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I'm going to be building a car for a proxy race and at least part of the chassis will be brass. One of the things that I need to know is what is the best way to bend sheet brass (90 degree bends with something like 0.030" brass). Is there a tool that allows you to do that on a modeling scale; one that doesn't cost an arm and a leg? What's the best way to proceed here?

Audi1

I swear by my 3-in-1 machine. I got mine from the outfit one of our HRW members used to work at. Its the best price, and believe me, there is no difference at all in these. You'll be very glad you bought it.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/hck-s ... 7AodpCgA_w

This may equal an arm only but you can look at it. I found this ad, but have not tried the item.

http://www.micromark.com/18-inch-bendin ... ,8227.html

I use a 3" drill press vise, and if necessary use vice grips for the leverage.

If you have a bunch you want done, ask the local high school metalwork teacher if you can pop in to use his bending brake.

I personally use a set of seaming pliers (similar to these: http://www.harborfreight.com/8-inch-fla ... 93062.html) against a piece of white oak for making simple 90 degree bends in soft material.

For more precision and heavier duty bending - you could maybe look at something like this (from a cost perspective)
http://www.harborfreight.com/18-inch-be ... 39103.html
:)

Sorry, Todd, but stay away from that crap brake from HF. The Micromark version is much better, but still not worth the money at all. I went through three different brakes before I found the 3-in-1 machine (there are loads of names for the same exact machine from the same Chinese factory). They were all garbage when the brass gets think enough to work properly on a chassis.

We use the hand seamer or seaming pliers (go on flea bay) in the sheet metal industry...The HF is made to break, but there are some good units out there.....

No issue here - I have no experience with the example I noted (just listed it due to it's $) - and as far as the pliers go, the set I have are ooooooooold Vise-grip brand units - but I couldn't seem to find them listed - so not sure if they are made any more... :-\

Yeah, I have a couple of Vice-Grip sheet metal pliers made before Irwin put everybody in that town out of work and stole their pensions. They are really solid, good tools. No idea what they are now.

I have the Harbor Freight brake. It is just about useless out of the box because there is nothing to retain the hold down. I cut slots in the hold down and drilled and tapped holes for a couple of 3/8th inch machine screws. I also mounted the brake on some chip board, so now it works just fine. A more expensive brake might have stops so that you could get reproducible bends.

This may be a bit beyond your "less than an arm and leg" price point, but it is the best solution, especially if you plan on doing lots of bending and shearing:



Available from MicroMark.

I have had one for years, they work well with a bit of regular maintenance, like tightening all the cap screws that hold it all together. The blades have four edges each, but I'm still on the first edge on each blade after more than 500 frames.

Ive always just used my bench mounted vice. Place the part in the vice and used a hard block of wood as my "bending arm". If the brass sheet was large and I couldn't lever it over by hand Id tap the wood block with a hammer. Results were always good. Why spend money if theres no need.