Bending 1/8" Aluminum

How hard would it be to bend 8" of 1/8" aluminum without a brake? Can it be done cleanly?

You'll need some kind of brake even if it's a piece of steel pipe you have lying around or the railing on your porch. To do it with no brake at all would be bloody hard, you'd need very consistent pressure along the bend to make it clean.

Edit: Also hardness matters. Some forms of aluminum can be easily bent with your fingers and some are harder to bend than steel.

would clamping it between a sheet 5/8" plywood and my 2" workbench top be enough?

Let's say it's aluminum diamondplate

I suspect the 5/8 might break but you can give it a shot, again you want consistent pressure along the bend, once you do that the worst case scenario is that you don't get it bent and break some scrap wood.

5/8" plywood won't be strong enough. I'd say that a 4x4 clamped SOLIDLY would probably work. You'll need to put a wood block on the piece sticking out and use something pretty solid, maybe a big deadblow hammer, to bend it. You need to keep the block you are hitting close to the bend point, otherwise the bend will be a large radius. That's how I bent the ~36" x 2" lip on the spoiler for the Abomination, that was in .080.

How tight a bend do you want, the diamond imprint will resist bending and soften the radius.

if I can keep the bend under 3/4" inch I'll be happy.

You will want to test bend a sample of the metal, looking for ductility.

The greater the bend radius, the less of an issue it will be.

If it is showing cracking or just plain fractures, anneal it where you will be bending it. The most simple way of doing this would be to use a MAP torch and heat it to the point where a mark from a sharpie dissappears. This will also allow it to bend more easily. NOTE, allow to cool slowly, DO NOT QUENCH.

As far as difficulty, thats relative. do you have an 8" wide vise? I have a small chinese-type bending brake and have done similar.

I've used the Sharpie trick for annealing before - works wonders. Ask your supplier (if it's a real supplier and not just "whatever I can find") what alloy you're dealing with if you can.

I don't have map, will oxy/ace work or is it too hot?

I've heard of using an oxyacetylene torch to put some smoke on the aluminum, then burning it off instead of using a sharpie. Practice a bit, you should be able to do it just fine with a torch.

Draw a line on it w/ a Sharpie.

Then bring it and a six pack to a sheet metal fab shop and say "Can you bend this here?".

motomoron wrote: Draw a line on it w/ a Sharpie. Then bring it and a six pack to a sheet metal fab shop and say "Can you bend this here?".

This might be my best option.

have a shop press? build a brake with it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ey5DHMYLZg

Keith Tanner wrote: I've heard of using an oxyacetylene torch to put some smoke on the aluminum, then burning it off instead of using a sharpie. Practice a bit, you should be able to do it just fine with a torch.

Yep. Paint the area to be annealed with the soot from a straight acetylene flame then turn on the oxygen and heat it enough to burn the soot off. It will be soft and bendable.

find a shop w/ a plate brake

whatsitgotta cost, prolly $5

Place it under something heavy with a flat face that isn't going to move. clamp it in
vicegrip it every couple inches, and push up on all the vice grips at the same time to make sure it is even and doesn't go diagonal on you.
it's not scientific or perfect, but this is what I did in fab 3 class when I didn't feel like waiting to use the brake.

Take it to a shop! I bought some 1/8 inch steel dimand plate some years ago to put on my trailer to replace the wood decking. I was able to have them cut it into strips 15 inches wide by 8 ft and then add a 1 inch 90 deg. bend along one edge. The bend was upward so it stuck up when placed on the trailer frame. I don't remember the cost but but it was resonable. They also sold aluminum sheet so I assume they could have done the same.