Just to let you know, I have been a sheet metal fabricator at a small HVAC shop for 22 years (I just retired) and you have built one of the best looking and functioning "home built" brakes I have seen. Very nice! Simple and effective. 😀

I've been a,skilled tin basher for 40 years, I've really enjoyed watching your film. I will fab one to your design. Superb work and explanation thanks for sharing your design 👍

I'm reminded of tools I have used in granite countertop fabrication. These days CNC machines do much of it but guys who don't have 90,000 dollars used grinders with a jig or short of guard bolted onto the grinder to maintain a perfect position or offset of the grinder to the stone edge. Luckily that top piece of angle iron has a nice clean sharp back corner that can be used as a reference surface for the driver to run against to grind that edge straight and flat to make a nice sharp edge on that brake.

75% of my garage is DYI, its not that im cheap, i got into metal for a reason, i like working with it. so i enjoy building my own tools and gadgets. nice brake bro, thanks for showing

I think it's the only one design that takes in mind the thickness of the material. Thank You!

To bend a sharper radius, simply slip a length of angle iron under the anvil and loosen the two rear bolts accordingly. Bend over the heel of the angle.

The rare talent of making and explaining complicated things simple! Sir!😊

Fantastic video. Brilliant to see so much intelligence on display. Folks think they are smart because they go to work in a suit. They wouldn't stand a chance at designing one of these. Your diagrams were really excellent, even down to the detail on that nut.

I’ve watched quite a few videos of DIY sheet metal breaks and this is by far the best! Straight forward and thoroughly explained. Thank you for your help; I will definitely start my build now.

Nice! You are a good teacher. Appreciate you walking us thru it!

Excellent design and very well explained mate. If you don't mind suggestions, there is one design modification you could add. If you welded (or bolted, so it's removable) an extension (long enough to clear your tensioning winder) to one end of the rotating angle. Then add a 90° bend that extended straight up you could then attach an appropriately sized counterweight. That way when you pulled the handle forward the weight would lean back and do a lot of the heavy lifting/bending for you. You could add extra weights for bending thick materials and remove weights for thinner materials. Much easier on the back for old codgers like me/us 😉. Cheers Andy 👍

You sir, are a genius. I've watched dozens of videos looking for the best way to make a trim break and you nailed it! I love the drawings and the break down of the process you went through to build this. You are the only one to make a video that solved the problem I was having with keeping enough pressure and force on the center of the top piece of angle that clamps everything down. (I'm building a 10' brake to bend aluminum trim.) Truly fantastic video, and really amazing piece of equipment you built there.

I was about to buy a break but could not find the length I wanted for the price I was willing to pay. After seeing what you did, I will build my own. Thanks for the insight!

Dill mounting holes in the sloping front of the brake, then make plates that bolt to the front that mimic the edge you want to reproduce with the brake. Then you can switch the separate plates out as needed.

ALL I CAN SAY IS WOW!!! IT ONLY TOOK ME 62 YEATS YEARS TO REALIZE I LOVE WORKING WITH METAL , FABRICATING STUFF FOR MY CUSTOM CARS. LOVE YOUR CHANNEL!!! NOW I'M GOING TO MAKE MYSELF A BRAKE AND A PLANISHING HAMMER. ILL BE WATCHING YOUR CHANNEL A LOT IN THE FUTURE! A REALLY BIG THANKS FOR YOUR SHARING HOW TO BUILD THESE THINGS SINCE TO BUY THESE THEY CAN BE EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE AND THIS WAY YOU CAN INCORPORATE THINGS YOU LIKE AND LEAVE OUT OR ALTER THINGS TO YOUR OWN LIKING! I LOVE IT!!!

I think it's absolutely perfect I really would like to see that truck in the background to the right. Thank you very much for the video

1.3m bender, wow. This is one of the strongest and best bender i have seen on KZfaq.

Best description of how to build a brake I've ever seen!! Excellent work sir!

good stuff as usual Diff, I especially like the left-hand thread on the tensioner diagram.

I sent my angle iron adjustable bending edge through my mill to get rid of the rounded edge. It now sits flat on the bender's frame . Diff, you need to find an old mill for your shop, they really come in handy and are fun to use.

Thank You. I wish we were neighbors.. .

Great video bud a lot of people dont understand the importance of the centre line and material thickness clearance

Fantastic. I didnt know anything about sheet metal brakes before i saw this and now I feel like an expert

Wow! I am really thankful you made this video. I've been looking at sheet metal brakes for a long time for some personal projects and this could so easily be made with scrap metal that would cost me far less than purchasing one. Fantastic video sir and incredible work on the design.

you have given an exceptional explanation of the workings of the brake

Thank you for sharing your tool build

I’ve seen a lot of these on here. You have done the best job I’ve seen on explaining how these work and why it has to be this way. Most just show you “how to build” one. You really break it down and make it simple to understand. Nice job on the build too! Looks amazing!

Thank you Sir for this wonderful sharing. God bless you

A good explanation of the individual parts. One of the best explained bending brake tutorials I have seen. Good Work

MY MAN! i do not know how you came to my feed but i am grateful. your work is great, your explanations were great and that illustration you made finally made the idea about centering the hinge pin along the folding axis make sense in my brain. Again, I'm grateful, thank you!

You sir are genius just simple geometry, measurements , angles and simplicity are genius on all your fabrication and explanations will help me to finish and build my own cars and projects genius sir thank you

I really admire the keep it simple school of thought. I wish I had a need for one of these, great work!

Great build! And I love your comments at the end about using ones time. Thank you for posting this.

Really nice build and those were some excellent drawings man.

Great video. Something that a handyman can make. Well done on a simple but highly effective design for a bending brake.

That is the best I have ever seen. You seem to have thought of everything that others have missed. Got a car to do and I'm making one of these this week. Brilliant, thank you for your time.

liked the box brake cut outs - good one! i put counter weights on mine to bend 48" of 16ga for a truck gas tank

Im a hvac installer goin on ten years and have been wanting a diy brake i could lug around on the job to fab on the go. This is it right here. Simple yet extremely effective for what would be needed on the daily. And the slots to mimic a finger brake are genius. Thank you for the inspiration, if/when i make this, all design credit will always go to you. I also really enjoyed the video. Being fully transparent on the build and quality, and giving clear examples both on the brake and in drawing form. Well done sir 👏🏼

You are the best fabrication jobs I've ever seen. for a sheet metal break the Leading Edge to make a 90° Bend in your sheet metal. you have to take it to a machine shop. and have them machine that so you have a Sharper Edge on the sheet metal brake then you will get your true 90° Bend. God bless brother

Thanks for sharing this, helped me loads to make a simple and smaller brake for small sheet metal stuff for my bikes! Love the channel too!

Beautiful work!

Just a suggestion on the front side you can takeoff your quarter inch of material to make it flatter instead of a rounder and on the backside you can leave it around. It looks like there’s enough play in your top piece of angle iron to do that and it looks like if you want it, you can reverse the back to front And front to back you can have two different types of radius bends. One flat, and one a little more rounded..

Very good detailed explanation..... Thankyou

Great build. I especially like the hinge detail! I needed to build one, and im glad i found your video first. Im currently building a brake very similar to your design, out of scrap metal that i had laying around. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for sharing. Blessings from Australia.

Very smart and minimalist design. Nicely done, sir! 👍

a very good video, well explained and the little diagrams make all the difference. I'm inspired, like the design and will be building one soon. Many thanks. AL (UK)

Great video very well explained version of how to make the bender love the south African accent 😎 all the best from Ireland

Just a simple yet brilliant design. Thanks so much for posting. 👍

This is an awesome way to do this. You have thought about about every possible solution to the normal problems with diy metal breaks. Thank you very much for sharing. This is the best diy metal brake I’ve seen. I’m going to use yours as a plan to build me one.

Great demonstration, great explanation ! Thanks for your time and effort.

Great project, video and thorough description. Your drawings along the way really helped to understand what was going on. Thanks.

Outstanding! I enjoy the channel!

Hats off to you my friend for this build and your explanation!

Very well done! I think this can be built quite inexpensively and be quite useful as well as scalable! Thank you!

I’ve enjoyed this so much, thank you for sharing.

Awesome break, this fills me with good ideas for one for my own workshop, I like your design and your explanation was great. thanks for sharing mate. 😀

Wow that's well built! Greetings from Canada.

Very simple, and super functional...Best home made metal brake I have ever seen. Great job.

Awesome brake project, I'm re-siding my home and need a brake for the window inner edges, I've been looking at a couple of videos and this is by far the Best project I've seen and your demeanor and compassion for your work is exceptional, Thank You.

Excellent design. Excellent discussion. I note that the handle also serves as a minimal strong-back and could easily be modified to complement the strong-back you suggest that could go on the backside. I believe that modifying the edge of the hold-down angle is easier than you think. Remove the hold-down. Choose a keen 4-foot length of angle and carefully clamp this angle along the line you wish to cut. Use your grinder and a course sanding disc to work the edge of your hold-down back to your fixtured reference. One final note concerning bend radius. For mild steel the width of a V-die like is used in a press brake should be eight times the material thickness. For a pan brake like yours I think the setback adjustment on the hold-down probably should be five times the material thickness. This of course assumes that you have achieved that nice sharp corner on the hold-down. The net result should be an inside bend radius equal to the material thickness.

Was looking for ideas for a shop built metal brake and this is the best ideal. This will be one of my new tools in my shop. Just goes to show you that you don't need alot of money to accomplish a task.

Great design, and very well explained. Thank you sir, for your time and knowledge. From Canada

Great craftsmanship!!!

Very good job of show and tell. An excellent tool to have. Tks for showing.

Wow! I see a future project unfolding. Thanks

Simple but very effective.thankz guy

Beautiful tool Dif, and beautiful explanation of its design and operation. 😊👍👍

Excellent. Love the design. Thank you.

I just bought a 36 inch break at an auction. If id seen this i definately would of made my own and i still might try it. Great video . Thanks!

Foi o melhor projeto de dobradeira aqui no KZfaq!

Very functional and practical and easy to build yourself. I also planned to built me a sheet-metal brake. Thanks for sharing your experience and knowledge.

Very well made, great adjustments.

Sir, you by just presented the greatest idea i need to copy you are very helpful Im from the philippines thank you very much

Absolutely brilliant! Thanks for sharing with us. I plan to build one.

Awesome! I will definitely be coming back to this video in the future to build my own! Will keep my eyes out at the scrap yards for a 10mm "flat bar"

What cool part about pipe anvil is no moving parts, but yet such a amazing tool

Love the bending brake from used parts . Recycle all we can brother, very informative video , great drawings 👍

Fabricator from NZ here this is awesome! To find one that is size appropriate and inexpensive is a struggle but I’ve plenty of scrap to knock one out. Thanks! For your 90degree radius if you want to make it tighter I have a trick I use to bevel my edges of angle anything really. Diablo make a great yet somewhat costly-ish steel cut off blade. I usually raise my cut height on my circular saw and then clamp a straight edge onto piece I’m wanting to cut to use as a guide. I find if you do it in small incremental passes the blades last a lot longer. Poor man’s cold saw??? PPE and the hot chips won’t phase ya. Been working for me for weld prep for years and I haven’t found anything else other then thee ole grinder. Hope that helps. 🤙

An excellent build- the best, simplest one Ive ever seen. Since the Dart project is about to kick off- its time to build my own, and Ill shamelessly be copying yours. Well done!!

You did an excellent job. I wish this video was around before I bought my brake and modified it.

What a nice metal bender and DIY instructions Thank you for the useful and great video❤

Thanks for sharing this, I tried to build one like yours once, but looking at your I can see where I went wrong

very nicely done ,one of the better designed bending brake seen online

Great work bro, you have waken my brain brother.❤

Great engineering! Thank you

Really informative on the build thank you for the info

I've seen people use a jig guide with a grinder to grind down the angle iron edge to a sharper angle

Very cool , I still say you would have an awesome shop teacher.

Hi master, thank you so much. I'm making my own metal bend and I took some tips from your job. I was watching a lot of videos but you explain very well. It works for me. Greetings from Ecuador 🇪🇨.

Thanks for sharing you just proved that a lot of tools can be self made

You have a great brake there, withvery well thought out plan and the result is a clean build. The excellent drawings are very helpful. Thank you from mid-Canada. B.

Very nice work, really appreciated the explanation of mounting the hinge. Cheers from Canada

Hey Div. Good video. That's a great brake that you made. I could use one when I start working on my Buick. Nice job. Thanks for sharing.🍁👍👍

Magnificent build

Thank you so much for the information.

Excellent job! I enjoyed the drawings too!

Very well explained, good build. Thank you.

Excellent piece of enginnering

I like your design and on my next build I will do it same as you did only difference will be sharp bending edge. Wish I have seen it before my build!