Shop Brake for All Those Other Jobs Besides Spars

[SpruceForest]

I believe I have the wing spars and flap stuff sorted for my Patrol scratch-built project, but any consensus from the group on a small (50" or less) shop brake for all of the sheet metal work that happens after the spars are done? Seems like a lot of stuff that a smaller tabletop bending brake could handle, but I'd rather cry once and have a tool that will do all those other wing, fuse, and the firewall-forward bits, plus the usual side projects (float bulkheads? fly rod tunnel?). Some mods OK to get bend radius to what it needs to be, but not adverse to spending more to get something better suited to aircraft work.

Thanks!

Todd

[geraldmorrissey]

My brake came from Harbor Freight. I think it is 20" long. I filed a radius on the stationary hold down bar. So far it's worked perfect for T-3 AL up to .032.
Gerry
Patrol #30

[nborer]

I'll second this recommendation. I've used my small 18" HF brake for rib stiffeners & attach angles to date. No problem with up to 0.032. I could probably have used a foot cover, but the radius gauge showed remarkable consistency with a proper setback. I checked each one to be sure for both the 0.025 stiffeners & 0.032 attach angles to verify, with no issues.

HF also sells a 30" version of the same brake; I've seem some reviews that it can flex a bit, but can't confirm. It kind of looks like the one BTAZ has in the post below. If you want, HF sells a 36" beefier-looking brake for about 4x the money.

[BTAZ]

I started with the HF leaf brake and modified it to stiffen it up , allow the setback to be adjusted, and the clamp to be a bit more user friendly. Used it for bending up the stiffener and rib attach angles as well as some of the steel parts.

Resulting corner bend radius was adjusted by the setback and the "foot cover" chosen

[rodsmith]

I bought a 48" box and pan brake on an Oshkosh special. Have never used the full length but has been great for making parts like a battery box etc. That and my welding skills has made me sometimes too popular in my airpark neighborhood.