Experience is what you get when you couldn't afford what you wanted

"BaconSandwich is tasty." (baconsandwich) 02/01/2020 at 00:45 • Filed to: Experience, SHOPLOPNIK, Metallopnik

9

7

For some reason, I got it in my head that I wanted a sheet brake. How often do I bend sheet metal? Not very often. So how could I justify buying one? But a sheet brake seems like a neat tool, and I wanted one . I had some scrap metal kicking around, and I could always use more welding practice...

... so I made one.

There’s still a few things left to do:
- Add some springs so that the pushy-up-bar-thing pops up to accept sheet metal without having to be lifted
- Add some sort of handle grips or wing nuts to the nuts that hold down the pushy-up-bar-thing.
- Paint it some funky color, because I feel like leaving traces of paint on whatever it is I end up bending

Given that it was made from various scrap bits, including an old bed frame (or shelving unit - I’m not sure what - I got the scrap from a co-worker ), it’s not like I was expecting spectacular results:

But, like the old man from the movie Babe, “That’ll do, pig. That’ll do.”

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > BaconSandwich is tasty. 02/01/2020 at 01:43

4

That quote from Babe: I use it regularly.

wafflesnfalafel > BaconSandwich is tasty. 02/01/2020 at 02:12

0

shop-teacher > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 02/01/2020 at 08:40

1

Fun fact: when my grandmother was in her late 70's/early 80's (this was in the late 90's), she finally bought her first VCR. Why? Because a friend gave her a VHS copy of Babe 2: Pig in the City.

Around the same time, she got cable TV for the first time as well. She had moved to a retirement apartment, and couldn’t get good enough reception on her rabbit ears to watch Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman.

shop-teacher > BaconSandwich is tasty. 02/01/2020 at 08:42

1

That will indeed do!

Having access to tools like that, is one thing I love about my job. I could never justify buying a brake for myself, but at school I have two of them! One of them is a friggin monster.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > shop-teacher 02/01/2020 at 11:48

2

Dee lightful!

I did one of the most useful wood fabrications I’ve ever created this week. I’ll get you a picture or two. A good friend broke his hip and was given a walker and has to go miles with this walker and had ground off two inches of the aluminum legs on the various surfaces. So I made hardwood skates for the bottoms of the legs. Freakin’ COOL, man!

shop-teacher > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 02/01/2020 at 16:07

0

That's awesome!

TheRealBicycleBuck > BaconSandwich is tasty. 02/01/2020 at 19:55

1

A tornado did some damage to the aluminum trim around our house (it destroyed four of my neighbors ‘ houses) and I couldn’t get anyone to come repair it. So I sourced a roll of the trim,  rented a brake, and did it myself. It was very satisfying work. That’s another tool I’d like to have, although I have only needed one once in my life.