I hope somebody has some hands on experience with cheap (press) brakes for folding metal and can share some advice / experience.
For an upcoming project I have to fold some thin (1mm) aluminium sheet. This has to be done with some precission so I started looking for a good tool to do this. One avenue I looked at is to get a second hand one but even the very old ones fetch quite a bit of money. An additional handicap for me is that space is limited so I'm restricted to a benchtop model. 24" / 605mm is wide enough for now. When I make something from sheet metal, my go-to material is aluminium but I don't rule out using sheet metal (likely 1mm at most).
So far I have found 3 variations...
A low cost one like this:
![](https://cdn-fsly.yottaa.net/60d0e018d93140bed685d4fc/o~/v~4b.7e.0.0/https://www.eastwood.com/media/catalog/product/cache/f6a6ad9633d4f4199f5a61178e3b058e/p/1/p14042_6.jpg)
I worry that the construction isn't stiff enough to make clean, consistent bends when trying to fold wide sheets. I've seen some people modifying these to add more stiffness. But I'm not looking for yet another project.
A medium cost one:
![](https://bcdn.hbm-machines.com/images/cache/hbm-078-140.jpg-1200x600-a8924ebc88.jpg)
This looks a bit more sturdy than the lower cost version with the added flexibility of having removable fingers so it opens up the possibility to making odd shaped objects out of sheet steel /aluminium. Provided the fingers stay in place while bending... I may like to bend up to 3mm thick aluminium sheet at some point.
And a more expensive version which seems to come in 2 versions; with or without extra supporting L profile. I don't quite see what the additional purpose is of the extra L profile.
![](https://cdn-fsly.yottaa.net/60d0e018d93140bed685d4fc/o~/v~4b.7e.0.0/https://www.eastwood.com/media/catalog/product/cache/f6a6ad9633d4f4199f5a61178e3b058e/p/6/p61256_3.jpg)
![](https://oil-shop.be/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Sans-titre-36.jpg)
Since I'll need to move the brake to/from the bench before and after use, the weight is also an issue. The 3rd option typically weighs around 45kg which is more than I'd like to lift but I can probably work around that. The difference between the medium (2nd) option and the 'more expensive' 3rd option is that the 3rd model typically had set screws to -I guess- eliminate play from the hinges and the hinges are double instead of single.
All of the models above are relatively cheap and are definitely not precission engineered / manufactured. One way to look at it is to buy the cheapest model and just write it off after the project is done. OTOH if the more expensive models are actually good tools then the project at hand could be a good reason to buy a piece of equipment that lasts me a long time.
So the question is: what would be my best value for money?