I've got this perforated steel mesh (1/8" holes) that I'm using for the front panel of one of my projects. I need to bend the metal fairly sharply to get the look of the case I want, but how do I go about doing this without a sheet metal brake? ~Hax
Being steel mesh the job isn't all that bad. Depending on the length of the bend the most common methods are doing it in the vise with a hammer or clamping it over the edge of a workbench. You can make your own makeshift brake with the bench and a bar of metal or wood but if its thin enough you can get it most of the way bent by hand then sharpen up the edge with a hammer.
Nah, steel is a very forgiving material to work with. As easy as wood but in different ways. If you screw up the bend totally you'll be out of luck, but just about anything less can be fixed with a hammer and some well placed blows.
(off topic) where is everyone getting the perferated mesh anyway. I see lots of projects with it but no sources. Ive checked Ace Hardware, Home Depot as well as many online places and nobody has it that is not like 80 bucks a sheet. Ive seen the honeycomb everywhere just not the standard circle pattern in aluminum or steel. How well you will be able to bend it will depend entirely on the thickness. It should fold nicely since it will be relatively weak from the hole patterns given that its not ultra thick. I would place 2 boards on each side and clamp it. the another flat board to rock it over the edge for a fold.
since you have a long edge to bend, i'd suggest 2 bits of L angle cut to the length you need, drill and bolt them either side and hammer slowly along the length. note: if you can get tiny bolts to go through the holes on the mesh you can clamp on the face of the mesh and fold the edge (rreducing warping on the fascia) Freezermug: mesh isn't easy to find i've found, i just got a quote from http://www.mnpctech.com/ to send some hex mesh to Australia
What I do to bend metal is I clamp down a straight piece of metal alon the sheet and I run my dremmel along and score the metal, then when I bend it, It bens along the line. It gives a pretty good bend.
Quote :"where is everyone getting the perferated mesh anyway. I see lots of projects with it but no sources" http://www.mnpctech.com/moddersmesh.html
Have a look at McMaster-Carr (www.mcmaster.com) under perforated sheet. They have various sizes of round, square, hex, diamond, & other shape holes. The equivalent to MNPC's round hole is p/n 9255T741, $42.23 US for a 36" x 40" sheet. The equivalent to MNPC's hex hole is p/n 92725T22, $30.99 US for a 36" x 40" sheet.
