Homemade sheet metal bending machine drawings. Manual sheet bending machine for industrial production. How to make a sheet bending machine with your own hands. How to bend at right angles

In modern construction, it is impossible to imagine work related to reinforced concrete structures, metal reinforcement or creating a foundation without the use of convenient bending machines that can perform many useful functions. Manual homemade sheet benders are fairly simple tools that allow even an unskilled craftsman to bend high-quality products from sheet material.

The emergence of the sheet metal bending machine

The first mechanical press brakes were invented in the USA. The emergence of sheet metal bending machines dates back to the 19th century, when production organizations in all kinds of industries felt the need for widespread production of metal structural parts.

Manufacturing metal products without the use of special equipment was extremely expensive and time consuming. Then there were attempts to introduce a pneumatic press into production, but they failed because they were characterized by low productivity and poor visibility of the material.

But the technical process does not stand still, and inconvenient, massive, energy-consuming and traumatic mechanical sheet benders have been replaced with hydraulic models that have better performance properties. This happened in the second half of the 20th century, when steel processing began to improve. And then off we go...

The work of scientists in this environment contributed to the automation of sheet bending machines, the development of additional equipment and the safety of employees. After 60 years, the sheet metal bending machine has become an integral part of production. And today, even private craftsmen constantly wonder how to make a sheet bending machine with their own hands.

Purpose of the sheet bending machine

A sheet bending machine is a pressing device that bends solid sheets of metal or cut strips of metal of different thicknesses and shapes. A homemade sheet bender is capable of bending sheets at the desired angle, without disturbing the flatness. Sheet bending machines are used for processing sheets of brass, steel, aluminum and copper, as well as other metals with a thickness of up to 0.7-0.8 millimeters.

At the same time, there are no deformations in the folded part of the sheet that cannot be achieved when using a traditional mallet and mandrel. This allows you to make a variety of objects from the sheet. Products made in this way are almost no different from similar ones made on industrial machines.

The presence of a silicone insert on the bending beam makes it possible to bend painted sheets without the risk of damaging the coating. There are also convenient functions for adjusting the thickness of the sheets to be bent. The sheet bender easily bends sheets of iron and tin, the accuracy and quality of the bend is quite high and meets all requirements. Many of these machines can simultaneously cut metal.

Sheet bending equipment is widely used:

in mechanical engineering - for the manufacture of bodies and spare parts;
in ship and aircraft construction;
in the field of construction - finishing of roof fronts, production of roofing, ventilation shafts and air ducts, wind strips and cornices, door and window frames, facade cladding, production of ridges and ebbs for windows, as well as elements of metal siding, metal tiles and corrugated sheets;
in electronics - for the manufacture of cases for personal computers, washing machines, refrigerators and microwave ovens;
in furniture production - for creating open and closed profiles, cones, boxes, cylinders.

A sheet bending machine consists of a sheet of iron, which is the base, a clamp, a crimping punch with fastening, 2 clamps for attaching the equipment to the workbench tabletop. They make sheet bending machines with their own hands from metal blanks. Experts recommend buying a 6.5 - 8 channel at a metal warehouse, which has a length of 500 - 650 millimeters, on which the entire structure of the sheet bender is supported.

Often, sheet bending machines are equipped with additional options: a device for holding rolled metal, a protractor, duplicate supports for metal sheets and a profiling device. Sometimes it is practiced to manufacture a sheet bender with a reinforced support, which ensures reliable fastening of the machine, and a special roller knife, which can cut metal at the level of quality achieved in factories.

Construction of a sheet metal bending machine

A sheet bending machine is in most cases used to manufacture roofing elements from metal profiles. Sheets can be fed into the sheet bending device from the back and front, which eliminates the need for preliminary cutting. The design includes a cutter that allows you to cut metal directly on the object.

The main elements of the drawing of a homemade sheet metal bender for bending sheet metal are the following:

Roller knife. This tool is made from the most durable and high-quality steel alloy; the service life ranges from 25 kilometers of half-millimeter-thick metal. The knife can be sharpened after the end of its service life and the cycle can be repeated several times. The design of the steel knife with powder coating is very resistant to loads, the weight reaches 5 kilograms.
Back table. A sheet of metal can easily be placed on the table, which you can move in the required direction and tuck in for work. The bender and cutter of the material are installed on the table supports.
Stand. The work table is placed on a wooden stand, so the sheet bending machine does not slide on the floor. It is possible to adjust the height of the stand, and the machine can be easily moved on wheels, which is convenient for regular transportation.
Front stops. These elements allow you to set the width of the cut, and their design can be rotated 180 degrees and then returned to the first position.
Measuring plate and corner stop. The stop is able to quickly set the required angle of the sheet, or perform the bending process itself without fixing it at an arbitrary angle.

Operating principle of the machine

A manual homemade sheet bender is intended for the production of profile parts from thin sheet steel, aluminum and copper: 0.5-0.7 millimeters thick, up to 2500 millimeters wide, with a shelf height of 20 millimeters, cutting strips of this sheet from 80 to 400 millimeters for folding the curved shelves to give the product additional rigidity.

The operating principle of a sheet bending machine is based on fixing the workpiece on the bending table using a clamping frame and then bending the protruding part of the workpiece to the desired angle with a rotary beam. The maximum bending angle reaches 135 degrees, with the possibility of bending up to 180 degrees. The maximum thickness of the metal that is fed depends on the power of the pressing mechanism.

The clamping is performed mechanically using an eccentric coupler. You can adjust the clamping force. The simple design of the sheet bending machine and the materials used can ensure its reliability and high reliability, as well as maintainability in harsh conditions - even in the field. The peculiarity of the design is the possibility of unlimited feeding of workpieces along the length.

There are special machines on sale; the drawings of sheet benders of this type have certain distinctive features. The workpiece can be pressed using an electromagnet, which is located in the body of the device. The power of the electromagnet is capable of providing clamping that prevents the workpiece from slipping out from under the clamping beam.

The increased rigidity of the above structure demonstrates straightness and high quality bending. The length of the workpieces and the bending angle can be fixed or specified using limiters to create identical or similar parts.

The assortment also includes bending presses, in which the deformation of the workpiece is accomplished by pressing it into the recess of the matrix with the protrusion of the punch. The force is provided by a hydraulic or pneumatic drive. Such sheet bending equipment is intended for bending sheet steel, which has a thickness of up to 3 millimeters and a length of up to 2500 millimeters.

Types of sheet bending machines

According to mobility, sheet-bending equipment is divided into mobile and stationary. The first types of machines are used in production for processing large volumes of material, the second types of machines are used in small enterprises or construction sites for the production of individual parts.

Depending on the method of processing the material, sheet bending machines can be rotary, equipped with a bending beam, press machines with a punch and a die, or rotary - sheet bending machines include rolls.

According to the type of drive, sheet bending machines are divided into 5 types:

Pneumatic devices operate due to the functioning of pneumatic cylinders; mainly rotary models are on sale.
Electromechanical machines are stationary mechanisms equipped with a drive system, electric motor and gearbox.
Mechanical machines are stationary machines that operate using the energy of a flywheel.
Hydraulic machines are capable of operating using hydraulic cylinders.
Manual machines require the muscular strength of workers for their operation and are very convenient for quick transportation and work in places where products are produced.

When choosing a sheet bending machine or making a sheet bending machine yourself, you need to decide on the thickness of the metal sheets, because a manual machine is considered the optimal solution for processing material that has a thickness of less than 0.1 centimeters.

This device is able to provide the necessary accuracy and free owners from large investments. If you require various metal parts that are more than 1 centimeter thick, it is best to choose an industrial model with an electric drive and the ability to perform a wide range of functions. Such machines cost much more, occupy a larger area, but demonstrate high productivity.

Manufacturing of sheet metal bending machine

A sheet bending machine is still a rarely used device in the practice of DIYers. However, this tool is very useful, because even unskilled craftsmen can perform high-quality work related to bending sheet metal.

A sheet bending machine, consisting of a base, a crimping punch with a lever, a clamp and two clamps, can be made using electric welding. Only undeformed angles number 3 and 5 are needed, as well as a section of channel. The base is usually made from channel number 6.5 or 8, which has a length of up to 500 millimeters. It is customary to choose the size at your own discretion.

A clamp made from a corner is capable of bending a sheet at an angle that is more than 90 degrees, which, for example, is necessary for joining sheets into a fold. The clamp of a self-made manual sheet bender has a welded design. The main corner 5 must be additionally reinforced with a profile from corner number 3.

To ensure a rigid clamp, it is recommended to use corners with a shelf thickness of 5 millimeters. The clamp is made shorter than the base by 70 millimeters; brackets from sections of angle number 3 with a wall whose thickness reaches 5 millimeters should be welded to its ends.

The edges of the corner shelves, which are in contact with the sheet being bent, are filed or milled, making them parallel to the base. In each corner bracket in the middle of the shelf it is necessary to drill a hole with a diameter of 8 millimeters.

Make the crimping punch from corner number 5, it is 10 millimeters shorter than the clamp. The lever is usually bent from a reinforcing steel bar, which has a diameter of 15 millimeters, in the form of a bracket and welded to the punch. Next, cut out the cheeks from a steel sheet, the thickness of which is 5 millimeters, and drill a hole in them with a diameter of 10 millimeters.

Remove chamfers from the edge of the ends of the angle-punch, the length of which is 30 and the depth of 5 millimeters, which are necessary for fastening and installing steel axles from a bar, which has a diameter of 10 millimeters. The axles must be welded in such a way as shown in the video about do-it-yourself sheet benders, so that the center line of the rod is directed parallel to the edge of the angle. On the edge of the base, remove chamfers that have a depth of 6 and a length of 32 millimeters.

The base and punch for pre-assembly must be secured in a bench vice so that the flanges of the angle and channel are placed in the same horizontal plane. Place the cheeks on the punch axles and attach them at several points to the base using electric welding or attach them using another method.

For test bending, it is customary to place a sheet of soft metal, approximately 1 millimeter thick, on this surface and fix it on top with a clamp, temporarily pulling it to the base with pins with overlays or clamps. It is recommended to check the position of the cheeks relative to the base through trial bending and adjust if necessary. After making sure that the cheeks are in the optimal position, they need to be finally welded to the base.

When using holes in the clamp brackets, they are drilled with a diameter of 8 millimeters at the base and an M10 thread is cut into them. The holes in the clamp must be drilled to a diameter of 10 millimeters. In the base, screw the bolts into the threaded holes at the bottom, the heads of which should be fixed to the base by welding.

Attach the clamp to the base with M10 nuts and place washers under their heads. It is advisable to use handwheel nuts that can be removed from the water fittings. When unscrewing the tightening nuts, the pressure is released by the springs that are put on the bolts. Rubber shock absorbers can also be used.

The clamps for securing the sheet bending machine to the base are homemade, welded from corner number 3. The design of the clamps is completely clear from the do-it-yourself sheet bending drawing. The M10 clamping screws are equipped with support plates. The clamps must be welded to the base shelf near the cheeks.

Requirements and safety precautions

Different types of sheet bending machines are designed for different purposes, but they all must meet the requirements outlined below: ease of use, safety, minimal energy consumption, stability, good quality of component parts, the ability to replace elements when they fail, and their compliance with the required standards.

To avoid on-the-job injuries, it is strongly recommended that you become familiar with safety precautions. A sheet bending machine is a dangerous device, as it contains many piercing and cutting elements that pose a threat to the health and life of the operator. Immediately before work, you need to study the instructions for each specific device in detail. It is necessary to work with a sheet bending machine only in protective clothing.

Before each start-up of the device, you should carefully check the functionality of the equipment. It is forbidden to bend metal sheets above the permissible thickness and leave the sheet bending machine unattended.

Thus, a sheet bending machine in skillful hands is capable of ensuring high quality manufacturing of such parts as casings, chassis, housings; the machine will also be needed when joining sheets into folds, guaranteeing in all cases the proper presentation of the product. The main thing is to know how to make a sheet bender correctly. This ensures the absence of deformation and flatness in the folded part of the sheets.

It is not difficult to make a sheet metal bending machine with your own hands, but so far few home craftsmen and specialists who use bent sheet steel products in their activities are engaged in the manufacture of such equipment for their own needs. Meanwhile, such a device, which has fairly 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 a smooth working surface are designed to perform most sheet metal work, which involves bending workpieces, producing sections of pipes 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

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

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

Strengthening the pressure beam

Below we will look at the reinforcement scheme for the clamping bar. 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 a metal strip with dimensions of 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, 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:

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

The drawings show pressure flywheels, which few people have in practice. More often, ordinary screws with welded collars are used. After welding the knobs, it is necessary to drive 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.

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.

Russian-made sheet bender 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 miracles of endurance and performance from a simple homemade machine.

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 walk-through sheet bender is often of interest to those who want to save a lot on purchasing mass-produced corrugated sheets. 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 small-scale in-house production, 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 it is quite convenient to produce simpler parts from sheet steel using it.

For a full-fledged Chinese-made rolling line for corrugated sheeting, you will have to pay about $20,000. Of course, it consumes quite a lot of electricity (from 12 kW) and its installation requires a 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.

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.

When manufacturing metal structures from profile pipes, the need to bend them often arises. Arched ceilings, greenhouse frames, elements of playgrounds - this is just a small list of objects that require the installation of rounded profiles. In production, special equipment is used to produce pipes with a given radius of curvature. Considering the bulkiness and high cost of such machines, their purchase is impractical for irregular use for domestic purposes. For a home workshop or garage, you can make a profile bender yourself. Everything you need for this can be found in the same workshop or found in the garages of friends and acquaintances. Interested in this design? Then put on your work clothes and get to work!

Roll forming machine. What is it for?

Universal production bending machine

The purpose of the roll forming machine is indicated by its name. This is the bending of metal profile pipes in order to obtain a certain radius of curvature in the required area or along the entire length of the workpiece. Using a profile bender, or pipe bender in other words, you can perform several technological operations with rolled metal of various types:

bending metal rods or reinforcement, including spring steel workpieces;
bending of profile metal products of square or rectangular type;
making elbows from round pipes or bending them at the desired angle;
rounding of parts of any length from rolled products (angles, I-beams, channels).

There are several models of bending machines. Some allow you to apply force only on a certain area of the workpiece. Others roll the pipe between rollers, applying pressure along the entire length. For some reason, it was the latter that received the name “profile benders” from experts, although both of them directly relate to the same type of equipment. By the way, rolling a workpiece allows you to obtain a product of complex configuration without preheating, and bends can be made at an angle from 1° to 360° in arbitrary planes.

Rolling type profile bending

Just like their industrial counterparts, homemade profile benders are electrically driven or powered by muscle traction. Of course, the use of an electric motor not only makes it easier to process workpieces, but also significantly speeds it up.

Classification of profile benders

Depending on the type of drive, which, in turn, directly affects the power and productivity of the machine, profile benders are divided into several types.

Hydraulic machines

Hydraulic driven roll forming machine. Powerful and very expensive

Hydraulic pipe benders are industrial equipment, therefore they have high power and are designed for permanent installation. Such units are used primarily in small-scale and mass production, when it is necessary to produce a large number of blanks of the same type. The hydraulic drive completely removes the load from the operator, giving him the ability to control the machine by pressing buttons.

Advantages of hydraulic machines:

high speed;
complete absence of manual labor;
ease of operation;
possibility of bending a large cross-section profile.

The disadvantages of devices of this type include high cost, stationary design and complexity due to the use of a hydraulic drive.

Electric profile benders

Electric profile bender with screw drive. Inexpensive and functional

Bending machines using electric motors are also stationary equipment, since they require connection to an electrical network. An electric drive is usually combined with a screw drive, which reduces the cost of equipment, but also makes it impossible to bend large cross-section profiles. That is why such machines are found in small enterprises and even in private workshops. By the way, there are designs of homemade electrically driven devices that function no worse than their factory counterparts.

Advantages of electric profile benders:

relatively low cost;
workpiece processing speed;
simplicity of design;
high bending accuracy;
possibility of using digital machine control technologies.

The disadvantages include the same lack of mobility and the inability to bend oversized profiles.

Manual machines

Manual profile bending. Cheap, mobile option

Manual bending equipment is simple, compact and low cost. Thanks to the simple design with drive rollers and a movable roller, working with profile benders of this type does not require any qualifications. If necessary, the machine can be easily moved to the installation site, and the affordable price of such devices makes them widely used in households. Of course, the design is not without its drawbacks:

there is no way to accurately control the bending radius;
increased processing time for workpieces;
high physical stress on the operator;
processing profiles with a small cross-section.

The advantages and simplicity of the design of manual profile benders make them attractive for manufacturing in artisanal conditions, which is why such machines have gained immense popularity among home craftsmen. By the way, manual bending devices can be transferred to the middle category, if necessary, supplementing the design with an electric drive.

Design and principle of operation of bending units

Design of the simplest rolling type profile bender

The main elements of a roll forming machine are shafts mounted on a durable metal frame. In this case, a pair of rolling rollers is responsible for the longitudinal movement of the workpiece, and a movable roller provides pressure on the part. Depending on the design of the unit, the clamping force is adjusted over a wide range using a screw pair, a jack or a hydraulic mechanism. The rolling rollers are driven by an electric motor or manually. The latter option is used on small devices and is most often repeated by craftsmen at home.

In addition, there are other designs of profile benders:

units with a left movable roller are used to produce spirals. Most often, such machines are equipped with CNC and allow you to bend parts, precisely controlling the bending gradient;
machines with movable lower shafts bend large workpieces, therefore they are equipped with a hydraulic drive. The presence of a position controller for each shaft makes it possible to obtain parts of complex shapes, even twisting the workpieces into a spiral;
models in which all rollers are movable represent the elite of roll forming equipment and can work with parts of any configuration and thickness.

The main difference between profile bending machines and other pipe bending equipment is that the configuration of the workpiece is changed not by bending around a stationary roller, but by cold rolling. This allows you to change the configuration of workpieces of any section and length. This design will serve as the basis for a homemade machine, which we propose to make yourself.

A diagram that shows the operating principle of a rolling pipe bender

Required tools and materials

To manufacture a machine for bending profile pipes, you will need a fairly large number of parts, but this does not mean that you will have to buy all the items on the list. Most of the necessary materials can be found in any garage or workshop. Here's what you'll need during the process:

Every craftsman will have the tools that he will need during the work process:

angle grinder;
electric drill;
set of metal drills;
hammer;
welding machine;
set of open-end and socket wrenches.

The only difficulty you will have to face is making the drive rollers and the pressure roller. Only the lucky owners of such equipment have the opportunity to turn them from a workpiece on a lathe. However, do not despair - in any organization there is a turner who will inexpensively produce parts according to the submitted drawings. The remaining elements of the machine can be used used.

Everything you need to make a profile bender

The chain transmission mechanism can be borrowed from the gas distribution mechanism drive of automobile engines, and the bearing housings (and the bearings themselves) can be borrowed from old agricultural machinery.

Options for manufacturing manual roll forming machines

To make a roll forming machine, it is not necessary to exactly repeat the existing design. It is much easier to create a device according to your own drawings, based on what you have at hand. This will save time and money and make it possible to design a device that is ideal both for its purpose and for its installation location. That is why you can find many devices on the Internet that use the same principle, but differ in execution.

Drawing of a pipe bender with radial impact on the workpiece

One of the designs allows radial bending of rectangular profile pipes due to the use of two rollers, one of which is movable and the other is a support (guide). The workpiece is deformed to the desired radius by pressing and moving the working roller around the guide. The device body is made of steel sheet up to 8 mm thick and metal corners. To avoid involuntary displacement of the workpiece, before bending it is clamped between a stationary roller and a specially installed stop.

Homemade rolling bending machine for profile pipes

More universal is a rolling type machine, the design of which is described above.

In addition, there are other, truly simple designs that allow you to bend pipes according to a template. Unfortunately, the quality and accuracy of the deformation performed leaves much to be desired, and to obtain a different radius, a new template will have to be made.

Devices for bending pipes according to a template

When making a hand-held machine, some points should be taken into account:

so that when bending large workpieces the profile bender does not tip over, its bed is made stable and massive. The best material for manufacturing can be considered a channel or I-beam;
The machine rollers must have low roughness and increased hardness. It is better if their configuration follows the shape of the profiles of the most used sizes;
the housing design must ensure a change in the distance between the axes of the drive shafts. The increased distance will make it possible to roll workpieces with a large cross-section, then, with a decrease in the interaxial distance, it will be possible to obtain bends of small radius;
The drive lever must ensure ease of rotation during operation, so it should not be made too short.

Most connections in the manufacture of profile bending machines are made using a welding machine. However, it will not be possible to completely avoid bolted connections - moving structural elements are fastened in this way.

Making a rolling structure with your own hands

For self-production, we recommend using the most common design of a roll forming machine with two lower shafts and a pressure roller. The easiest way is to install a manual drive on the unit, which, if necessary, can be easily converted into an electric one.

Device drawings

As already mentioned, it is better to design a profile bender yourself, based on your own conditions and preferences. In your work, you can rely on the drawings of the machines, which the craftsmen who made them are happy to share.

Assembly instructions

Manufacturing of drive (support) shafts and rollers. It is better to entrust this work to a turner, after which the parts must be hardened.
The manufacture of shafts and support rings will have to be entrusted to a turner
It is possible to make cylindrical rollers without grooves for profile pipes. In this case, two restrictive rings are made for each shaft. Such cylindrical attachments are installed taking into account the width of the workpiece and secured with bolts.
Bearings are installed in cages. If it is not possible to use factory parts, they can also be turned on a lathe.
Shaft supports with installed bearings
Sprockets are fitted onto the shafts and the location of the keyways is determined. The grooves for the key can be cut using a drill and file or a Dremel.
The keyway can be made with a drill
Holes are drilled in the restrictive nozzles and threads are cut for the clamping bolts.
Thread for fixing restrictor rings
A platform is made for installing the pressure roller. To do this, take a thick metal plate or channel, in which two pairs of holes are drilled for attaching cages with bearings. In addition, a hydraulic jack will be installed on the reverse side, so in some cases it will be necessary to cut off one flange of the channel.
Upper roller support
Screw the pressure shaft and weld eyes made of M8 nuts to the platform for attaching the springs.
Using welding equipment, the supporting legs and frame are made. Particular attention should be paid to the part of the housing in which the support area of the upper roller will be located. The corners that will form it must be even, and when installing them, the geometry must be carefully observed using measuring equipment.
Bed with installed top roller platform
The platform with the installed roller is suspended on springs to the upper cross member of the frame.

In the process of building a house or cottage, there is often a need to equip drains, sewers, and metal frames.

When manufacturing such products, it is necessary to give the flat workpiece the necessary spatial shape. Advice from experienced craftsmen on how to bend a sheet of metal at home will allow you to produce good quality structures that will last a long time.

Metal bending is performed without welding seams, which avoids corrosion in the future and produces a product of increased strength. Deformation does not require significant effort and is usually performed in a cold state.

The exception is hard materials such as duralumin or carbon steels. Sheet metal bending technology is developed according to the assigned tasks in such options as:

radius,
multi-angle,
single-angle,
U-shaped.

A separate case is flexion with stretching. This technology is used in the manufacture of parts with large bending radii and small diameters. When making parts with your own hands, the process is combined with operations such as cutting or punching.

Soft types of metals and alloys, such as brass, copper, and aluminum, are well suited for home processing. The production of products by bending is carried out on rolling or rolling machines, or manually.

The last procedure is quite labor-intensive. Bending is done using pliers and a rubber hammer. If the sheet is thin, use a mallet.

How to bend at right angles

To bend a bracket from a metal sheet, you will need a set of tools and accessories, consisting of:

vice,
hammer,
power saws,
bar,
frames

The length of the strip is made according to the scheme, with the calculation that there should be a margin of 0.5 mm for each bend, plus another millimeter for folds on both sides. The workpiece is placed in a vice with squares. Clamping it along the fold line, process it with a hammer.

After this, the future bracket is unfolded in a vice, clamped with a frame and a block, and the other side is formed. The workpiece is pulled out, the required length of the sides is measured, making bends along the bottom.

Use a triangle to check the correctness of the angle, correcting inaccuracies with a hammer. When performing both operations, the workpiece is pressed with a block and a frame. The finished bracket is filed to the desired size.

How to make a sheet bending machine yourself

To give the metal the desired configuration, tinsmiths use a sheet bending machine. But what should a master do if he doesn’t have special equipment at hand?

In fact, the question of how to bend sheet metal at home is easily resolved. It is enough to use your own ingenuity and basic equipment to make a simple machine.

To make a bender for a metal profile, you will need:

I-beam 80 mm,
fasteners (bolts),
loops,
corner 80 mm,
clamps,
a pair of handles.

You will also need a stable table on which the finished machine is mounted.

The basis of the device is an I-beam, to which a corner is screwed with two bolts, holding the workpiece during the bending process. Three door hinges are attached under it by welding. Their second part is welded directly to the corner.

In order for the machine to easily turn while bending sheet metal, handles are attached to it on both sides. The finished machine is secured to the table with clamps. Before laying the workpiece, the corner is unscrewed or lifted. The sheet is pressed, aligned along the edge and folded, turning the machine by the handles. The homemade device is only suitable for processing workpieces of insignificant thickness.

Bending a metal sheet with a hammer

In order to bend a sheet up to 1.2 mm thick at a right angle, use the simplest tools - pliers (clamps) and a rubber hammer.

The processing is carried out on a flat wooden block. The fold line is drawn using a pencil and ruler. Then the sheet is clamped with pliers so that their ends fall exactly on the marking line.

The edge is gradually bent upward, moving along the fold. Once the angle approaches 90 degrees, the sheet is placed on the block and finally leveled using a hammer.

Narrow parts, such as tin edges, are made in this way.

Tip: Use a rubber or wooden hammer to prevent dents from forming on the metal. If bending is performed with a conventional tool, you need to take a textolite plate as a gasket.

It is convenient to bend sheets up to 2 mm thick on a desktop. The metal is positioned so that the marking line falls on the edge. A steel corner is placed under the material being processed.

The sheet is clamped in a vice using two wooden blocks. Bending is done using a hammer, tapping the metal from one end to the other. At the same time, the edge of the sheet is directed downward so that it ultimately lies completely on the corner fixed along the edge of the table. This method can be used to make products of any width, including boxes or barbecues.

Making pipes without using a machine

Home craftsmen have invented a lot of ways to bend a metal sheet into a pipe without using a machine.

We propose to consider the simplest option using a blank of suitable size. It is made from an old pipe of suitable diameter.

A sheet of metal is laid out on the floor and a piece of the required length is cut from it. To determine the required size, the required pipe diameter is multiplied by 3.14 and added 30 mm for the seam.

A pair of tubes are welded to the blank on both sides, perpendicular to one another. The crowbar should be freely inserted into their holes.

To use the device, the effort of three people is required. The blank is placed on the edge of the sheet. One person stands on top, two others screw the metal onto the blank, turning the crowbar 90 degrees.

Sheet metal and tin are in great demand, because many products are made from them: metal tiles, various shaped parts, drainage systems, corrugated sheets, parts for auto repair, etc.

Such products are bought ready-made, but if you make a manual sheet bender with your own hands, you can save a lot.

What types of benders are there?

Of course, you can buy a ready-made bender, for example, the famous Edelweiss, but such machines also cost a lot, but if you make them yourself, you won’t need any special financial costs. There are several types of metal bending machines:

Manual bending machines. Metal bending occurs through the application of physical force. Despite the apparent simplicity of the design, they can be used to perform almost all necessary operations with sheet metal, including folding work.
Hydraulic sheet benders. Very similar to manual machines, but the application of force occurs due to a hydraulic drive.
Roller edge bending machines. They differ from the previous ones not only in design, but also in the principle of operation. In them, the sheet does not bend along a certain line, but is smoothly rounded. Such machines are necessary for the manufacture of pipes and other similar products.

Manual and hydraulic machines are easier to manufacture than roller machines. It is easy to find drawings of an edge bender with your own hands, but the process of their production itself is not described everywhere.

Making a manual sheet bender

On the Internet you can find many drawings for making a sheet bending machine with your own hands. One of the simplest and most effective designs is an I-beam machine diagram. To make a manual sheet bender with your own hands, you will need: three pieces of I-beam with shelves of at least 45 mm and a thickness of 3 mm, two screws with a diameter of about 20 mm, a spring, thick metal for making jibs (to strengthen problem areas), door hinges.

The tools you will need are a drill, an angle grinder and a welding machine.. The manufacturing algorithm is simple:

This work is very simple and does not require additional description. The bed can be used with unnecessary or broken tools, if available. The result was a powerful homemade sheet bending machine; the drawings used were simple, one of the most common. With its help, you can easily bend even long and thick sheets of metal. By the way, instead of an I-beam, you can use a metal corner with similar characteristics.

A do-it-yourself manual edge bender is made from a corner according to the same drawings, only the corners of the base must be welded together in pairs.

To make a manual edge bender with your own hands, drawings can easily be found on the Internet. For the clamping part, you can use an unpaired corner, but it is advisable to strengthen it with jibs to give the necessary rigidity.

Features of Roller Machine

Roller benders are less common, but if you need to give a sheet a radial bend or make a pipe, there is no alternative. On the Internet you can find drawings of a sheet bending machine with your own hands; let’s look at the simplest and most effective design. The easiest way to buy rollers for a sheet bender is to buy them ready-made or order them from a turner; you will need 3 of them.

A powerful bed is especially important for this type of sheet bender.. Again, you can make it yourself or take a ready-made one. The two lower rollers are fixed stationary, and the upper one can move; it should be located above them. By pressing on the upper roller, the radius of curvature of the part being manufactured is adjusted. To make pipes, it is necessary to provide for the possibility of removing the top roll.

The most difficult thing is making a drive so that all three rolls rotate synchronously. You can use sprockets and a bicycle chain.

Precautions during operation

When using sheet metal bending machines, you must strictly follow the safety rules:

Inspect the condition of the robe and shoes. There should be no hanging parts, unfastened zippers or buttons.
Check the working parts of the sheet bender for any malfunctions. If detected, do not start work until they are eliminated.
The workplace should be sufficiently illuminated by natural or artificial light.
There should be no unnecessary tools or materials within a meter from the machine.
You cannot bend sheets thicker than those provided for by the design and characteristics of the machine.

Thus, you can easily make a sheet bending machine with your own hands.