Bending Sheet Metal With A Curl

Curling sheet metal die.

Bending sheet metal with a curl.

Curling on a panel or leaf bender is often limited to off center curls because most panel benders do not have tooling profiles which can create the necessary down bend to put the curl on center. Most frequently expensive sheet metal bending tools called brakes are used to bend sheet metal but you can also complete this task without one. Beading forms a curl over a part s edge. Bending sheet metal by hand is a manageable task if the piece of sheet metal is small and thin enough to handle.

The illustrations are for a small bracket but i have cut 3 foot. Curling is different than a tear drop hem because in a curl the edge finishes inside itself where a hem leaves the initial edge exposed. The inside bend radius should be equal to the thickness of the material that you re forming. Curls can be fabricated through kinds of types including roll forming stamping leaf bending and on a traditional press brake.

Similar to other metal forming processes bending changes the shape of the work piece while the volume of material will remain the same. Curling sheet metal is the process of adding a hollow circular roll to the edge of the sheet. The curled edge provides strength to the edge and makes it safe for handling. These photo steps show that it can be done using a utility knife.

Curling sheet metal die featured. If you re bending 0 020 thick material use a 0 020 radius. If you use metal shears to cut thin sheet metal such as duct metal it curls and can be difficult to flaten properly. Sheet metal bending is the plastic deformation of the work over an axis creating a change in the part s geometry.