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Bar folder questions

Hello friends, I'm needing a short sharp right angle bend in some 18" wide sheetmetal and bought an old Roper Whitney bar folder to do the job. The table is adjustable for thickness (?) and the backgage is adjustable to about 1/2". The problem I have is the sharpest bend I get is a radius since the mechanisms seem to have a spring-like quality rather than the firm action of a box or pan brake which I don't have an access to presently. Question: I've seen bar folders advertised as tools for making cleats and seams so are they suited for accurate straight bends? I can't find information on their use anywhere including my vast library resourse archives. Thanks in advance for any advise or links Honest Al Babin (Babin & Sohns, ISO 9000 Complaint job shop, Machine rebuilting, repair and brush coating, Bristling, Conn)

Reply to
Honest A Babin
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Bar folders are intended for very thin steel. Most max out on 22-24 ga steel.

You can bend the edge as is and then hammer it flat.

Reply to
Ernie Leimkuhler

You need to add a copy of "Sheet Metal Shop Practice", by Leo Meyer, ATP publications, to your "vast archives". It has a whole section on how to use and adjust a bar folder. It says, just like Ernie does, that a bar folder maxes out at 22 ga sheet. But with 22 ga, you can adjust the wing, or folding bar, up or down to make a sharper or more rounded bend. Most shops in the old days had a brake and a bar folder, and mostly used the bar folder for things like cleats, where you WANT a rounded edge. You would use the brake for sharper corners, or, if you wanted really radiused corners, you use a special die on a finger brake.

Reply to
rniemi

Very interesting, thanks everyone for the help. A Babin (ISO 9000 comlaint job shop, Bristling, Conn)

Reply to
Honest A Babin

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