Homemade manual sheet bender for bending sheet metal - do-it-yourself sheet metal bending machine according to drawings and descriptions of how to make bending equipment yourself

Types and their design

The main distinction between all machine equipment is based on the type of drive:

Manual. It is driven by ordinary human power. These are primitive, but quite effective devices with minimal accuracy and no costs.
Mechanical. It implies the presence of a lever with subsequent conversion of pressing force.
Electromechanical – has an electric motor as a driving force. The use is especially relevant if there is a press at the factory, this is how mass production of parts is stamped.

Simple manual

The thinnest sheets can be evenly bent at any angle in the presence of metal (wooden) stops (clamps) and a traverse. This means that the lid, which covers the upper section, producing a bend, is applied solely by hand force without any additional amplifier. Let's look at the design of a homemade sheet bender in the diagram:

Powerful machine made of brands

This is a device with a pressure beam that can clamp and even cut steel. Usually the equipment has a protractor - this is a disk that allows you to set any pressure angle. A steel sheet is secured to the feed table and then advanced further if necessary. Pressing the handle causes the clamping tee to move, while the bending beam remains in place. Let's look at this sheet bender:

Rollers for steel

There is a device with three shafts, when the workpiece passes between them and bends. If you adjust them (remove and install with different diameters, place them at a larger or smaller distance), you can achieve a different bending radius. The result is not an acute angle, but a smooth wave. This is what it looks like:

Design and principle of operation

The zig machine consists of several elements:

lower, upper shaft;
handle for rotating shafts (for manual machines);
screw for adjustment;
rollers with the help of which parts are processed;
gears transmitting rotational force between moving shafts;
housings made of impact-resistant materials;
cast bed for stable holding of the machine.

Regardless of whether the installation is equipped with an electric drive or not, there are no significant changes in the design or operating process. Zigovka is carried out in several stages:

The parts are fixed between movable rollers.
The shafts are aligned to securely hold the workpiece.
The operator begins to rotate the handle or starts the electric drive.

The workpiece begins to rotate behind the shaft. The depressions are formed under the pressure of the protrusions on the rollers.

Machine structure (Photo: Instagram / stankoprom)

How to make a sheet metal bending machine with your own hands according to drawings from what is at hand

Manufacturing the structure can be extremely simple and cheap if you use spare parts from trash lying around in the garage. We may need:

Any strong steel beams or part of a metal profile for the bed.
A chain from a bicycle/motorcycle, if an electric drive is installed.
Shafts from the car that will need to be turned.

Of course, to work with thin sheet metal, sometimes you don’t even need to make equipment; you can simply use the “old-fashioned” method, namely, take a mallet and, leaning the steel against a sharp and hard corner, beat it off.

Design Features

The classic design has the following features:

The main structural element can be called a combination of two plates. Many manufacturers create these plates using the waterjet cutting method. The method under consideration has high accuracy.
In the formed space between the two plates there are two shafts, which are the main elements in contact with the workpiece.
Of the two installed shafts, the upper one is movable. Its movement occurs due to a special screw-type clamp. Note that a high-quality homemade zigging machine should have a uniform effect on the entire workpiece, since only in this case a high-quality zigging is obtained.
The main parameter that can be set using the control unit, manual or automatic, is the zigging depth.

The shape of the ridge can be different, depending on the type of installed rollers. Therefore, when creating a crimping machine with your own hands, you should provide for the possibility of replacing the rollers.

Rollers of creasing machines

To understand the process, consider the types of sheet bending machines

There are not as many of them as it seems.

Roller

Additionally, it is called three-roll. As a result of metalworking, smooth curves are obtained on the surface. In this way, pipes and half-cylinders can be created that can be adapted for catch basins, street storm drains and much more. Metal rolling is carried out between rollers that have different radii. One shaft sets everything in motion, while the other two remain supporting.

Press brake

There is a template. It is created from strong metal and is double - that is, a matrix and a punch, which have mirror-opposite curves that complement each other. A blank is placed between the two forms. The lower part is motionless, and the second moves up and down, and when pressed, it lowers with great speed and pressing force. The sheet bends.

Homemade sheet bending machine: mechanism made of traverses

If in the press there is a point impact, then here it is across the entire width of the area. The element is fixed in the clamp, and its edge is bent under the influence of a movable traverse. The advantage is that you can produce parts with any angle - from 0 to 180 degrees. Often the device is equipped with a built-in knife and makes the bed multifunctional.

Roller

The second name is end manual. Designed for processing ends and small areas of sheet metal. Only physical strength is used, so it is not very common and is considered additional.

Design features of zig machines

One zigovochny device is structurally not too different from another. Their main elements - shafts - are located horizontally, vertically or at an angle. Forming rollers are mounted on the shafts, and the workpiece is secured between them. Due to the opposite movement of the main elements, uniform depressions appear on the metal. With their help, the necessary connection is made.

When choosing a crimping machine, you need to pay attention to the following technical characteristics:

type of drive;
diameter and overhang of rollers;
the number of attached pairs of these parts;
permissible metal thickness;
machine size.

The smallest rollers are 50 mm in diameter, their number varies from four to six pairs.

An important indicator is roller overhang. It is better to purchase a machine with a maximum reach - up to 350 mm. This will expand the capabilities of sieving equipment.

The permissible thickness of the metal sheet is from 0.5 mm to 4 mm. The crimping machine will not take up much space (with the exception of CNC machines). Such a device can weigh from 17 to 300 kg.

Before starting work, the workpiece is fixed between the shafts and the handle is turned. On manual machines, due to their low power, it may be necessary to pass the workpiece through the rollers several times.

https://met-all.org/oborudovanie/prochee/zigovochnaya-mashina-ruchnaya-zigovka-svoimi-rukami-chertezhi.html
https://stankiexpert.ru/stanki/gibochnye-stanki/zig-mashina-svoimi-rukami.html
https://metalloy.ru/stanki/zigovochnaya-mashina
https://stanokgid.ru/metall/ruchnoj-zigovochnyj-stanok-svoimi-rukami.html
https://prostruky.ru/instrumenty-i-oborudovanie/listogib-svoimi-rukami-instrukciya-i-chertezhi-dlya-samostoyatelnoj-sborki.html
https://promzn.ru/stanki-i-oborudovanie/izgotovlenie-zigovochnogo-stanka.html

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How to make a bending machine with your own hands

You need a steel corner, it needs to be cut into pieces of 1 meter. We take the ball joint holder and cut out holes for the hinges for the movable traverse. Next you need to make a support for opening. Next, we make the second, moving part in a similar way. It is necessary to reproduce it so that there is a minimum gap between the ends and complete accuracy. Pay special attention to the edge - it must be perfectly smooth, since the steel will bend at this point. Next, we screw the handle onto the rotary angle - the mechanism itself is ready. Then you need to install it on a stationary and reliable frame.

Additional accessories

To make the design more convenient, you can use wing bolts instead of regular bolts. They will add “springiness”. You can also use a roller knife and cut along the upper pressure crossbar.

Temporary apparatus according to a simplified scheme

If the above option is stationary, then this one is for temporary work. You can take three corners, fasten two of them together with a regular door hinge, and the third, using a clamp, should be pressed against the workbench, thus ensuring static stability.

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.

How and why to make a sheet metal bending machine with your own hands

Many craftsmen need such a unit. It can be purchased, but the purchased models are characterized by large dimensions, weight, and also high prices. At home, it is not necessary to use electrically driven devices; a manual design is sufficient - it is easy to use, apply and create, and is also quite effective. If you are working with aluminum or thin steel, you can use wooden parts rather than steel parts for the equipment, and make the punches and angles themselves from metal for strength.

Purpose of creasing machines

manual seaming machine

The crimping machine is designed for joining metal parts with a thickness of 1/2 to 4 mm. At the first stage, the lock is rolled, after which the elements are connected to each other. Sometimes the castle needs to be additionally besieged manually.

The creasing machine is used for:

production of cylindrical tin products: ventilation and water pipes, boxes, ebbs;
thermal insulation of pipelines;
processing of shells;
roofing works.

Main types of operations: flanging, zig, corrugation.

The main advantage of crimping over welding is the absence of exposure to high temperatures on the metal, which causes internal stress and deformation. And also a more economical production method that does not require the purchase of consumables, the use of electricity or fuel.

Listogib: is it difficult to do it yourself?

Most craftsmen claim that preparation and implementation generally takes less than a day, despite the fact that the materials need to be processed, because elements that are often rusty and not quite suitable for the parameters are taken. Next, we present the varieties depending on the ease of assembly.

Types for home use

Rotary (clamping, with traverses) - quite simple, but take up significant space. They can be prepared from scrap materials. They are most effective when combined with cutting knives.
Rotary (with rollers) - they are much more complicated, since the elements themselves require preliminary metal processing on turning equipment, and an electric drive is an additional complexity.

Areas of application for creasing equipment

Equipment designed to perform beading, even though the name of such a technological operation is familiar mainly to metalworking specialists, is actively used in various fields of activity. Sealing machines are practically indispensable for the manufacture of elements of roofing structures, in particular, for the formation of their edges.

Examples of drainage elements made on a crimping machine

It should be noted that in the construction industry, bending machines have found very wide application. Using such machines, in particular, the following elements of building structures and communication systems are made from sheet metal: parts of drainage and air duct systems, insulation for heating mains, etc. In the construction industry, manual staking equipment is predominantly used, since it is characterized by its small dimensions and insignificant weight, does not require an electrical supply for its operation and can be used almost anywhere.

The creasing machine can also be used to reliably connect cylindrical workpieces made of thin sheet metal together. Rollers for equipping a zig machine of this type, when a cylindrical workpiece passes through them, form locks on it, with the help of which the two parts are connected.

Rolling the lock on the air duct elbow

When making connections using locks, unlike welding, there is no thermal effect on the metal parts, which eliminates the possibility of their warping. In addition, such a machine, which you can also make yourself, does not require any additional consumables for its use.

To expand the functionality of a staking machine, including a manual one, it can be equipped with additional working parts. Machines equipped in this way can be used not only as creasing equipment, but also as bending and profiling equipment. Modern creasing machines for industrial use are often equipped with automated control systems, which increases their productivity and accuracy of technological operations performed with their help.

Special attachments allow you to make folds for connecting thin-walled pipes

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The most popular design and its improvement

Let's look at the standard diagram of a rotary sheet bender:

We will give some recommendations on how to make structural improvements.

Strengthening the pressure beam

To make the clamp more effective, it must be made heavier. You can weld additional weight on top - another corner or strip of heavy metal.

We increase the reliability of fastenings

Clamps and welded joints are not the best methods for fastening. It is much better and stronger to make two beams with holes, and place a tightening bolt between them.

How to bend a sheet of metal at home

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:

A special 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 staple 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 welding machine and 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 small 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.

Master's recommendation: by bending a metal sheet using a blank, it is convenient to make pipes no more than a meter in length.

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.

How to make a homemade sheet metal bending machine

Let's watch the video instructions:

Isn't it easier to buy

The disadvantages of purchased equipment include:

high cost;
standard functions and sizes - you cannot improve the model and customize it for yourself;
large dimensions.

The simplest way

Even if you don’t have time to do this installation, but you urgently need to bend the edge (end, thin layer), you can attach the workpiece to a hard corner and beat off the ends with a mallet. It's simple, but there are disadvantages:

the bend is uneven;
you need to apply a lot of physical strength.

How to bend a metal plate at home?

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.

Bending technology - basic information

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.

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 make a sheet bending machine with your own hands

Various sheet bending operations are an important part of the general work on building or renovating your own home. Without the use of special equipment, it is impossible to perform them efficiently.

For one-time bending of sheet blanks, it is permissible to rent a suitable device from a neighbor or friend. But if such procedures are often performed, it is more advisable to have a manual sheet bending machine of your own making on hand.

If you have certain skills, tools and space, making a homemade sheet bender is not so bad.

Model of a homemade sheet bender

Drawing up technical specifications

Thanks to the capabilities of the Internet, you can quickly find the required set of drawings, and on the channel you can even watch advertising and informational videos about the design and operating principle of the required unit.

However, all these materials are strictly individual, and therefore were intended by their authors for specific sheet-bending operations. Therefore, before building a sheet bending machine with your own hands, you need to make the right choice of its future technical characteristics.

The main ones should be the following:

maximum width of bent metal, mm;
maximum thickness of the workpiece, mm;
desired range of bending angles;
overall dimensions of the mechanism (length, width, height);
required bending accuracy.

The direct choice of the limit values of the listed parameters depends on the conditions of use of the machine that will bend sheet metal products.

In particular, when constructing a roof, you will most likely have to deal with galvanized sheet or steel with a thickness of no more than 1 mm.

When processing copper, an even thinner sheet or strip is often used, and when making fences and railings with your own hands, on the contrary, the thickness of the metal can be 2 - 3 mm.

Sheet bending machine for thick sheets

The best option is an electrically driven roller machine or a hydraulic press, since it is difficult to bend significant volumes manually and the impact must be quick and massive.

What is the device

This is stationary equipment with the following features:

made of metal or hard wood;
dimensions exceed the workpiece;
there are moving and fixed parts (shafts, dies, punch and matrix).

The rest of the appearance depends on the specific model.

Application area

The devices are used in factories, auto repair shops, and also in households. Installed outdoors and indoors.

Profile bending without turning

If you have enough tools, the machine can be completed without turning. To do this, you need to purchase an aluminum I-beam.

To bend this or that profile, with different sizes, you will need simple tools, or rather a machine called a profile bender. It makes it easy to get the job done.

Thanks to the variety, you can make it yourself or buy it in a store. There is also a significant difference in price, such that every person has the opportunity to purchase it. Use it in production or just in a workshop, for constant work, or to bend a pipe several times, all this does not matter when there is a choice of such machines.

Manufacturing: stages

Let's look at several specific step-by-step tasks.

Development of specifications and drawings

Usually the plan can be found on the Internet, but it should be adjusted to the size of the master so that the tension is distributed evenly across all muscles.

Selection of materials

You will need a wooden block, several channels 10 cm wide, narrower corners for the pressure beam, fastening tools, strong metal for the frame and a comfortable handle.

Design detailing and assembly

Let's look at the steps in the video:

Classification of serging equipment by drive type

The simplest, both in its design and in its operating principle, is the manual zigovochny machine. All manipulations with such equipment, as its name suggests, are carried out manually. Such manipulations, in particular, include: pressing shafts with working rollers, for which a special handle located in the upper part of the device is used; scrolling the rollers together with the workpiece sandwiched between them: this action is also performed using a special lever-type handle.

To effectively use the simplest manual type crimping machine, certain skills and dexterity are required, since its operator must simultaneously turn the handle and hold the workpiece in the required position, thereby using both hands. Due to the low power of the drive installed on it, a manual creasing machine can be used for processing sheet blanks whose thickness does not exceed 1.5 mm.

Manual crimping machine is suitable for occasional use in the home workshop

A more powerful, productive, but also more expensive in terms of cost is an electrically driven staking machine. Such zigging machines are most correctly classified as electromechanical equipment, since their design also includes a manual mechanical drive, which ensures compression of the sheet workpiece between the working rollers. Due to the electric drive of such equipment, the working rollers rotate and, accordingly, the rotational movement of the workpiece being processed.

The electric drive of the machine is switched on and off using a foot pedal, so that both hands of the operator always remain free to manipulate the workpiece. The presence of an electric drive, which is equipped with such beading machines, as mentioned above, significantly increases their productivity, which makes it possible to successfully use these machines to equip enterprises producing metal products in large batches. In addition, the power of such a machine allows it to be used for processing sheet metal workpieces, the thickness of which reaches 5 mm.

Electromechanical creasing machines, as a rule, can be equipped with additional devices for processing workpieces of complex configurations

Sealing machines can also be equipped with a hydraulic drive, which further increases the power of the equipment. The technical capabilities of such machines make it possible to successfully use them for processing sheet metal of even fairly significant thickness. The hydraulic drive of this type of beading equipment is responsible for pressing the working rollers to the surface of the workpiece, and their rotation and, accordingly, the movement of the workpiece is provided by an electric drive mechanism. Despite all the advantages that hydraulic crimping machines have, they also have disadvantages: large overall dimensions and significant weight, which is why such equipment is mainly used by large manufacturing enterprises.

Benefits of homemade

Pros before purchasing:

Cheap - almost all the parts are available among scrap materials.
Possibility to make custom sizes.
Understanding the process, which means easy setup and repair.

In the article we talked about homemade bending machines for sheet metal. We invite you to familiarize yourself with our range of band saw products. for 15 years on the Russian market. During this time, we covered almost all cities of the country. To complete the topic, let's watch another video:

Small manual sheet bender for DIY production

This homemade sheet metal bending machine has many features:

The corners are not arranged with shelves facing each other, but are directed in one direction. Because of this, attaching the loop is not the most convenient, but it can be done.
On the bend of the far (fixed) corner, small stop plates for the pressure strip are welded on both sides.
The screw nut is welded on the same strip (on both sides).