Metal bending with break and a rant

Brake that is. ^^^

it is quite frustrating getting the "deer in the road" look that you explained, happens to me almost everytime i need something other than the most basic item. I really miss the old fashioned hardware stores! As far as using a roofing style brake, it's a piece of cake. They're usually light-weight aluminum and you simply measure, line it up, and fold.

Thanks for the very fast reply!!! I used to work in an old fashioned hardware store. The owner was a packrat, former plumber, who had every weird thing under the sun. It was a great learning experience for me (I worked there every day after high school and on Saturdays until college). I spent many hours in a dark basement fixing windows and screens. I'm 6' tall and I only had about 5'10" headroom! Learned a lot though. I digress.

Thanks again

I needed a cable wire stop with a swivel screw (for a mini-bike chopper i built last year) like this:

walt

One easy tip I can give you is to use a smaller piece of stock to make a sample first....it lets you test fit if needed and determine your sequence of bends. On more complicated profiles the sequence that you bend it in can be important. After you bend a good sample, then start making 10' long ones !!!!

Good luck with it !

Jeff

Nothing much to it. You may want to use a speed square to mark off your bend points at one end of the coil stock, then gently bring the opposite end up to the marked end and square them up. Use a pair of snips to make small cuts at the marks so you're not searching for the pencil marks when it's in the brake. It will also minimize any layout mistakes. You can make a hem bend at the exposed long edge to stiffen the piece and make a neater edge. (A hem bend is just a short width, say 1/2 inch, bent 180 deg)

I'm posting from Google right now so excuse me if this has already been covered...