For best cutting thread results, go 3/4 turns forward and 1/4 turn back every time until your through. No need to wind it all the way out, clean up and go back in again. The back and fourth breaks of the chips in small pieces

Honestly the best mod I've seen on KZfaq and I've watched dozens. If you mass produced that break you would put all others out of business.

I saw you get out that hacksaw and I groaned! As affordable as a band saw is today I wouldn't go one minute without one.

I gotta admit I wasn't following where you were going with this but then the light bulb turned on. I could see Northern offering that as an upgrade kit! Toggle clamps are really handy for making all sorts of time saving fixtures.

Awesome upgrade, Gene. That transforms the usability of that brake. I've got some 3ft lengths of angle sat in the corner of the shop which will, one day, become a press brake. I'll certainly be adding those toggle clamps to my design! All the very best, Roy.

Gene, This is the KISS principle at its finest on this generic 30" sheet metal brake that is sold by many different distributor's everywhere. Mods only requiring a little drilling, grinding & tapping with no welding required. This has greatly enhanced this sheet metal brake.👍👍 Once your video goes viral, I expect that there's going to be a run on this brake, toggle clamps & some 2x2 angle iron happing soon. I just waiting on HF to post some good coupon discounts on this item, hope its by Memorial Day week. I've got a few Andrew Jackson's wanting to get out. 😁 Thanks for sharing

The hack saw and the splitting maul… two tools that remind us of our age 😂

Got to hand it to you ! This is what the tool should have been in the first place! I cant help thinking when using mine that I only have half a solution and now it is clear that I am right! You just showed us the other half. I Will adaptating your solution in due course.

I just finished modifying a Harbor Freight metal brake with your upgrades and some modifications of my own. I welded a 1/4" piece of flat bar to the 2x2 angle iron. I then bolted the 2"x2" and flat bar subassembly to the blade with 5 1/4 bolts. With the addition of the 1/4 " flat bar it was too heavy to lift with the handles on the toggle clamps so I added a handle in the middle of the 2x2 up-right. that makes lifting really easy. Thanks for the video. This is going to make a really good metal brake. OLD) Just an FYI, your link to the angle iron takes you to 48x2x2 aluminum. Great video.

Great job! I have the 18" and did something similar. One addition was welding a piece of 1/4" X 1" X 6" at the bottom so it simply goes in my 6" wood vise so no need to clamp it to the table. One quick turn takes it on and off.

Grat modification which I will be doing to my brake. One more upgrade would be to cut the original flat bar into sections, so you can remove a piece to bend boxes. This of course would require a few more tapped holes, but I think it would be worth it.

Nice modification, Gene! This video brought back memories for me. I used to repair factory machinery and we were constantly modifying the machines to better suit our needs. Btw...I was just thinking about buying one of those, yesterday. Good timing for the video. Thanks!👍🙂

Great mods. Love the clamps you found. Looks like you are more of a woodworker with hand saw, tapping... I will be using the cutting wheel for all and welding. Thanks!

I was really facinated by this build, I'll definitely watch it a few more times. Great content and great editing. Thanks & Take Care: Shawn

Great Mod Gene, I've been looking for something simpler than welding to the edge bar (possible warpage) and using springs and sleeve nuts to clamp down the plate (little space to work). This is a much better solution. I will be doing this to my HF 30" unit in the next week or so. Mine struggles to bend 24ga sheet metal with some bending to the edge bar. But with this mod using 1/4" angle iron, I think it would handle 20ga easily. Also, a portable band saw is a great tool addition if doing a lot of metal cutting.

That came out great. Nice little project. Very satisfying!

Another GREAT job Gene! Don't know how it took me 6 months to see it !? As I check your channel regularly for new videos. I think YT plays so funny games sometimes.

nice job, my brothers brake has a similar clamp that came from factory. Its a 10' brake designed for commercial use. Hack sawing angle iron is laborious!

Awesome upgrade! Thank you for the advice on the tap use.

I was completely disappointed when my partner and I purchased this tool for our new shop. That you have to supply your own "C clamps" to make it work is almost unbelievable. Your hack, however, is by far the best on KZfaq. I have watched a number of them and yours is Elegant genius at its finest. Honestly, I would pay double the price if this brake was made with the pieces you added. This is my first time at your channel but I am now a new subscriber and will take time to look at some of your other videos. Thanks for such an awesome build.

This is the best setup I have seen. I watched many others and this will definitely make this much more functional. What is the purpose of the shims? I have watched the video a few times and not sure why they are needed.

Thanks for this video, I need something portable for building plenum transitions on the job site, I’m going to grab me one and modify it similarly to what you have done.

Best brake mod I've seen so far!

Very nice. Even looks good!

This is awesome and I have already picked up some toggle clamps thank you!

Now I'm all caught up.. lol .. they should hire you to design that for them 😁👍

Suggestion ; You improved the brake, your next improvement should be to purchase a Lennox high tension hacksaw paired with bi-metal blades of different pitch. This style hacksaw will give better cuts that are straighter and blade life improves immensely. The style hacksaw you have does this. On the forward stroke, the blade behind the point of contact can bend from stretching ever so slightly coupled with a holding device that allows the blade to twist which causes your cut to go off course. The more pressure you apply amplifies this. If you get one, I doubt you will want t0 use your present one even for wood projects. Your call. My Lennox is an older model and after the blade is placed over the pins and slack is taken up with the crank in thew handle, the crank gets 8 additional turns. it is solidly held. I picked up a Stanley high tension frame and it is inferior to my Lennox. Nice work on the bender. Using angle is a good idea for getting clearance in the front. The clamps are also a good idea.

Really helpful and well made.. thank you for sharing your ideas. 🙏

great mod! Inspired me to make one. thanks for sharing

I like the idea of what you did but if you try and bend the max gage (16 gage) it wont work so well. You need to be able to move the blade forward and backward to accommodate the thickness. With the bending bar in a vertical position you should be able to slide the metal between the vertical and horizontal bars easily. Great video.

Genius!

That's pretty cool

Every full turn of a tap, you should go in reverse 1/4 turn to remove the chips

Thanks for the great ideas Gene! I was looking for a solution to the clamping dilemma and this brilliantly solves it without reducing the material width capacity. Does this also increase the brakes ability to bend thicker material? If not, would stronger clamps or a thicker backing plate (attached to the pressure plate) do the trick?

Interesting Video. I might have to try that, except weld the stuff in place. that is a good idea though.

Came out nice but what about when u got to go past 90degrees?

Great approach and detail, thank you! Is the thickness on that 2" angle metal really 1/18" gauge, as provided in the discription? I seems a little thicker in the video.

Excellent job!

Any chance you would put one together and sell it? I'm handy but not that handy lol

If you already have a grinder, why didn't you use a cut-off disc instead of hack-sawing?

nice

❤

Curious as to why, if you had an angle grinder, you didn't just use a cutoff wheel instead of the hacksaw?

Creative. How well do the flip clamps stand the test of the challenges of a 30”, 16g steel without flexing or breaking?

What is the benefit of the angles cut on the bending bar??

👍👍👍

The link for the angle iron is aluminum, is that correct?

How do I get the measurement print on make this. I have a 30 inch. H.F. one

Why didn’t you use your grinder with a cut off wheel for the first cuts?!

I'm not going to watch past the 2.20 mark untill someone explains to me why would he not use the angel grinder and a cutoff wheel to cut the angle???

Broken link -> The link for the 30" Brake does not lead to it.

Why didn’t you demonstrated bending some Baker metal?

I don't think that it was any fault of your self with tap, Irwin tapes are junk.

Angle Iron is some hard stuff, Hacksaw will keep you in good shape though :)

a welder would go a long way...

"easy to do!" proceeds to take 3 minutes of video time to cut angle with a hacksaw

Felicidades, es un buen ejemplo. 159 sentadillas son unos XX18LIKE.Uno muchas y un buen ejercicio. Se deja ver que hay muy buenos resultados 😍👍 Saludos desde la Cd.. de world 🌹😉💖 los mortalesv abian apreciado tan hermosa mujer.k

how does it do with 0.016" thick 30 inch wide Carbon Steel?