PE bending tools

[MerlinPro]

Please post your favorites and why they work well for you. Metal, plastic, big, small-any info or specs. There are several brands but I've seen pros/cons for few of them.

Name names, post links, show photos-sharing this info could help many of us.

Thanks.

[CFarias]

Howdy from Texas:

I use primarily three types of bending tools: a homemade tool, a light duty tool, and a heavy duty tool. However, you do not necessarily need all three to do what you need.

The first tool is a simple bending tool made up of a marble block, a piece of specimen glass, a single edge razor blade and some tape. The marble block is just a piece of black marble tile. I use it because it is dead-flat and, being black, constrasts nicely with the photo-etch parts I'm bending. The specimen glass is the thin slips of glass you'd use under a microscope. These can be found at some hobby shops. Glass from a small picture frame may work just as well. I take the glass and tape it to the marble leaving one side of the glass exposed and free of the tape. I then sandwich the phote-etch part between the glass and the marble slipping the part's folding line up to the edge of the glass. Using the single edge razor blade I carefully slide it underneath the photo-etch part up to the edge of the glass and bend the part with it. This works reasonably well but will not give you bends beyond 90-degrees. Hold down the glass as you do this to ensure a good quality bend. Glass, photo-etch, and razor blades mean use caution.

The second tool is a purpose built bending tool from Gauntlett called Mr. Fold-It (about 25$ US) http://www.megahobby.com/mrfolditpho...gauntlett.aspx.

This tool can bend parts up to 3 inches (75 mm) in length and has smaller "tongues" to bend smaller parts. This tool allows you to clamp parts down before you bend them. This will also bend parts past 90 degrees. It is of plastic construction but this has not affected the quality of my bends. You will still need a razor blade to help with the bending.

The last tool I have is from The Small Shop called the Hold and Fold Mk 8R(about 75$ US)

http://thesmallshop.com/index.php?ma...products_id=10

http://www.armorama.com/modules.php?...ontent&id=4444

This is a high-quality all metal tool that can bend metal up to 8 inches (200 mm)! The bends are perfect every time and very sharp. This company also sells smaller models at cheaper prices and you certainly may not need one my size for car model photo-etch. Please see the links above for their catalog page and a review of their 5.5 inch model.

The Small Shop also has photo-etch forming tools if you want to give your part a slight radius instead of a sharp corner bend.

Considering the price of photo-etch and model kits these days. Investing in these kinds of tools is definitely worth the money. These are the kinds of tools you think you never really need until you use them, and then you can't work without them!

Hope this helps.

P.S.: For best results always ensure that you bend along a pre-made bend line. If you are bending raw metal sheet, then pre-scribe a bend line. I would also recommend that you get a razor blade handle to hold the razor -- the kind that are used to make the blade a scraper for car window stickers. This will keep your hands well protected and help get even pressure on the blade as you bend. My handle is bent and I find this better than using the straight ones.

[MerlinPro]

Well---over 160 views and no replies told me:
A. Nobody uses these-OR
B. Nobody wants to talk about them.

Then, a perfect answer with detail, links and tips-it WAS worth the wait. Thank you Sir for taking the time to write such a comprehensive answer. I will shop according to your advice.

Now those 160 other guys have excellent information too...

[ales]

Originally Posted by MerlinPro

Now those 160 other guys have excellent information too...

Yes we do - no need to get snappy about it. You got the reply quickly enough and it was a great reply. It will be useful to more than 160 guys - me, for one (all I use are the simple Tamiya PE pliers so I'm grateful for the information).

[MerlinPro]

Originally Posted by ales

Yes we do - no need to get snappy about it. .

...and no need to perceive 'snappiness' in my response-when none was intended. I was frankly surprised that a forum with so many quality builders of complex projects had no experience to offer on the subject.

Also didn't realize AF had a 'Discipline Monitor'.

[Wishmaster]

I have a couple of benders, one being from Tamiya, but I have never used either of them yet.

And to be fair, your thread starter wasn't very clear. There was no intention on buying in it as far as I could see. It sounded like: List this and this for me in one post... And I was thinking, where is YOUR information on it.

IMO, your first post could have been more clear about what you want and why you want it. The people here are very reasonable and always willing to answer question, but they do need questions for that...

[klutz_100]

Oh pleeeeeease....let's not go there again

A great reply to the question and well worth the wait of 160 views (which is not a lot, by the way )

TBH I was one of the "views" and was going to post a reply later when I had more time to make it a useful one. You might bear that in mind next time

[drunken monkey]

Originally Posted by MerlinPro

Well---over 160 views and no replies told me:
A. Nobody uses these-OR
B. Nobody wants to talk about them.

and i suppose you post in every single thread you view then?

[MerlinPro]

Originally Posted by drunken monkey

and i suppose you post in every single thread you view then?

WOW! Tough crowd here-from both sides of the Atlantic!

No Drunken, I only post when I have sufficient experience to address the poster's question or to post a helpful reference photo that's applicable to the inquiry. Or- when I have a question that I need experienced help on which may benefit others.

Don't conclude by my low post count that I'm unaware of forum(s) protocols and have any other agenda than to enjoy and share modeling. In past, I've had no difficulty communicating effectively on any forum.

It's apparent that several of you have misconstrued and concluded that I had a negative attitude and was criticizing the group for not responding to my question. Which then generated the offensive and defensive remarks which followed.

Lost in all that lack of comprehension is the HIGHLY SIGNIFICANT fact that the gent from Texas had no such misunderstanding of my question, motive, attitude or gratefulness for help. He is to be thanked for his straightforward reply to what he perceived was a straightforward question.

Why does everyone else taste piss in the beer?

[Adam Baker]

I have 2 bender tools, that I was actually able to design & make myself.

The first is very similar to the Mission Models Multi-Tool, but made w/ my own sizes, and its been pretty nice the few times Ive used it so far.



The second is a large etch bender like all the photo etch benders, but again I chose my own sizes and shapes & such. Its 12" long by I think 6" long. Unfortunately I wasnt able to get it 100% finished. The steps on the bender are 1/8" tall and I wanted to use a ballnose endmill to put a concave rounded edge, leaving about a .030"- .040" lip for a bending edge, but I ran out of time.

[MerlinPro]

Thanks for sharing Adam. You're a very talented machinist and your tools look very effective.

[CFarias]

Awesome machining work, Adam. I wish I had that kind of skill. I can barely turn out an oil filter on my lathe!

[DerXL]

Hi there.

I personally have the Mk IV RTH Photo Etch Workstation from the Small Shop.

Although it's a nice design and it does it's work well enough I have one major problem with it.
There's only one clamping screw, and that's a big problem.
When bending PE parts on one of the outer parts of the "workstation" I can't generate enough clamping force with the single screw. And more than once it has happened that a part moved while bending.

Very irritating.
If I'm going to buy another one, I'm going to make sure that it has enough clamping screws (close to the sides) so that there's less chance of movement while bending.
(better still, I might make my own, like Adam did)

Not really a "buy this, because it's great" advice. But more a tip that should be considered when shopping for a PE bending station.

[MerlinPro]

Originally Posted by DerXL

Not really a "buy this, because it's great" advice. But more a tip that should be considered when shopping for a PE bending station.

Not true at all Axel-exactly the kind of input I was hoping for. Thanks, there have been some great answers here.