Easiest/cheapest way/tool to bend small steel flat bar?

I need only four pieces. Conceivably, I could do this one more time in the future.

What would be a suitable vice for using a vice brake to safely bend

This looks tight enough (the two pieces on the bottom)...

Can you improvise a vise brake?

Thanks. Looks very efficient for bending certain things.

What I am making is less difficult. At least one half-inch less wide,

Easiest is to press with an edge into a V block; sometimes that an be done in a vise, but 'easy' means a press (hydraulic press is a nice choice).

A jig that keeps the edge clean is basically a sheet-metal brake (but maybe not as wide as the tin-workers use). That requires a long lever to swing the moving jaw, but can be cobbled together from heavy steel parts and (maybe) a door hinge(s). Easy if you have welding tools and scrap iron, more difficult with drill/bolts/hardware-store-steel.

Try Craigslist and Ebay. Big vices are heavy so finding one close to home is good.

I got a 6 inch Parker vice at the local scrap yard for $ .25 a lb. But have only seen one vice there.

Dan

Here is a pretty simple tool to do that kind of job.

or

Which reseller of Chinese products do you consider acceptable?

There are still some products made in the USA, or at least made in Canada or Mexico. Whether one tries to buy products made in their own country, or puts at least some effort into the matter, only the Shadow knows. But one should not enthusiastically sell out its fellow citizens. Avoiding Harbor Freight is very easy to do. Spamming Harbor Freight is just trolling...

How about four thick square bars, maybe 0.5" x 1" x 6" each (the two crosswise bars can be short), some superglue, and maybe four screws (although superglue is great against shearing pressure).

Just arrange the bars in a pound sign, a tic-tac-toe box. Glue and then maybe screw them together. One of the bars to be bent can be used as the divide for gluing the crosswise bars that holds the two main bars together and keeps the bend straight.

If that has been done before (seems like it should have), please post links. I vaguely recall trying something similar.

Did you understand what I wrote? The method described in my post is simple, easy, and should be more accurate than beating on the flat bar. I believe it would be even more accurate than using a vise brake.

Did you like the part about the structure serving two purposes? Holding the crosswise pieces together and keeping the bend straight, at the same time?

I'm currently looking for materials. Specifically looking at thick flat bar. Sometimes you can find ready-made stuff that nicely fits the bill. There might be something that will work but is meant for a different task, but finding stuff like that is like finding a needle in a haystack. The selection of premade things is infinite, especially nowadays given the Internet.

No, I have no vices. I do have a very small vise. But like I already said "I agree 100% with the need for a [big] vise". My friendly next- door neighbor had one, that and lots of other stuff in his shop I was free to use. But he's gone. I would happily buy a decent vise if it fit my need for this endeavor. What matters to me is getting it done right, that's all.

The truly funny part for this troll is that the image he gave is clearly a Chinese import.

I damaged more stuff as a kid trying that hammer/vise route.

Apparently this troll has a deranged sense of humor. I wasn't promoting anything. In fact, the image I linked to had no such marks on it whatsoever, and there was no link to buying the product. This troll is full of s*it. Also, I did not say I would bend over backwards to avoid buying Chinese products. But I would never promote Harbor Freight. I have never even been in their stinking store. I would not so blatantly trash my fellow citizens. Some scumbags could not care less about their own...

That is really a funny attitude ! Can you say why you will not consider entering a Harbor Freight store?

My own attitude is to buy things made in Yorklyn, DE. If not made in Delaware then buy things that are made on Earth.

Dan

Go ahead and deflect , snowflake . The jig is up , you've been outed .

Instead of trolling and acting like a dick (for lack thereof), why not talk about metalworking...

How about four thick square bars, maybe 0.5" x 1" x 6" each (the two crosswise bars can be short), some superglue, and maybe four screws (although superglue is great against shearing pressure).

Just arrange the bars in a pound sign, a tic-tac-toe box. Glue and then maybe screw them together. One of the bars to be bent can be used as the divide for gluing the crosswise bars that holds the two main bars together and keeps the bend straight.

If that has been done before (seems like it should have), please post links. I vaguely recall trying something similar.

Mostly the first, though it bothered me when management declared that devices I had helped develop couldn't be economically manufactured in the USA. So I politely worked with the Japanese or Chinese engineers tasked to put them into production.

I also like to customize things, and I can't practically modify weak plastic parts or locked microcontroller code.

McMaster Carr...

Low-Carbon Steel Bar 3/8" Thick, 1-1/2" Wide, 1/2 Feet Long, four pieces

I didn't want to cut the thick steel, so 6 inch pieces will do. Hopefully 1 1/2" square areas using superglue will be strong enough without screws. Then it can be broken apart, scraped clean, and reglued to some other form, as needed.

The making should be easy enough... Glue a crosswise piece to a main piece using a square. Stick a rectangle bar spacer against the main piece and glue the second main piece to the crosswise piece (the precise dimension is yet unknown). Then use the material to be bent as a spacer to glue the second crosswise piece.

If screws are necessary, maybe they can be offset from center so that adjustments and re-screwing will not be cluttered. Does ordinary tap and die stuff work on such steel? I like aluminum because it doesn't destroy my tools.

Hammer and chisel sold separately.