Adjusting a Sheet Metal Hand Brake

Sheet metal hand brakes are used to bend sheet metal for roofing and other purposes. This 15-minute instructional video was filmed at the 2018 Slate Roofing Contractors Association conference in Grove City, PA, by Joseph Jenkins, executive director. Demonstrated by Chris Paulin, Paulin Slate and Copper, Akron, Ohio (PaulinSlate.com). More about the SRCA: slateroofers.o....
Here's Korby's demonstration: • Making Curved Copper F...

[@lenBrill1971]

Thank you from Stolairus Aviation in Kelowna British Columbia Canada. Our brake had a mind of it's own. Hopefully after your vid and some cuss words I can adjust our karen brake. 🇨🇦👍 Edit - wow!! Those large adjustment nuts at center of the deck(anvil?) and leaf were CRANKED. The deck had a rise of over .100" +. at it's center. I zeroed (no load) all them big adjuster nuts and the break relaxed. Then I micro tensioned those just enough to make infinitely tiny adjustments. That's all they needed. This 12' brake bends perfectly now. 👍👍

[@christopherpaulin5548]

Glad you got it bending perfect Len 👍12 footers can sometimes be tricky. That's the number one problem I see with brakes: the center adjustment nuts are usually cranked way too much. Nice fixed wings, I'll take a plane ride 😉

[@stephendumaine1575]

thanks for this! I just got a used pexto 4' finger brake and I thought I knew how to use it - then I watched this video!

[@christopherpaulin5548]

Pexto (Peck, Stow & Wilcox) made great brakes & shears. Enjoy!

[@ChristopherHamilton-u9x]

Thanks Joe. Just picked up an old Chicago 4ft 12 Gauge. Great video!

[@MulticameraProduction]

Very informative 🤘

[@christopherpaulin5548]

Thanks for the kind words, and also to Joe for making and editing the video

[@jman6109]

Get seamless gutters. Don't use 10ft sections so it leaks after a couple months

[@jcjenkins01]

Just solder the sections together and make sure you allow for thermal expansion. Then they will not leak.

[@christopherpaulin5548]

"Seamless" copper gutters still have seams at transitions, and they must be soldered and consideration made for expansion & contraction if necessary, as Joe said. Your comment is really outside of the parameters of this video

[@mmroofs]

Great video, thanks for posting ! Do you have a follow up video with Corey?

[@jcjenkins01]

Korby. kzbin.info/www/bejne/l4iuYZimaL6EeNE

[@mmroofs]

@@jcjenkins01 Thanks joe!

[@sumtingwong2162]

Thanks for a great, no b.s., informative and straight to the point video! I bend so much metal at work I feel like I'm married to that brake, but now I can treat the old gal right!

[@kylereichstein7578]

Hello! I have a European sheet metal break, the centre doesn’t seem to crush the steel when we need to crush. For example, when we make out starter flashings and we need to crush a safety edge. It will crush the ends, but heading towards the centre it does not crush the way we need it to. This leads to some of our accessories bowing. Any advice? There are a dozen nuts and bolts but I’m not sure where to begin adjusting and how tight to make them.

[@christopherpaulin4886]

Release all tension on the clamping and truss adjustment nuts, so that the top leaf just holds the material. Then adjust the tension as necessary to achieve a consistent hem. Hope that helps

[@kylereichstein7578]

Thanks Chris!, This is one of the first things I did. I figured letting off all tension and then retightening everything would be the answer. It’s not. And it’s frustrating!

[@christopherpaulin4886]

RR, get the frustration, I've been there. Feel free to e-mail me and we can get you squared away there

[@christopherpaulin5548]

What is the make and model of the brake you have?

[@jasonpalm-v5o]

My bending leaf is sagging in the middle my angle metal is about in the middle of the leaf Chicago 1422 is the model. This causes the leaf to bind and really not work . A new to me brake. Any suggestions on what to adjust? Thanks Jason

[@Itsjustbriz]

Anyone have any info on a J. M. Robinson Mfg. Co 8' Brake. date cast into the front is 1888

[@christopherpaulin5548]

I do not have any information on your brake, but it should function essentially the same as the brake in this video

[@Owais_Ghani]

Hi, We have a Pressure Brake Bending machine and whenever we are bending Aluminum Sheets with it, it breaks the sheet. We are unable to use it for thin aluminum sheets. Is it possible to reduce the tonnage of that machine and if yes then how so ?

[@christopherpaulin5548]

Think you're asking about what we would call a press brake here in my area of the United States. Press brakes are completely different machines: usually hydraulic or servo-electric operated or some combination of the two, use dies, and therefore operate in a very dissimilar manner to a hand brake, so your question is well outside the scope of this video. Try searching for "press brake", and I hope you can get your question answered.

[@rocktheboat56]

Currently struggling to get our 12ft 16ga brake adjusted. I can get the ends good but the bending leaf slips in the middle when I go to bend resulting in the middle of my bend being wide open and ruined. Chicago dreis and krump

[@markuskraemer79]

I have the same problem. It happens when I bend 24gauge Did you get your fixed

[@rocktheboat56]

@@markuskraemer79 I fixed it myself after a couple days of fucking with it. I tightened a few things and bolted the angle iron back on which was previously taken off, although i shimmed the ends either an 1/8 or a 1/16th i can't remember. Although i don't think shimming the angle iron alone fixed it, i think i remember tightening the main nut of the top leaf and messing with the bed or w/e. Took me a while to find the instructions for it, they go by serial number but i did eventually decipher the instructions enough to diagnose and fix it myself through tightening and adjusting various things. We also have a 10ft 18ga dreis and krump with a "similar" issue that i havent been able to fix. I could be entirely wrong because i haven't given this one enough attention but either the bending nose or the bed bar or w/e is just out of wack some how and theyre both welded onto that model. And i can't weld for shit and it appears like i'd need to disassemble the entire brake to do a nice job fixing whichever bar it was.

[@rocktheboat56]

@@markuskraemer79 Also i should note i never ENTIRELY fixed it. When I would bend on it previously there was an audible click when the middle of the bending leaf would drop. It's clearly from my bending leaf rubbing the bed leaf as i approach 90 degrees, and i think thats bad because the bed is too close to the bending leaf and is pushing the bending leaf away when it comes up despite there being a consistent gap while resting. That obviously causes friction where it shouldnt be and in turn causes wear. The clicking noise pisses me off so much and while i reduced it significantly, it still makes the click in the middle while around 90. I think i was able to get the clicking, but the end result would be an inconsistent bend and I had to settle for a slight clicking noise regardless of how i adjusted the gap or tension in certain areas i couldnt find a configuration with no "unnecessary" noise while still being able to produce a perfect 90 and what we would consider an "acceptable" hem(the middle never closes perfectly and i hate it).

[@rocktheboat56]

@@markuskraemer79 Also we typically bend 040 or 060 aluminum

[@christopherpaulin5548]

@@rocktheboat56 Loosen all the truss rod nuts and clamping cam nuts and let it sit for a week. Use this time to make sure the brake is level and not twisted, using a machinists' level from Starrett or equivalent quality. Maybe let it sit another week. Then set the clamping cam nuts so the brake just holds the metal still during the breaking action. Finally, set the truss rod nuts so there's no curve to the broken piece. Brakes should not click during the bending operations: something is grossly mis-adjusted or the brake is sprung.

[@David-rg5cw]

Hey Joe. Have you read about JADAM Korean Natural farming's use of humanure in producing fertilizer? Any thoughts on this method? Thanks

[@technofeeliak]

I can't use this.

[@aidibachir6085]

مرحبا لا يستحق أن تعبد مخلوق ضعيف يموت لم يخلقك فقط خالقك يستحق أن تعبده وحده لا شريك له من فضلك تعرف على الاسلام الحياة قصيرة تنتهي في أي وقت ونعود لربنا ليحاسبنا اني ناصح لك أمين وشكرا

[@jasonpalm-v5o]

My bending leaf is sagging in the middle my angle metal is about in the middle of the leaf Chicago 1422 is the model. This causes the leaf to bind and really not work . A new to me brake. Any suggestions on what to adjust? Thanks Jason

[@christopherpaulin5548]

Hi Jason. Is the bending leaf sagging down towards the floor, or out away from the brake? If you can make a video of what is happening, that would help

[@jasonpalm-v5o]

Yes it did not have the angle iron on it so move the one original up and got one more. Helped but still not doing the trick with the light gauge metal. Plus now I can’t do style D drip edge very well. I had to space out the end of the lower angle iron to pull out on the bending leaf it is so bad

[@jasonpalm-v5o]

My bending leaf is sagging in the middle my angle metal is about in the middle of the leaf Chicago 1422 is the model. This causes the leaf to bind and really not work . A new to me brake. Any suggestions on what to adjust? Thanks Jason