any plans for this brake? I've been inspired to build my own! :)

Thank you for not having the saw loud and squealing in the video!!

Quite a steady hand while welding, very impressive. What I liked the most was those "on screen" blueprints in the begining, very classy and useful. Anyway, thank you for another piece of art, Brian. :-)

I can weld with the MIG I bought in 1984, but not without gloves. Damm.

Nice build!

this is my favorite how-to yet on a metal brake

this is a great design.. I just built a 4'x5' welding table that I plan to drill fixture holes in, and I wanted to build a removable she's metal brake. it was either something like this or a 20 ton press brake. I might have to use your design first.. great work man! 👍

Nice build, do you have plans on how you buit it as i am looking to build one, Thanks

Awesome job Man....Great craftsmanship!

You packed a lot in 12 minutes. Very instructive and interesting. Thanks

Friggin' awesome! I had an idea much along the same lines but couldn't get around the hinge part. Now I see what needs to be done. I can put all that angle iron thats been sitting to use!! I did have the idea of welding 3/4" carriage bolts from the bottom and using coupling nuts at the top with a Tee welded to the top, like big wing nuts.

Wow man this makes me want to do metal work. I'm subscribing

nice job for home made one thing wear gloves when mig welding hot spatter could burn

This is as close to perfect as it gets. Great planning, great execution and great video. That was very entertaining to watch.

Hi Brian. thanks for making videos. they're fun to watch and your way of explaining things is also easy to follow.

When i weld, i put on gloves, a jacket, cap, safety glasses, a respirator and then my helmet. I'm impressed he only needs the helmet. Very nice build nevertheless.

Wonderful, l want to give u 1000 like, Thank you for sharing.

Looking for brake ideas which are good, but more amazed at the editing, like a "how it's made " episode in fast forward, wow

Fantastic job Brian! One suggestion would be to show the completed project at the start of the video to show what you're going to build. I'd love to see a slow 360 around it so I could see all the detail. Liked and subscribed!

Thank you for your response one more question I have for you the marking pen that you were using on your steel can you tell me what it is thank you

Can you post a link to a printable document that covers all of the parts please?

Congratulations Brian, That is a fine working brake. Another addition to my bucket list.

Watched quite a few videos of how to make metal brake and this is the best. Nice job 👍🏿

need knobs on your clamp so you won't need a wrench

Nice to see all the effort put into as mall job like this. Makes for a real nice piece! What bandsaw were you using? It didn't have any coolant liquid and therefore makes the whole mild steel work a lot easier and tidied, but blades must wear real quick? And is it me or were you welding backwards? Welds were nice enough so can't be too bad though eh'!!

Impressive machining, welding, and videography!

Very compelling build. One of the best I have seen for light bending. You make it look all too easy but I'm sure it took some time.

Where do I get the plans? 😀

Nice job on the video. What is the make of the table you use with your Milwaukee band saw?

Brought back some very good memories of my shop days ... I really enjoyed your video. Thanks!!

There's plenty of DIY brake videos, photo's, instructables etc out there. This is the only one that includes detaile drawings that any DIY or shop could reproduce.

nice job! what brand is the blue jig saw?

you really should be wearing gloves when welding.

The word "WOW" doesn't seem quite good enough, but for lack of a better word it will have to do. Great Job!

I like that portable bandsaw stand. Greatly extends its' usefulness!

I really enjoyed this video, well done. Just a tip for the future , when doing narrow pieces have a second piece of the same thickness on the other side of the brake. This will equalize clamping pressure and ensure a straight bend. Great work and keep the videos coming.

i love it. to make it easier for yourself make the bolt into a t handle. so you dont havr to use a wrench every time you go to use the break

Best Milwaukee Bandsaw commercial ever!

Very attractive and ,about all, efficient bender. Filming and editing are at their best... You could speed up the process of bending by avoyding to reach your 3/4 inch wrench or key, by welding a "T" or " an upside down L" handle over each pressing bolt... After all, we all have a son who fixes his toys with our tools, without bringing them back,.....exactly like I did to my father...

Awesome, thanks man. I have to make a 6'-ish brake for a few projects and I dig this one. I like how it bends tighter than 90' and the springs are a nice touch. Will probably use handles instead of (or with) bolts on the clamps. Very cool, thanks for posting it.

Brian!!!! That was a great build with so many nuggets of great info and ideas. Thanks for posting and sharing.

What do you do for a living. What gives you so much time to have such high quality content and still make all this stuff. You are living my dream sir.

Quite possibly one of the best videos I've seen on youtube. Well filmed, with minimal chatter. Good design on the brake as well - the higher speed footage made it a real pleasure to watch. It felt like I was watching 'How It's Made' ;-)

Please keep this on your channel! It is very helpful to people! :)

Great video with fast action. Interesting use of a bandsaw which cuts faster than anything I have ever seen. I like to see well made stuff like this receive a coat of metal primer at the very least.

For some Reason This Is incredibly satisfying for my ears..

Know the wonderful work of the cleanliness of the place and the person ... but I have two observations observation .. The first is you can replace the screws by circling an iron and then will not need any keys when you want to change the consistency ... Second, you can put the angle measurement to adjust the angle scale as you want without removing piece of metal horizontal .. Thank you Great work

It is about time ! I enjoyed watch someone use the correct tools, in the correct form to make something. I can tell you have used tool correctly for sometime, the skill is there for all to see. Have you read David J. Gingery 7 books on Shop made tools.1-Foundry, 2- Lathe,3-shaper, 4- mill, 5- drill press, 6- Accessories, 7-sheet metal bender.

The isoangle measured drawings in the corner are awesome! I like the way you do the measuring as well. 1 mark, 1 cut for 2 parts that have to match. If you have explanations why you need 4 hinge loops instead of 1 besides it being stronger I would like to hear that.

Sweet, I'm going to build one. The knobs would be a good idea so no wrench would be needed.

most satisfactory video for an metal artisan