magna bend
hi guys, thinking of getting a magna bend 1300 mm unit , due to there small foot print and over all versatility-
What are the pros and cons of these unit have hear they have some limitations .. Thanks David |
Biggest issue I've seen is the ability to fold a hem closed is relying on the magnetic force, and sometimes doesn't do as well as the apron brake would. If bending aluminum the magnet has no effect on the material so the capacity seems to decrease significantly.
Be sure to visit this page and click on #7, Getting more out of your Magnabend. Some good helpful hints. http://aaybee.com.au/Magnabend/Magnabend_Homepage.html |
An electro magnet will heat Al up if you tarry!
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I think that page is via the Aussie inventor of the MagnaBend - and he has been heard to be very supportive of craftsmen getting the best out of his invention - despite whomsoever is currently copying the design. |
I have a new version, probably made in China, which works very well; one advantage over the original Magna Bend is a clamp release button.
So far I have found no problems using it, the only limitation is 1.6mm steel maximum thickness, Cheers Charlie |
G Day Dave.
Ive had my Magna Bender for 7 years, their a good machine but you cannot do the simplest of bends with her, common to what we require. Like trying to fold a U channel with flanges, or even a simple angle fold of 10mm x 30mm, as the magnets will not hold the clamp bar tight enough to fold something so small. The depth of fold is limited to thickness of the fold bar at 15mm. It's frustrating that you can't even do a simple cross break in a sheet as the magnet and bar will tend to flatten the first crease you do, it's OK on small thickness sheet .06mm but anything thicker you fade the break. I had to make a new BBQ fat drainer tray and had to chase the 1st break by hand as it flattened out. The other day I had to fold some seat mounts with captive nuts, again simple U channel 13mm flange x 20mm high x27mm wide x 400mm long. Had to use a friends Pan Brake. Radius bends are a treat as well as using other type of tooling for tighter or wider folds. My experience since owning this unit, shallow tight folds will break the hold down bar, or it will slide away. The only way I have found I can achieve this is to fold a flange on a large sheet then cut it down and repeat as necessary. In a nutshell, To do all the folds the machine demos for you does them well. But rarely we need to use all those type of folds. |
The Magna Brake is best suited to being a support unit for a standard brake.
When I used to do a lot of custom tanks it allows you to quickly do various radius' and get accurate closure of the seam. The radius bar is pretty much the same piece to make between an apron brake and the Magna Brake but there is no way you can close a 4 sided tank in a standard apron without some bench work. Much crisper in the Mag. Rick |
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Hi,
I have the Baileigh Model BB-4816M 220 volt machine and I love it, it has become my "go to" machine for bending. I work with aluminum 99% of the time and have little, to no issues. I think the 220volt machines have much more holding power than the old 110volt machines. There are so many shapes that would be difficult to impossible to make on my old cast iron brake. Attachment 47749 Attachment 47750 I formed up this aluminum box, material 5052-H32 x .050", box size 2-1/2" x 4" x 1/2" deep with 1/4" hemmed edge. Rather small, but challenging with conventional tooling. Attachment 47752 Attachment 47753 To increase the magnet clamping pressure, while forming small steel or aluminum parts, place one size thinner steel plates on both sides of the part. It was not needed for this piece, but I'm showing the concept. I purchased galvanized steel (So it would not rust) 12" x 12" material and cut them in half. You use the steel (magnetic) piece, one size thinner than your part, to support the clamp bar. This eliminates the top clamp bar from bowing and only touching your part on the corners instead of the whole part. Attachment 47754 Attachment 47755 For hemming the edge, I fold as far as I can in the brake and close the seam in the English Wheel. I have a flat lower die and in a few passes it closes the seam. Attachment 47756 Attachment 47757 Because of the hem, .050" material + .050" = .100. So I add via tape a .050" scrap to support the center and now use my galvanized .100" spacers to do the final folds. Attachment 47758 Attachment 47759 The Baileigh comes with a large selection of top clamp bars for most of shapes you would encounter. In the past, I have used other pieces of steel to back up the top clamp or as the clamp as well. I have a selection of steel clamp bars that I had made with welded on 1/8", 3/16" and 1/4" rod to make a easy bend radius. [ATTACH]47760 Bill |
G Day Bill.
What is the narrowest you can fold on the Bailey, I also noticed that in the pic of the machine it appears to have 3 magnetic poles where as my only has 2, So they must of changed to 2 power coils, for better hold down clamping. Would the Bailey be able to fold the size channel I mentioned in my previous post. If so I may have to upgrade, and sell Dave my one.:D Regards John |
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G'day Oldnek,
I made this yesterday and I can do three of the bends on the magnabender and the fourth one by hand. Material is 1.2mm steel and the machine never lets go, even on the narrow flange which is 15mm. I have used Bill's tip of placing some off-cuts under the small clamp plates to make them grip better and once I used some heavy steel plate to assist the process, but that is never needed on the long clamps. Attachment 47763 Cheers Charlie |
G Day Charlie.
I definitely cant fold that close with mine, as it doesn't have the clamp capacity, even when using spaces under the clamp bar. I will post a pic of mine to show the difference on Tuesday when I go back to work. Thanks for the test demo, as it proves that my machine is not up to scratch of the new generation. Cheers John |
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I think you could clamp on 1/8" of material and bend it. All depends on its length and thinckness. B |
thanks Guys for your post, i know John had one and had issues with small folds , what appealed was the small foot print and im running out of space in my shed , but not much good it they cant to the types of bends needed for our work, mY have to re think my options
Cheers David |
maybe something like this would be better
https://www.machineryhouse.com.au/S262 |
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Images of my Magna Bender.
Must be 1st generation. Attachment 47815 Attachment 47816 Attachment 47817 I may have to update, if the new can bend that close now. Thanks for the update.;) |
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It will of course heat the metal workpiece a little by direct thermal contact if the magnet itself is already hot. |
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Thanks for the images of your Magnabend machine. Yes, that is definitely a first generation model. The later machines didn't really improve the minimum distance between reverse bends but they did employ a stronger (E-section) design, which pushed the maximum thickness capacity from 1.2mm to 1.6mm. I recently posted some information on my website which showed how to get closer reverse bends. See here: http://www.aaybee.com.au/Magnabend/M...erseBendsClose. http://www.aaybee.com.au/Magnabend/M...20distance.png http://www.aaybee.com.au/Magnabend/M...se%20Bends.png |
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Thanks for your post and the picture is very informative. You mention that you did 3 of the folds on your Magnabend and the 4th one by hand. Since the profile is a tapered "top-hat" you could probably do all 4 bends on your Magnabend, although possibly the sides of the top-hat may have to have a little more taper: http://www.aaybee.com.au/Magnabend/M...%20tapered.png Please see this section of my Magnabend website: http://www.aaybee.com.au/Magnabend/M...TopHatProfiles |
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Hi John, Please refer to this section of my Magnabend website: http://www.aaybee.com.au/Magnabend/M...#TopHatsSquare And also this section: http://www.aaybee.com.au/Magnabend/M...TopHatsTapered |
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On my test-piece, the 4th bend opened out the angle of bend number 3; this was not desirable as the most important dimension of the rib I made, was the angle and altitude of the tapered piece. Hence the reason why I did the last bend by hand. Maybe I should try your method on a full-size piece; the material is 1.2mm gal. Cheers Charlie PS I like your website thank you for sharing! |
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