The parts would have been perfect for fabrication in a press brake except for the 4 mm thickness of the plate steel, which was a little much for his smallish brake. To make the bending a little ...

Press brakes are metal forming machines used to bend and fold sheet and plate metal by pressing it between tooling referred to as a punch and a die. Folds and lips help to stiffen sheet metal panels.

To be sure, no matter what tooling you throw at it, a bench vise is a poor substitute for a real press brake. Such machine tools are capable of working sheet metal and other stock into intricate ...