How to make a sheet bender from a corner and door hinges

Often you have to bend sheet metal, which is not so easy to do without a sheet bending machine, especially when the bending line is long. But such a device is not difficult to make with your own hands using simple tools and quite accessible and inexpensive materials. All you need is desire and basic plumbing skills.

Sequencing

We cut two pieces 500 mm long from a suitable equal angle corner.

We clamp the corners of the shelf one by one in a bench vice and apply door hinges corresponding to the dimensions to the edges of the other shelf at the level of the ends.

We mark the places of future holes on the shelves of the corners, first with a marker and then with a core, using the door canopy as a template.
We perform it on a drilling machine, taking a drill of the required diameter, four through holes on each side of one of the corner flanges.
Using a tap of suitable size, we cut threads in all 16 holes, adding a little lubricant to make the process easier and the threads to be of high quality.

After threading is completed in all holes, remove the chips and wipe the areas with threaded holes with a rag to remove any traces of lubricating oil.
We tightly screw the door hinges to the corners using an electric impact wrench or a drill with an appropriate bit.

Turn the corners over and place them on the hinges. To one of the corners, using the protruding parts of the internal screws as a limiter, we apply alternately perpendicularly and all the way to the shelf a piece of profile square pipe of a suitable cross-section and length, and outline it on both sides on the bottom shelf.

In two sections of aluminum profile pipe, we drill two holes from one edge on a drilling machine using a drill of a suitable diameter, located on the longitudinal axis of the pipe.

We drill exactly the same holes in size and location in the corner shelf on which we previously made the markings.
We turn over the corners connected by hinges, and clamp the paired shelves in a bench vice. Using a suitable tap, cut the threads in all four holes, not forgetting to add lubricant to the working area.

We turn the corners over again with the hinges facing down and fasten the sections of aluminum profile pipes with the required bolts, which will be used instead of handles when using our device for its intended purpose.

To the front side of the homemade product, or rather, to the shelf of the outer corner, we try on a metal strip approximately 5 mm thick, the width is slightly less than this size of the shelf, and the length is slightly shorter than the distance between the inner ends of the door hinges.
We mark the drilling locations with a marker along the edges of the strip along the longitudinal center line, clamp it in a bench vice and make two holes on a drilling machine with a suitable drill bit.
Then we again lay the strip with the already prepared holes on the corner shelf and mark the places of future holes in it with a marker, and so that the drill does not slip during rotation, we core the marked places.

Using a drilling machine, we make two holes of the required diameter in the designated places and, using a tap of the required size, cut threads into them.

We fix the strip on the corner shelf using bolts and a wrench with an attachment.

We turn the device over with the hinges down and use a grinder to cut off all the protruding rods of bolts and screws.

We place the shelf of the outer corner of our device on the edge of the metal table and secure it with two clamps. In this case, the hinges and the bar should be on top, and two sections of the profile duralumin pipe should be located horizontally and directed outward, towards the operator.

Checking a homemade sheet bender “idle” and “in practice”

We test the performance of our homemade product “idle”. To do this, lift and lower the second (inner) movable corner several times by the handles. At the same time, it should rotate freely without jamming from a horizontal position to a vertical position relative to the first (outer) fixed corner thanks to the door hinges connecting them.
Now let’s check our sheet bending device “in practice”. To do this, we take a metal sheet no wider than the receiving slot and divided by three horizontal lines into four equal parts.
We push it into the gap between the strip and the shelf of the outer corner until the first marking on the sheet aligns with its inner (output) edge.

We grab the handles with both hands and turn them counterclockwise.In this case, the movable angle, turning on hinges relative to the fixed one, bends the sheet along the intended line by 90 degrees or a little more, taking into account the elastic properties of the workpiece material.

We repeat this bending process three times.

As a result, we will get a profile square pipe. To make the edges more precise, the receiving strip of the bending machine can be pressed more tightly to the workpiece with bolts and a wrench.

In this case, in order to remove the profile pipe blank from our device, the clamping bolts will have to be loosened slightly.
Let's try to flange the sheet. We also insert it into the gap between the strip and the shelf of the receiving corner. Using a square, we check that the sheet is installed correctly in the device and activate our device. The flange is smooth and there are no signs of deformation or creasing.