KAKA INDUSTRIAL 6 Inch(150mm) Vise Mount Metal Brake Bender, Magnetic Vise14 Ga.(2mm) Mild Steel 1/8" Aluminum,3 Removable Fingers (3", 2", 1") for DIY Metalworking & Small Box Fabrication BDS-6

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.

These work well... but however be warned. If your vise jaws are not perfectly aligned to each other, this wont line up right either and then you will not want to try to use it for bending anything. Check your vise first before ordering this, or this will be useless until you can re-align your vise or you get another one that is aligned properly.

I looked at the reviews of several similar vise-mounted bending brakes and noted complaints of poorly-attached magnets and/or substandard construction. These are sturdy and nicely-machined -- real tools, in other words. Only drawback is they're designed for use on vices whose jaws are about as wide as the brake itself. In my case, the vice's jaws are 3 1/2" wide and therfore are just beyond the reach of the magnets that hold each half of the brake in place. (Note: I managed to work around this issue by mounting the brake vertically at one side of the vice, which I would have needed to do even with a wider-jawed vise in order to get the clearance necessary to bend a long strip of metal). All said, this is a nicely made tool and works well within the limitations of its use.

- 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 :)

This is just the ticket for those small, one off jobs where a full size brake is overkill, or you can't afford something bigger. Wish I had found this a long time ago. Using the vise as a brake is not ideal.....functional, but not really ideal. This makes clean bends easy. The one caveat is that you don't want to use it for anything thicker than 1/8" aluminum. That is a tough bend, especially given the typically shorter handle length of a 4" vise. All in all, a good buy and very handy to have.

This worked just as planned. It sure did take a bit of force, but I was able to make nice clean bends in my vise, without the use of a cheater bar or anything else. I was bending 3/16 inch flat steel stock (1.5 inches wide). This did a great job. I wouldn't recommend using this if you need to do any large volume of work. The level of effort required is rather high and the wear on the vise probably isn't worth it. But if you have a decent vise and want the ability to make clean bends once in a while, this is a very handy and affordable took to keep around. I won't be caught without one in the future. I've attached an image showing some brackets I was making. I made two brackets by heating and hammering the stock in a vise. They weren't within acceptable tolerances, so I bought this tool and re-did it. I'm very satisfied with the results, but judge for yourself.

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.

Good product. However, it's value is severely limited by the 2 tons of force the average home shop vice can provide. With a quick and dirty, small 12 ton hydraulic press build, it can easily bend 10 guage mild steel bar. See photo.