KAKA Industrial BDS-6, 6-Inch Metal Brake Bender Attachment for Vise, Bending Sheet Metal, Heavy-Duty Vice Mount Tool

I'm in the process of replacing pieces of my inner rocker panel on a 24 year old jeep that has lived a rusty life in New Hampshire. I'm using 16 gauge sheet steel and using the metal brake to make perfect 90 degree bends. It takes a bit of effort to make the bend on steel this gauge, so I have limited my efforts to 5 inch wide pieces, but the tool does a perfect job every time. It's a whole lot better that using a vise and a hammer to make bends. The bends are precise and tight, and worth my time and effort. The price might seem a bit high, but buy once, cry once.... This is a quality tool I will be using for a long time.

Worked great. Great for flanges that would otherwise be hammered.

I can't justify a proper finger brake, and my sheet-metal brake is useless for any 'inside' bends. So previously I had tried to use a vise and hammer for these bends. This little vise brake does a much nicer job. It's fast and easy to configure, install, and use. The magnets hold the brake very firmly in place.

needs additional magnets or stronger ones other than that it worked excellent with 18 gauge steel which is all i've bent with it i suspect it will do well with 16 gauge as well

- I delayed reviewing this because, to use it, I first had to order a suitable bench vice (from Amazon of course, via Yescom to be specific).- I see that it's not currently available, which is a shame, because I found this to be *very* easy to use; the bending edge is surprisingly sharp, not sharp enough to cut a finger of course, but it bent my 18 Gauge 0.5"-wide spring-tempered 304 stainless strip easily. I was nowhere near close to able to make a decent bend just using pliers, but I was able to do so with this little brake while working with the vise on my lap!- The edge is surprisingly sharp, so it makes a very clean and precise bend. I'll have to bolt-down the vise to bend a full 4" width of 18 Ga spring-temper stainless, but once I can do that, I think this brake will handle it well.- The magnets are also *very* strong, holding the vise securely, very steady. The overall construction is excellent quality - no wobbly bits, no gaps, strong materials, close tolerances.- I had done quite a bit of looking at various types and brands of bending brakes before I settled on this one, and I'm very pleased with my choice. KAKA also has very responsive Customer Service :)

Good DIY tool, but uses more force than I initially suspected.

It's pretty well made. I cleaned it up, chased the tapped holes, and de-burred the knives. The stock die is about 3/4" across the face, so your minimum bend leg is over 3/8". Even that is not so easy to do. I just milled a 1/2 x 1/2 piece of mild steel on two edges. One side is 1/4" across and the other is 1/8" across. This let me bend a 1/8" offset in the 20ga steel part shown. I bent a bunch of these and they came out pretty consistent. I hold my part in place with a small screw through the back. I also like the case to keep things together.

Works okay, the magnets aren’t strong enough to keep it in the vise, it would be great with stronger magnets.