w/tb metal ace or mittler radius brake -used
 

im looking for a used mittler or metal ace sheet metal radius brake -4 -6 -8 ft. size -close to iowa

What you should really be looking for is a Whitney or Roper Whitney (the later version) combination brake. That is what all the smaller stainless kitchen shops use to do radius bends on sinks, the larger more established shops use press brakes. Radius dies for a Whitney brake can easily be made from water pipe. ~ John Buchtenkirch
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Can you show photo of your machine? I was surprised by the distance from the bending edge.
With this distance I can not move on my machine. I can only set the lower bending bar. Or tighten the pipe under the top rail. Can I bend max 60 degrees?

mittler or metal ace style radius unit !!
 

what im looking for is a metal ace or a mittler style radius brake ?? just dont know if i can justify a new one ?? i can bend some radius -for car hoods on my slip roller ! BUT its very tough to do it & hold to tight tolerances , the pics of the metal /being done in the brake -has give me some new ideas??? thanks mike

Jaroslav, the upper beam of a Whitney combination brake is mounted on heavy V-ways so it can slide back approximately 9”, this is why you can mount shop built radius dies (a piece of pipe welded to angle iron) in front of the upper beam. The reason Whitney did it was to be able to mount fingers to the front edge of the upper beam hence the name “combination brake”, it could be either a regular brake or a finger brake. Many people including used machinery dealers don’t quite understand how these brakes work and even less people understand the shop built radius dies so it’s still possible to find a good deal on these combination brakes in the USA :). ~ John Buchtenkirch
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Attachment 49521

neat !
 

thanks john -ive never seen one !! will keep an eye out for one ! thanks for posting !!!!!!!!

Great machine
 

Thank you, John. I saw this machine in England and had my fingers. I did not figure out the details, and I did not know the upper beam could go so far. I would be able to solve this bend by pulling the lower rails. The maximum bend would be 120 degrees.
You have an interesting machine. Today's Internet generation can not appreciate the thoughts of our ancestors. They feel that without the CNC it is not possible today. Once they turn his off their electricity. They will not be able to find a way to the next town.

So now you can see why the Whitney brake is the favorite of smaller stainless kitchen shops. They bend all the soft radius straight run bends on the fronts & sides of kitchen sinks on the Whitney and then tig weld in the partial corner balls which I’m told are available in cast stainless. Then some polishing of the welds and it’s ready for the customer.

Here is another Whitney brake trick. The front turnbuckle style adjusters (red arrow) have enough adjustment to grab plate, box tubing or whatever you want up to 4” thick. So you lay a piece of let’s say 3” box tubing on top of your sheet, grab the two with the upper beam, then make your first 90 degree bend using the tubing as a die. Then you rotate the sheet & the box tubing ¼ turn and proceed to bend another 90 degree bend. Do that 2 more times and you have actually wrapped the 3” box tubing with sheet metal !

And another Whitney trick. You can bend ½ of the width of say a 3” wide strip of sheet 135 degrees over the upper beam and you then have a nose cap for the upper beam. You can adjust the upper beam back and then bend a second nose cap over the first. Each nose cap you add will make the front edge of the upper beam softer & softer……… making the nose caps into radius dies.

I have always told people that the Whitney combination brake is similar to the Pullmax in that what you can accomplish is only limited by your imagination and ability to make some dies :). ~ John Buchtenkirch