On knitted models, which are made without elastic bands, the edges are often decorated with strips with hem. Jackets and vests look especially good when made with a hem.

Smooth line of hem of fabric with knitting needles

For a clearer line of the edge of the product, a fold is made after the hem, the width of which is usually 3 - 4 cm. In the 4 small photos on the left - hem options, respectively. The drawings on the right show the technique of their implementation.

For this hem, a number of purl loops are made along the fold line.

Hemming with scalloped knitting needles

How to knit cloves with knitting needles

For scalloped hem Cast on an odd number of stitches and knit in stockinette stitch. In the front row for the jagged fold, knit in the following order: knit 1, then alternately make 1 yarn over on the knitting needle and knit 2 loops together. In the purl row, knit the yarn overs purl or purl crossed.

Hemming with scalloped knitting needles

For scalloped hem cast on loops (the number of loops is a multiple of 4, plus 2 loops) and knit in stockinette stitch. For a scallop fold in the front row * knit 2 loops together, make 2 yarn overs and knit 2 loops together with a tilt to the left; repeat from *. In the purl row, knit the 1st yarn over with a purl, the 2nd yarn over with a purl crossed.

The hem is sewn only after the side ones are completed. Fold the fold over to the wrong side, pin it in place, and sew it with an overcast stitch using an embroidery needle with a rounded point.

To prevent the stitches from being noticeable from the front side of the product, do not pull the thread too much!

Hemming with knitting needles with overcast seam

You can knit a purl row along the fold line. And then the edge will be a small wave.

In another row, change the needles half a size down along the fold line (i.e., one row)

The hem is sewn only after the side seams are completed. Fold the fold over to the wrong side, pin it in place, and sew it with an overcast stitch using an embroidery needle with a rounded point. To prevent the stitches from being noticeable from the front side of the product, do not tighten the thread too much.

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How to bend metal with your own hands? When performing construction work, it is often necessary to bend metal elements. For example, it may be necessary to bend sheet metal or pipes. Pipes with a small diameter are bent using a vice.

Bending of metal sheets on a bending machine occurs without welding and does not disrupt the structure of the metal.

Often during construction work it becomes necessary to bend large diameter pipes. For such work, special machines are needed that bend pipes and metal sheets. In this case, the bending element does not receive damage.

When bending parts, the plasticity of the material, its thickness are taken into account, and the radius of curvature is determined.

What is metal bending technology?

Assembly diagram of a homemade sheet bender: 1 – base; 2 – handwheel nut; 3 – clamp; 4 – bendable sheet; 5 – clamp; 6 – crimping punch.

Bending sheet metal- this is the performance of certain actions, as a result of which the metal sheet acquires the desired shape. The part is bent without the help of welding or any other connections that reduce the strength and durability of the material.

When a product is folded, its outer layers are stretched and the inner layers are compressed. Bending technology involves bending one part of a part relative to another to the required angle.

During bending, the material is subjected to deformation. The amount of possible deformation depends on the thickness of the material, bending angle, ductility and bending speed.

Bending is performed using equipment for bending parts. This equipment bends the element so that the finished structure is not damaged.

If an element is bent incorrectly, various defects will occur on its surface, as a result of which the material along the bending line will receive such damage that the finished structure may break. Bending is carried out for sheets of various thicknesses.

The bending stress of the material must be greater than its elastic limit. As a result of bending, plastic deformation of the material should occur. In this case, the finished structure after the bending operation will retain the shape that it was given.

Drawing of a sheet bender (details): 1 – clamp; 2 – cheek; 3 – base; 4 – bracket; 5 – welded clamp; 6 – axis; 7 – corner of the punch.

Advantages of the bending process:

1. The process has high productivity.
2. As a result of bending, a workpiece is obtained that does not have a seam.
3. The finished structure is highly resistant to corrosion.
4. The product is highly durable.
5. No rust appears at the bend of the product.
6. The design is solid.

Flaws:

1. The manual bending process is quite labor-intensive.
2. Bending equipment is expensive.

Unlike structures made by bending sheet metal, welded structures have a weld that is susceptible to corrosion and rust.

Products are folded manually or using equipment. Hand bending is very labor intensive. It is performed using a hammer and pliers. Folding material of small thickness is done with a mallet.

Sheet metal is bent using rollers, presses or roller machines. To give the sheet a cylinder shape, manual, hydraulic or electrically driven rollers are used. Pipes are made using this method.

Assembly diagram of the working stroke: 1 – wooden insert; 2 – base; 3 – right cheek; 4 – bendable sheet; 5 – clamp; 6 – punch axis; 7 – punch; 8 – punch lever.

Metal bending is used in home construction for the manufacture of gutters, profiles, metal frames, pipes and other structures. When bending sheet metal with your own hands, you can make pipes of various diameters. Using machines, zinc-coated material is bent.

If you need to bend metal at home, you can make a bending machine yourself. To make a machine, you need to make a template from wood that has a contour of a certain, curved shape.

When bending a product, you need to determine its dimensions. The length of the structure is calculated taking into account the bending radius of the sheet. For workpieces bent at right angles, without creating roundings, the bend allowance should be 0.6 of the sheet thickness.

With your own hands you can bend structures made of ductile metals: copper, brass, aluminum. The bending radius depends on the quality of the material and the bending method. Products with a small radius of curvature are made of plastic materials.

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DIY metal bending

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How to make a bracket using the bending method

When bending a steel strip on a roller machine, the top slot on the bar must match the size of the strip.

Materials and tools:

• a metal sheet;
• vice;
• hammer;
• frame;
• bar;
• electric saw for metal.

First, you need to calculate the length of the workpiece strip using the diagram and calculate the bending of the metal sheet.

When calculating for each bend, make a margin of 0.5 of the strip thickness and 1 mm for bending the ends to the side.

According to the diagram, the workpiece is cut out and marks are made for the bending point. The workpiece is bent in a vice with squares.

First you need to clamp the workpiece in a vice at the level of the bend. Then use a hammer to make the first bend.

Then the workpiece is rearranged in a vice and clamped with a frame along with a block. Then make a second bend.

After this, they pull out the workpiece and make marks on the length of the staple legs.

The bracket with the frame frame is bent in a vice, while both of its legs are bent. The bend is specified with a triangle. If the bend is made incorrectly, it is corrected with a hammer and a frame block. After the bending process, the structure is sawn to the required size.

It is not difficult to make a sheet bending machine with your own hands, but so far few home craftsmen and specialists who use bent products from sheet steel in their activities are engaged in the manufacture of such equipment for own needs. Meanwhile, such a device, which has enough high reliability and ease of operation, will help you save a lot.

One of the most affordable sheet benders is the domestic LGS-26, the price is about 38 thousand rubles. We will make it cheaper and optimize it to suit your needs

The manufacture and use of a sheet bending machine is especially important for those who need to perform technological operations for bending sheet material not daily and in large volumes, but periodically.

Types of sheet benders and their design

Before you start making a homemade manual sheet bender, you should clearly define the list of tasks for which it is needed. The main purpose of such a device will depend on what scheme it will be implemented according to.

The simplest is a device in which sheet metal is bent using a special traverse. Using such a device, you can easily bend a sheet of metal at an angle of 90 degrees, using only hand strength without additional devices, if the width of the sheet does not exceed 0.5 meters. The base of the sheet is secured with clamps or in a vice, and its bending is carried out due to the pressure exerted by the traverse. In some cases, to obtain a bend angle of exactly 90 degrees, you may need an embedded spacer (in the picture on the right), which is an ordinary strip of metal that will help compensate for the elasticity of the sheet.

A more complex design is the press brake, which consists of a die and a punch. The sheet metal in such a device is located on a matrix, and the punch is lowered onto the workpiece from above, giving it the required profile. At home, a press brake is unlikely to be used, since it is quite complicated and unsafe to use.

A version of a homemade press brake working in tandem with. If you already have a press, then supplementing it with devices for bending narrow sheets of metal will not be difficult. You'll get something like this:

A sheet bending machine is much more advanced, in which metal is bent by the action of three shafts. Such equipment is called pass-through. One of its main advantages is that its adjustable rollers allow different bending radii. Such a tool for bending metal can be manually or electrically driven, and its rollers can have a different design.

• Rollers with smooth work surface are designed to perform most sheet metal work, which involves bending blanks, manufacturing pipe sections with large diameters, etc.
• Profiled rollers are necessary for bending elements of roofing structures (ridges, valleys, gutters, flanges, etc.).
• The broaching sheet bending machine can be additionally equipped with a support, a clamp and a traverse, which allows it to be used for manual bending of workpieces.

Such machines are equipped with a set of shafts of various profiles, which can also be purchased additionally to make the equipment more versatile.

Where to start making a sheet bending machine

To make a machine for bending sheet metal, you will need a drawing of such a device or its detailed photos. In addition, a number of important factors should be taken into account, such as the force that will need to be applied to use the sheet bending machine, its weight and dimensions (on which mobility depends), cost and availability of components. As a result, we obtain the following initial parameters.

• The maximum width of the sheet that will need to be bent is 1 m.
• Maximum thickness of sheet material: galvanized – 0.6 mm, aluminum – 0.7 mm, copper – 1 mm.
• The number of operating cycles that will be carried out without readjustment or repair is 1200.
• The maximum bend angle of a metal profile, obtained without manual finishing, is 120 degrees.
• It is highly undesirable to use workpieces made of special steels (for example, stainless steel).
• In the design of a sheet bending machine, welded joints that do not withstand alternating loads should be avoided.
• You should limit as much as possible the number of sheet bending machine parts that you will need to order externally, using turners or millers.

It is very difficult to find a drawing of a device that would satisfy all these requirements, but the most successful one can be modified.

The most popular sheet bending design and its improvement

The design of a manual sheet bending machine, shown in drawing No. 1, can be easily improved. From the above drawing it can be seen that the device for bending sheet metal consists of the following elements:

Drawing No. 1: To build our sheet bending machine we will use this diagram

1. pillow made of wood;
2. support beam made of channel 100–120 mm;
3. cheek, for the manufacture of which a sheet 6–8 mm thick is used;
4. sheet of material to be processed;
5. a pressure beam made of 60–80 mm corners connected by welding;
6. an axis for rotating the traverse (made from a metal rod with a diameter of 10 mm);
7. the traverse itself is a corner with dimensions of 80–100 mm;
8. the handle of the device is made of a rod with a diameter of 10 mm.

The sheet bending traverse (item 7), which according to the original drawing is supposed to be made from a corner, is conventionally shown as a version made from a channel. Such modernization will significantly increase the endurance of the traverse, which, when using a corner, at a certain moment will inevitably bend in the middle and will no longer create a high-quality bend in the sheet in this place. Replacing with a channel will allow you to do not 200 bends without straightening or replacing this element (which is quite a bit for more or less active work), but more than 1300.

The design of such a sheet bending machine, made at home, can be further improved, which will make it more efficient and versatile.

Drawing No. 2: Main elements of a sheet bending machine

Drawing No. 2 allows you to understand in more detail the design of a homemade sheet bender:

1. a homemade clamp made from a suitable angle (40-60 millimeters) and a screw with a heel and a knob;
2. cheek;
3. channel acting as a support beam for the machine;
4. a clamping beam bracket made from a 110 mm angle;
5. the pressing beam of the sheet bender itself;
6. axis of rotation of the traverse;
7. the traverse itself.

Strengthening the pressure beam

Below we will look at the clamping bar reinforcement scheme. However, if you initially have a fairly massive corner as a clamp, and you do not plan to bend excessively thick sheets on your sheet bending machine, then it is quite possible to do without reinforcing the clamping bar in the described way.

To extend the service life of the pressure beam and make it comparable to the service life of the traverse, this structural element, which was originally made from an angle according to the drawing, should be supplemented with a base made of metal strip with dimensions 16x80 mm. The front edge of this base should be given an angle of 45 degrees in order to align its plane with the plane of the clamping angle itself, and the working edge of this element should be chamfered about 2 millimeters.

In drawing No. 2, the resulting part is shown in section in the additional figure at the top right. These measures will allow the clamp metal to work not in bending (which is extremely undesirable), but in compression, thereby greatly increasing the service life without repair.

An additional 60 angle welded to the rear flange of the main clamping angle will keep it from bending upward. Drawing No. 2 shows this in more detail in the additional figure at the top left.

You should also take care of milling the lower plane of the pressure beam, which forms the bend. The unevenness of this plane, according to generally accepted rules, should not exceed half the thickness of the workpiece being bent. Otherwise, it will not be possible to bend the workpiece evenly, without a swollen fold line. It should be borne in mind that a beam should be submitted for milling only when it already has all the welds, since their implementation leads to a change in the geometric parameters of the structure.

We increase the reliability of machine mounts

There is another big drawback in the sheet bending machine - the way it is attached to the work table. The clamps provided in this device are a very unreliable fastening option, especially considering the rapid fatigue of welds. Such fasteners can be completely abandoned, which will also avoid the need to use welded joints and jaws. The following actions can solve this problem:

• making a support beam that will protrude beyond the desktop;
• making U-shaped eyes at the ends of the support beam;
• fastening the support beam to the work table using bolts (M10) and shaped nuts with claws.

If the improved sheet bending machine no longer has jaws, how can a crossbeam be attached to it? This issue can be solved quite simply: use butterfly door hinges for this purpose, which are usually used for hanging heavy metal doors. Such hinges, which ensure fairly high accuracy, can be secured using countersunk screws. This is further illustrated in drawing No. 2 at the bottom right.

You can bend a lot of workpieces on a sheet bending machine with a traverse attached to butterfly hinges, since these hinges are very reliable.

Complete structure

After assembly, the improved device for producing a metal profile looks like this:

1. reinforced support beam;
2. flywheel – threaded element;
3. a beam that provides clamping of the workpiece;
4. clamp for attaching the device to the desktop;
5. a traverse, with the help of which, in fact, you can bend the workpiece being processed.

The drawings show pressure flywheels, which in practice few people have. More often, ordinary screws with welded collars are used. After welding the knobs, it is necessary to remove the threads on them, since welding can have an extremely negative effect on it.

Drawings of another version of the sheet bender

Detailed drawings of a sheet bending machine, very similar in design, but differing in the traverse fastening. The diagrams show dimensions, which, of course, can be changed depending on the intended use of the machine.

Support beam Drawing of support beam End of cross beam Drawing of cross beam
Pressure beam Drawing of pressure beam General form assembled Clamp mount

What is a zig machine and how to make one

A zig machine (or creasing device) allows you to bend stiffeners on sheet metal products, which are called zigs. Such machines belong to the category of special equipment and can be electrically or manually driven. Manual zig machines, also secured with a clamp, can be quite compact in size and can be carried in a regular bag for working tools.

Such devices allow you to make high-quality flanging in one pass not only on round products (the same shells of metal containers), but also on straight metal sheets. These devices are simply irreplaceable in the manufacture individual parts roofing structures.

The working elements of the zig machine are rollers, and its use allows you to significantly save on the purchase of roofing structural elements produced in the factory. If you watch a video that shows the operation of such a device, it becomes clear that it can be used even at the site of direct installation of the roof structure.

To choose the right device for the manufacture of bent elements from sheet metal, you can adhere to the following recommendations.

• For a home craftsman who periodically needs a sheet bending machine, a simple device made from improvised materials is quite suitable.
• Those who occasionally carry out roofing installation orders will need a manual sheet metal bending machine and a simple zig machine.
• Specialists who are constantly engaged in the production of elements for roofing structures and tin work need a factory device for bending sheet metal.
• Manual is useful for those who professionally manufacture elements of roofing structures. The optimal choice for such specialists is professional equipment, which is characterized by higher reliability and durability.

Sheet bender Russian production SKS-2v1, price 64 thousand rubles

If your plans nevertheless include the active use of a homemade sheet bending machine to work on a more or less large flow, then be prepared for the fact that at some point your production may stop due to a breakdown. Since the steel used by home craftsmen for the production of sheet bending machines with their own hands, most likely will not withstand high loads, will quickly get tired and simply float.

But for household, not particularly loaded applications, a home sheet bending machine will be an excellent assistant and will save a lot of money. You need to take this point into account and not expect something simple homemade machine miracles of endurance and performance.

Before making a sheet bending machine with your own hands, you can not only study numerous drawings of similar devices posted on the Internet, but also watch a training video. Perhaps the size of the described sheet bender may seem too small to some, then you can consider the option of a homemade sheet bender of a larger format. Of course, this is no longer a mobile machine; it is suitable for a small private workshop:

Advantages of a homemade sheet bender

Making a sheet bending machine with your own hands or purchasing a manual pass-through sheet bender is often of interest to those who want to save a lot on purchasing corrugated sheets serial production. Simple theoretical arithmetic shows: if you bend corrugated sheets yourself using such a device, then the cost of the latter will be 40% lower compared to the cost of factory products. But it's not that simple.

If you purchase a factory manual pass-through machine for corrugated sheets with an eye to a small own production, then it will cost about 60 thousand rubles. Meanwhile, such a manual sheet bending machine does not guarantee the stable quality of the corrugated sheets obtained with its help. The problem is that rolling in one pass will most likely lead to the appearance of overtightened corners, which can subsequently lead to cracks. And rolling one sheet repeatedly, gradually changing the degree of pressure, is too long, labor-intensive and ultimately unprofitable. But more simple details It is quite convenient to make from sheet steel using it.

For a full rolling line made in China for corrugated sheeting you will have to pay about $20,000. Of course, it consumes quite a lot of electricity (from 12 kW) and requires a room for its installation large area, which clearly does not fit into the plans and budget of most home craftsmen.

The most important thing to consider when purchasing a sheet metal bending machine is the possibility of a quick payback. It is quite difficult for a master who uses such a device privately to achieve this. In this case, it is more advisable to use a homemade sheet bending machine, which is suitable for the manufacture of bent sheet products of any type. Using such equipment, you can bend both sheets with standard sizes and non-standard products, which are in great demand when carrying out roofing work, as well as many others.

How does a sheet bending machine work?

Before asking yourself the question of how to make a sheet bending machine, you should understand the design features of such equipment. First of all, such devices differ in the type of their drive. Thus, there are devices with mechanical, electrical, hydraulic and manual drive.

Power-driven press brakes may use a flywheel with a clutch and crank, or a system of pulleys, levers and cables with a falling weight. Such devices, characterized by a shock pulse at the beginning of the working stroke, which then gradually weakens, are far from ideal in terms of the quality of the result due to the mechanics of their work and are used less and less often.

The efficiency of equipment for bending sheet metal, on which an electric drive is installed, drops noticeably with increasing load in the form of a decrease in the size of the workpiece or an increase in its strength. If you try to bend a workpiece made of hard metal (for example, stainless steel) on such a sheet bending machine, you may encounter the fact that the electric motor rotor will begin to slip, reducing torque and increasing electricity consumption.

Equipment with a hydraulic drive allows you to precisely adjust the developed force to the resistance of the workpiece, but it is not cheap. A conventional hydraulic jack, which can also be used as a drive for bending sheet metal, does not ensure uniform distribution of force along the entire length of the bend.

To summarize all of the above, it turns out that a manual sheet bender is the best option for home craftsmen. It can be manufactured in various designs.

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Hello dear readers! This lesson is about modeling leaf body, i.e., parts produced by flexible and (or) stamping from sheet material.

At the beginning of the simulation, it is created leaf body, to which the leaf elements are then added:

- folds,

- cutouts,

- holes,

- plates.

To the resulting part, you can add extrusion, rotation, kinematic, and sectional elements; add chamfers, roundings, stiffeners, etc.

Let's simulate the part shown in the figure

Leaf body. Part 1

Bends in a sheet metal part can be achieved in several ways. Let's look at them.

Fold according to sketch

In the xy plane of the xyz isometry we create a sketch. We put down the dimensions.

On the compact panel, click on the Sheet body elements button

select the Sheet body command

Parameters: straight direction, distance 40mm, outward thickness 4mm.

Fold along the edge

We will create the next bend using the Bend command

To do this, specify the edge, call the command, specify the parameters - reverse direction, distance 30 mm, bend radius 4 mm.

Then open the Sides tab, specify the extension of the fold on the left - 10 mm.

Fold along the line

Let's create a fold along the line.

Select the edge, create a sketch - a segment at a distance of 22 mm from the end of the part.

Then call the command Bend along line

We indicate the face, then the segment. Parameters - straight direction, fixed Side 1, bend radius 5 mm.

Bend in undercut

The next step in working with leaf body - creating a fold in the undercut.

Select the face and create a sketch.

Call the command Sweep

We indicate the face (blue arrow) and the segment.

Parameters - straight direction, fixed Side 2, bend radius 5 mm, outside height 15 mm.

Changing the slope of the sides

Let's create a fold along the edge. In the opposite direction, length 20 mm, bend radius 7 mm. Open the Sides tab, set the slope angle of the sides on the left and right - 30.

Offset the bend along the edge. Creating exemptions

The fold along the edge can be equal in length not only to the length of the ribs. They can also be placed in the middle or at different distances on the left and right.

Let's create a bend on the edge - placement type - in the center, width 20 mm, radius 7 mm, offset of the bend relative to the edge - inward.

With such a bend displacement, deformation or tearing of the material may occur. To avoid this, special grooves are made - releases to the left and right of the fold.

Go to the Release tab and turn on bend release. Type rounded, depth 7 mm, width 3 mm.

Creating a cutout

In order to make the next element of the sheet body - a cutout, it is necessary to straighten one of the folds.

Click the Unbend button

We indicate the fixed edge and the bend that we will unbend.

Select the face (red arrow) and create a sketch.

Call the Cut in Sheet Body command

Cut according to the thickness of the part.

Use the Bend button to bend the fold back.

Create the last fold at an angle of 60º

Creating a flat pattern

Before creating a development, you need to set its parameters - specify the face that will be stationary when unbending. Click the Sweep Options button

Click the Sweep button

Save the detail. Now you can use it to make a drawing with inserting a flat pattern.

Traditional video tutorial

Leaf body. Part 2

Let's look at the sheet body commands using another example. Let's create a part like a box, make blinds in it, open and closed stampings.

We create a sketch - a segment 150 mm long.

We create a sheet body - in the middle plane at 80 mm, thickness - 1 mm.

Select the edge, create a sketch - a 30 mm segment.

Create a bend based on the sketch, select the edge, click the Sequence of Edges button, and indicate the remaining edges.

Go to the Corner Closing tab. We close the butt.

We create blinds

We select the face, the sketch - three segments, align the points of the segments horizontally, and put down the dimensions.

Press the Blinds button

We create a sketch of an open stamping hole - a circle with a diameter of 15 mm.

Click the Open stamping button

At the bottom of the part we create a sketch - a rectangle.

Press the Closed stamping button (see the picture for the blinds).

Let's create a sweep.

Second part of the video tutorial

During large-scale construction, the question often arises of how to bend sheet metal or metal elements, such as pipes. In order to bend small diameter pipes, a vice is often used. Pipes with a large diameter are bent on specially designed machines. They are also used if during construction there is a need to bend sheet metal.

During construction, sometimes it becomes necessary to bend a sheet of metal, for example, to make pipes or a roof ridge.

When bending sheet metal using a bending machine, no welding is required, which guarantees absolute preservation of the structure of the material. The metal sheet must be bent taking into account its thickness and ductility, having previously determined the bending radius.

A little about sheet metal bending technology

A homemade bending machine consists of:

You can bend sheet metal by securing it in a vice and using a simple device consisting of two corners and a lever handle.

1. Beds.
2. Flywheel nuts.
3. Sheet for bending.
4. Pressing.
5. Clamps.
6. Punch for crimping.

In order to bend sheet metal into the shape you need, you need to follow certain steps. The advantage of a bending machine is the ability to keep the metal intact, unlike, for example, welding joints, due to which the service life and strength of the material are significantly reduced.

In the process of bending the metal, its outer layers are stretched and the inner layers are compressed. The result of using a bending machine is a bent part of the sheet metal or metal element to the intended angle.

As you understand, when bending, the metal deforms. Its degree will depend on the thickness of the material you have to work with. The angle of the bent part and the speed at which you bend the metal play a significant role here. In this case, it is worth taking into account the degree of plasticity of the material.

In order to bend sheet metal, special equipment is required to avoid any damage to the material. If you decide to handle this task yourself, it is worth considering the fact that incorrect actions can lead to various defects. Incorrect metal sheet bending technology can harm the entire finished structure. Using a bending machine, you can bend a sheet of any thickness.

Name of sheet bending parts.

When bending sheet metal, the stress must exceed its maximum elasticity. Using a bending machine, you can achieve plastic deformation of the sheet. The shape of the finished structure will not change.

Bending sheet metal using a special bending machine has a number of undeniable advantages, among which the following can be noted:

• high strength of the finished structure;
• the ability to obtain a one-piece structure;
• eliminating the formation of corrosion in the bend area;
• the ability to get the angle you need without a seam.

Bending sheet metal using a machine also has its disadvantages:

• high cost of equipment;
• Doing the work yourself is a rather labor-intensive process.

Despite the presence of some disadvantages, sheet metal bent using a machine is distinguished by its high quality. Unlike a design with a welded seam, it is not “afraid” of rust.

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Metal sheet bending technology

Sectional diagram and names of parts of a sheet bending machine.

Metal bending is done manually using equipment. This job requires the use of force. You will need pliers and a hammer. In order to bend sheet metal that has a small thickness, you can use a mallet.

In order to bend a metal sheet, the following materials and tools are needed:

• sheet metal;
• rollers;
• press (or roller machines);
• mechanical hydraulic rollers (necessary if sheet metal needs to be shaped into a cylinder).

Using hydraulic or electrically driven rollers, pipes can be produced. Bending is often needed during home construction, when gutters, metal frames, profiles, pipes, etc. are made. By bending sheet metal with your own hands, you have the opportunity to make a pipe of the diameter you need. Using machines, you can easily give the intended shape to a galvanized material.

If purchasing a special bending machine is beyond your means, but construction works often require bending; using the instructions, you can make the equipment yourself. The machine is performed using a pre-prepared template made of wood. Moreover, it must be made in a curved shape.

Manual bending is done in a vice using a hammer.

When deciding on the fold of the future product, you should take into account its size. The length that the future structure will have is calculated in accordance with the radius of the sheet bend. When making blanks, for rectangular bends (if roundings are not required), allowances are left for bending, which are 0.5 of the thickness of the material.

It is most convenient to work independently with ductile metals such as brass, aluminum and copper. As for the possible radius of the curved part, it will entirely depend on the method in which the bending was performed, as well as on the quality of the metal itself. For products with a small radius of curvature, plastic materials are required.

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How to bend metal with your own hands: making brackets

In order to make a bracket with your own hands, you will need:

1. First of all, using the diagram, the length of the strip that the workpiece will have is calculated, then it is necessary to calculate the bending of the sheet. When performing the calculation, you should remember that for each bend you need to leave a margin, the thickness of which is 0.5, and the bends of the ends are 1 mm.
2. According to the diagram, you should cut out the workpiece, then mark on it the areas for future bending. In order to make a bend, squares and a vice are used.
3. The workpiece should be fixed in a vice to approximately the level of the bend. Using a hammer, you can begin making the first bend.
4. Next, having rearranged the prepared element, clamp it in a vice and make the next bend.
5. Your next action will be to determine the marks for the length of the legs of the future bracket. In order to bend the bracket with the frame, a vice is also used. To do this, you need to bend two of its legs at once.

If you need to clarify the bend, you can use a triangle. In case of incorrect bending, errors can be corrected by using a hammer and a frame block. Having achieved the bend you need, saw off the excess material to get the desired dimensions.