Lucked into a six foot Chicago finger brake that will go to 6 gauge. It was only used on aluminum, so it's almost like new. It will bend anything I have. Found it used for $500.00. The moveable fingers allows me to mess up both big and little pieces.
Years ago I worked in a shop with a foot clamping brake. If you were bending something wide, like 15" or more away from the edge of the metal, it could be an issue reaching the clamping pedal while trying to hold the metal in place. I would do nothing less then a 48" wide 12 gauge capacity box and pan (finger) brake if you think your going to be bending many 48" long pieces of 16 gauge sheet metal. You can buy a much better brake if you find a used one in good shape. I have a homemade 50" wide brake. It has done the job for many years, but very often I wished I had a box and pan break. When my brake was newer (its been bending 18 & 20 gauge 48" long pieces for nearly 30 years), it did 16 gauge pretty well, but these days, getting straight bends on 18 gauge is getting harder. Gene
I guess that depends on what kind of car you're building, and what kind of work it needs. There were lots of straight bends on my Barracuda, and a straight brake was very handy. If you're only restoring cars that have lots of curves, or doing custom body work, but not floor pans, then yeah, not much use for a brake.
I think you are wrong by comparing the Enco to a Harbor Freight brake. Maybe there are other Enco models that are comparable, but the 12 gage I pictured above is a very nice brake, especially fo a home builder.......but it would do just fine in an industrial shop too. I think HF just makes leaf brakes. You can see below that used brakes are out there. The last one below is $5000 and is like my 10 ft brake I sold for $2500. Prices vary a lot but are usually somewhat negotiable. Remember........ its an investment. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/213721380321758/?ref=search&referral_code=undefined https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/4041992619162019/?ref=search&referral_code=undefined https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/437435347266516/?ref=search&referral_code=undefined https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/438034643870991/?ref=search&referral_code=undefined
I have both a box and finger and have had a few others like the harbor freight. I gave my harbor freight one away for free to a friend and it was just good for light duty and thin materials. I would look into a vintage machine that you can find local as the good machines have weight and shipping will be $$$ but getting it off a truck will require a forklift as well. If you looking for new try Tennsmith made in the USA and great product . I had a machine shop for many years and had the Chinese machines when first starting out . We found over time you cant find parts for them mechanical or electronics. So you end up buying a new machine with replacement parts new or used. I would buy a American made machine new or used ..
I can do 48" straight breaks in 16. GA. They just are softer edged breaks. Dont get me wrong. I would love to have a separate stomp shear, slip roll and pan brake. I just dont have room for them all. My Baileigh machine is a good compromise and accomplishes most everything I need to do. If it doesn't, I know people who have what I need.
ENCO was a step above HF for sure. Their fit/finish wasn't quite as good as the name-brand stuff, but performance was very close or equal in most cases. I'd never heard of them until I was doing some electrical remodel work at an Air Force base machine shop and noticed they had a lot of ENCO equipment. I asked about it, and the guys said they purchased lots of both equipment and consumables from them and had no issues with any of it. They even gave me a catalog and some pointers, and I bought nearly all of my lathe/mill accessories from them. ENCO also sold the 'name brand' stuff so it was easy to compare prices; usually 1/3 to 1/2 of the name brands on a lot of it. I've never had any issues with any of their stuff I bought. About 25 years ago HF tried to break into the machine tool market, offering some 12x36 metal lathes and mill-drills but they never carried any tooling to speak of and what little they did wasn't that good. I've got a HF lathe that I bought 'back then', and other than a switch that broke (that I managed to repair) has been trouble-free. They eventually abandoned that market, all they have now is small 'hobby' quality stuff. I quit buying from ENCO after MSC bought them as prices went up considerably. Haven't checked lately, maybe they came to their senses...
The magnetic brake is sick and that would be an unreal addition to your tool ****nal, but outside of that, a basic 48" box and pan brake would probably suit 99% of your work just fine. A straight brake has its limitations and you can brake a straight line with a finger brake, but you can't bend a box with a finger brake. The Pexto and Niagara machines you see come up for sale on FB Marketplace and Craigslist are great, but I have rarely, if ever, had a scenario where I needed to bend a piece of sheetmetal past 90 degrees on a brake.
The magnetic brakes are slick but super expensive up here. Nothing is cheaper than about $4000. There is a guy selling one on Kijiji (our craigslist) asking $2800 that I have been tempted to offer $2000 for but then I wonder how much more I will use it for than what I can do with $1000 box and pan brake.
@ekimneirbo Looks like I goofed on my finger brake, I found remnants of the paperwork of it. Mine isn’t rated at 12 ga. Mine (couldn’t make it all out) is 16 and 18 gage. What the heck, still works
RE: Buying used named brand equipment. Be informed beforehand. I fell into the “buy Pexto, etc” trap before. Don’t buy offshore ****. Well, a spring brake or shear, etc, isn’t worth a **** unless you can make it back to work for you. Nothing wrong with starting out with a cheap HF 3 foot brake, then upgrading. I shored up the 3 foot HF one I started with. The ENCO was 10 times the machine. The little 9x24 Logan lathe I paid for, heck, had I known better at the time, should have went with a tooled foreign one. Hinting down change gears, shaving the bed spots, a proper chuck and so on. Oh, I still have to duck with the Logan tool post to get the damned thing right. So before you buy a older name brand brake, have a good shop shear you off a piece of SS, use it as a gauge to check your potential buy out. What you can’t see looking it over, shiny broke sheet metal will show. Yes...written by one who has spent more on junk than needed to be spent
I agree with you @Budget36 on cheap Chinese machines. I cant tell you how many I have made parts for the Harbor freight ones. The cheap casting break before it would bend or shear. I also have made replacement parts for the other Chinese firm that holds several names..... try to bend stainless on anything china will be eye opening and please wear your safety gl***es as it might be “Eye Opening” As for old machines such as mills , lathes, surface grinders or anything that has a way needs to be checked for it former use. The Logan lathe was also sold under the sears name as well as other and a great lathe but not for industrial use on a daily basis. It is true the parts are getting harder to come by but they or can be 50 60 70 years old. Now try to buy a Chinese part for a 70k CNC machine thats 20 years old just about impossible .
If the radius is too sharp, you can always bend a piece of sheetmetal around the fingers, this increases the radius. We used to tape them on the fingers for a temporary radius change.
When I started doing sheet metal work in race cars and hotrods in the mid-70's, there wasn't much inexpensive, overseas, equipment on the market. Most of the older, american made equipment was still in use at small and medium size shops, and no internet, to easily search for good used equipment. I wanted a finger brake, but it needed to be a minimum of 6' long, and that wasn't likely. I found an 8 ft. heavy duty Robinson leaf brake, built around 1920, for $500. After a couple of years, I bought a 10' Chicago, leaf brake, and sold the Robinson, for a $200.profit. They both were in good shape, and served me well, but I still wanted a finger/box and pan unit. My dream was fulfilled, when I bought this Whitney-Jenson, 8'-14 ga. brake. It's a combination, leaf/box and pan unit, that are pretty rare, due to the cost of manufacture. In the 3rd shot, you will notice the long, lead screws, that allow the top die to be moved a long way back, to facilitate the use of fingers. In the first shot, shows the spring and hand wheels, that lower the apron, to complete the transition. My work requires bending of a larger radius, for belly pans and such. I built tooling of various sizes, that slips in place, after moving to top die back, and I can bend, from a 1/4" to 3" radius, with minimal setup time. My advice is to buy what you can afford, take care of it, and you can always sell and move up, kind of like buying a house.
I've had 2 4' pan brakes that were rated at 16 gauge. Neither will do a full width bend. Because you have funds to do it right the 1st time, I would purchase a 12 gauge brake. It's heavy and will be a pain to me but I don't think you will regret it. I've not used one of the magnetic units yet. That might be a nice addition for quicker setup time.
I was fortunate enough to get an amazing deal on a really nice 8’ 14ga, 4’ 14ga box/pan Chicago Dries & Krump brakes & 36” slip rolls a few years ago. Sold the 8’ for 3x what I paid for all 3 pieces of equipment. kept the 4’ & slip rolls. There are definitely deals on these old brakes out there if you look for them Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
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