[sdiy] Aluminum Thickness for Brake/Shear?

[David Brown]

I use 0.050" aluminum.  I forget the exact alloy but have it written 
down somewhere.  The metal brake is not the issue, it will be the 
shear.  I've done quite a bit of researching and have not found a 
small one that will handle 0.050".  You need the equivalent of 16 
gauge steel.  They all stop a bit short of that.

I've gone to air shears which will work well on that 
thickness.  Straight lines are reasonable for brackets, but they are 
not exact so I wouldn't use it for a piece that shows.  I made a jig 
to help me shear that is on my page.
http://modularsynthesis.com/modules/parts/parts.htm

I used to use the foot shear at work and greatly miss it.

For a brake, I settled on the Grizzly, but haven't bought it 
yet.  They have a couple small ones that are nice.  For now, I have 
two steel I beams that I simply clamp together with the piece 
in-between, and then just bend it down.

Dave



At 07:29 PM 11/17/2010, jays at aracnet.com wrote:
>I'm looking into getting one of those small, metal brake/shears to make
>L "trays" to mount PCBs and front panels together.
>
>So I was wondering what thickness of aluminum people are using to do
>this?
>
>Don't want to get anything that can't handle the thickness I need.
>
>Also if someone could recommend a bench top hand brake/shear that
>wouldn't be bad either.
>
>Thanks for the help.
>Jay S
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