HF 46508 40" Bender/Brake; Clamping?

Hey, gang.

Nice to be back.

Doing well on 200 mg caffeine tab every morning and low carb diet.

Is the clamping arrangement on Harbor Freight's 46509 bender enough to hold the work in place while you fiddle with c-clamps? It's shown but not described in the assembly instructions. Little toggle clamps, it looks like.

Are c-clamps even necessary? The shipping weight is 115 pounds! Pretty beefy. Do you put one at each edge of the work, to couple the bed and press plate?

Is this a truck freight ($50.00) extra item?

Lastly, is 0.093 inch Lexan easier or harder to bend than 16 gage steel? That gage of steel is the rated bender capacity.

My application is fabbing some Lexan sheet. Kind of fun; you don't need a shear. Score, snap, mark, bend. Simple.

Any comments welcome.

Doug Goncz Replikon Research Seven Corners, VA 22044-0394

Reply to
The Dougster
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I don't think you can bend Lexan without heating it first. Once it's heated it won't take any kind of force to bend it.

Reply to
Rich Goldner

I am on low carb as well, about 2 years by now.

What caffein tabs do you use? I want to go away from drinking coffee, and am looking for alternatives.

i
Reply to
Ignoramus25686

guys at my eaa experimented w/ bending lexan (the polycarbonate stuff) it bends nice in a sheet metal bending brake. crisp straight clear bend, it gets thinner at the bend though. maybe you're thinking plexiglass.

b.w.

Reply to
William Wixon

Reply to
The Dougster

Yeah, Lexan sheet bends, drills, and taps nicely. It mills "OK". It doesn't grind well. I am fabbin some instrument panels for my bicycle project. I think I will go ahead and buy the bender, and mount it to the wall for a while to keep it handy.

Which eaa group are you in, William? Do you know of one near Washington, DC?

Did you guys try a Lexan canopy from sheet? White side out, right? For the UV?

Was your sheet thicker than 0.096?

I am th> guys at my eaa experimented w/ bending lexan (the polycarbonate stuff) it

Reply to
The Dougster

I ended up buying the cheap bender, the HF 39103 18" Bending Brake. I plan to order a spare part number 3, the Pressing Plate, and saw the spare to 8", 4", 2", 1" and two pieces 1/2 " long. Those pieces will let me do a little box or tray work, and fit together into an 8" long space for storage. Maybe I will make up a little box for them out of cardboard. HF sells replacement parts at really low prices, so if you need a massive 18" straightedge, this is a good choice.

So far I am happy with my little bender. I got all the preservative off of it with a razor blade and kerosene, and mounted it to the top of my

20-drawer Hollerith card file cabinet toolbox with a flat of MDF. It must be mounted to resist operating leverage.

I have scored and snapped Lexan with it neatlly. I have bent Lexan with it.

I intend also to round one edge of the spare and stock Preessing Plates to a radius, and think this is a serious oversight by HF. Oh, well.

Doug

The Dougster (I) wrote:

Reply to
The Dougster

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