Advice on sheet metal brake?

[VenturaII]

Anyone have any idea who sells a nice box brake, say up to 16 gauge, 36 or 48 inch,hand or foot operated?

[jakespeeds]

There are really quite a few of them and it would be hard to list all the good ones. I would look for industrial auctions in your area. Should be no trouble picking up a nice commercial unit.

Jake

[indyjps]

northern tools offers quite a few, ive never used the brands they are selling though. might give you an idea on what to spend.

[Ricochet]

The big question is how much $$ do you want to spend? I looked around for a few months. The problem I found while looking at used ones is missing dies, parts, broken or one thing & another. If you find a good used one it's not much less than new. Most of the new ones you find are being made in Taiwan or Vietnam. From what I have seen, stay away from the ones being made in Vietnam. The ones in Taiwan are not much better, but are. I ended up buying Tennsmith which is made here in USA. It was a little pricey but worth it in my eyes. I bought a 48" 16 gauge with the stand for $1528 including tax locally. I found it chaeper midwest but with shipping it was a wash. Not cheap to get shipped, not to mention local support if something is wrong. Good luck. If you have any other questions try me at [email protected].

Thanks

[DLinson]

Make sure you get one with movable jaws. This will greatly inctrease the type of parts you're able to make. Harbor Freight is a good place for cheap tools if you're not going to use them everyday. They have a lot of sheet metal brakes but I'd think about getting a press brake/shear/ slip roller machine, see the link below. It has movable jaws for the press brake and is usually more versitale than the folding brakes.

Metal Brake Harbor Freight (http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=43353)

Dennis