Help ....... would anyone be willing to make some stainless plates?

Agroshield · Feb 22, 2026

If the 3mm stainless with the 20-30mm bend dimensions is problematic to press, could it be (red) hot bent?

The item is only 150mm wide. Make the former to suit the smallest dimension and then add a 5mm packer each time you move to a larger one.

It is only the height that is critical, so leave the ends long and trim afterwards.

Munkul · Feb 22, 2026

Just so we're clear, there's nothing problematic about bending stainless the way he's drawn it, but you DO need the correct tool, or tooling. Ie. A box and pan that can fold 5mm MS, or a press brake with tech tooling.

bricol · Feb 22, 2026

Munkul said:
Well done, how about you sort it out for the OP then, show us all how it's done.

I would, but as I said . . . "Where I've been for the last 20 years, we have no in-house sheet metal facilities, or abilities"

Proper gear, all those folds are easily done with no particular issue, other than as has been said, a minimum bend radius.

badabec · Feb 23, 2026

If you can't or won't fix the roof, wear one of these.

Wholesale-200pcs-lot-head-Umbrella-Hat-Cap-Headwear-Umbrella-for-Fishing-Hiking-Beach-Camping-...jpg

Munkul · Tuesday at 7:15 PM

I'd wear that. I mean her. I mean the umbrella....

Munkul · Tuesday at 7:15 PM

David_W · Tuesday at 7:31 PM

Munkul said:
Just so we're clear, there's nothing problematic about bending stainless the way he's drawn it, but you DO need the correct tool, or tooling. Ie. A box and pan that can fold 5mm MS, or a press brake with tech tooling.

Just for my education, what is tech tooling in this context? I tried a Google search but couldn't see a likely candidate

Munkul · Tuesday at 7:58 PM

David_W said:
Just for my education, what is tech tooling in this context? I tried a Google search but couldn't see a likely candidate

It's not a real term I suppose, it's just what I would call proprietary tooling that isn't just Euro style, eg Trumpf bottom tooling is a single bottom Vee with a 13mm tongue that locks into a groove, and is only as wide as it needs to be for that Vee width. I've got a load of euro style 60mm wide tooling that I use as much as possible, but also a bit of trumpf style tooling in 11, 20 and 24mm Vees. Unfortunately it's never enough...
In this case, I used the 20mm tech vee which has an overall width of 30mm. So the theoretical joggle flange depth is 15mm, BUT,
2nd 20mm flange has an inner rad of 3mm, plus the material thickness of 3mm, so all of a sudden that 20mm joggle becomes a 21mm. Which is what I've done for @the mushroom in this case, as it's not critical.
Does that make sense?

In a perfect world, I'd use 5xT that gives a 15mm Vee, but the Trumpf style die at 16mm is still 30mm wide anyways so makes no difference joggle wise. I could push it and use a 12mm Vee with a width of 25mm, but it's a bit painful on the pressbrake, pushing around 80 tons/metre.

Or, use an amada style double offset Vee, i actually have some, it gets you closer to one edge than tech tooling, but with lower tonnage limits. It's a faff to set up though, and limits how far the backgauge can come forward.

OR, use a euro style tech die, they do a 60mm wide base with 16 vee and 24mm width, that's probably perfect.

So basically, if I did loads of 3mm like this, I'd probably buy a 16mm tech die. But tooling is expensive, and it's hard to justify buying it with a ROI that stretches into decades.

All this is just a long winded explanation of why I said and did what I did

David_W · Tuesday at 8:54 PM

Munkul said:
It's not a real term I suppose, it's just what I would call proprietary tooling that isn't just Euro style, eg Trumpf bottom tooling is a single bottom Vee with a 13mm tongue that locks into a groove, and is only as wide as it needs to be for that Vee width. I've got a load of euro style 60mm wide tooling that I use as much as possible, but also a bit of trumpf style tooling in 11, 20 and 24mm Vees. Unfortunately it's never enough...
In this case, I used the 20mm tech vee which has an overall width of 30mm. So the theoretical joggle flange depth is 15mm, BUT,
2nd 20mm flange has an inner rad of 3mm, plus the material thickness of 3mm, so all of a sudden that 20mm joggle becomes a 21mm. Which is what I've done for @the mushroom in this case, as it's not critical.
Does that make sense?

In a perfect world, I'd use 5xT that gives a 15mm Vee, but the Trumpf style die at 16mm is still 30mm wide anyways so makes no difference joggle wise. I could push it and use a 12mm Vee with a width of 25mm, but it's a bit painful on the pressbrake, pushing around 80 tons/metre.

Or, use an amada style double offset Vee, i actually have some, it gets you closer to one edge than tech tooling, but with lower tonnage limits. It's a faff to set up though, and limits how far the backgauge can come forward.

OR, use a euro style tech die, they do a 60mm wide base with 16 vee and 24mm width, that's probably perfect.

So basically, if I did loads of 3mm like this, I'd probably buy a 16mm tech die. But tooling is expensive, and it's hard to justify buying it with a ROI that stretches into decades.

All this is just a long winded explanation of why I said and did what I did

Thanks for such a detailed reply. It's always amazing how anything, in this case bending a bit of metal, has so much skill and knowledge to do it well!

Hitch · Tuesday at 9:03 PM

They're fancy.

All mine were from 2mm galv offcuts, east to scribe the lines onto.
Used to press up a dose of them while machine was set, trim down to suit as required.

Only real important thing there is the two folds are parallel.

Think I might still have a couple rattling about in the bottom drawer.

Munkul · Tuesday at 9:07 PM

There's a gap in the market for fancy I reckon.

Hitch · Tuesday at 9:10 PM

Scales need to be adjustable to suit different flange thicknesses.

Measurements taken from top of the top flange in 99% of cases, which will make a fixed scale vary depending on the kg/m of beams.

Munkul · Tuesday at 9:40 PM

Hitch said:
Scales need to be adjustable to suit different flange thicknesses.

Measurements taken from top of the top flange in 99% of cases, which will make a fixed scale vary depending on the kg/m of beams.

For every size UB, the distance between inner flanges is the same regardless of kg weight

neat little fact I only learned yesterday.
Its different for different flange widths though, so I'm picking the most common ones.
Obviously it's not going to be perfect for everything, and it's not going to be accurate if the flanges are twisted, but...

Also yes if drawings are dimensioned from an outer flange it makes the scale useless as well. But... We would always go from centreline if possible, as it's always more accurate interpolating a centre than measuring from a twisted flange edge.
Suppose it's horses for courses. I'm just designing it the way I'll use it myself on the next shed build, lol