For the company that finds themselves in the fabrication industry, box & pan brakes are well known. They are utilized usually for short run simple bent piece parts or for prototyping and initial design work. For virtually any other industry, the little (or bigger) box & pan brake is in constant use in a company’s maintenance department. Only those who have never owned one would be surprised at how often this simple bending machine is needed in day-to-day metalworking. After a company has finally purchased their own box & pan brake, they begin to see small (at first) then increasingly larger metal boxes popping up all over the shop.
The box & pan brake is often called a “finger brake,” as the box & pan brake does not have a solid upper beam like a cornice brake might have, but rather has a row of metal fingers across the top, which may be moved to accommodate the bending process.
The box & pan brake is most commonly used to form… well… boxes and pans! No one is going to be too surprised by that revelation, but you might ask, “Why not do other type bending on the box & pan brake?” Good question, here’s the best answer: Even more prevalent in our industry than the box & pan brake is the cornice brake, also known as a straight brake or leaf brake. The main reason you would do most of your non-box or pan-shaped parts on a cornice brake is because you are likely to have a one in your shop already. Folks, it boils down to just this, cornice brakes are less expensive to buy. While box & pan brakes are not considered to be very expensive, they do cost more than a cornice brake.
Today’s modern box & pan brake comes in a variety of sizes and thickness capacities. Bud's Machine Tools has the widest variation of box & pan brakes available today. Our machine sizes will range from 40 inches wide with a 16-gauge thickness capacity to 100 inches bending length with a thickness capacity of 16-gauge. The box & pan brakes we carry have cast-iron bases and main components, with world class roller bearings.
All of our benders are really overbuilt for the tasks they are designed to do; the reason for this is due to the prevalence of general unintended abuse of the mechanical lever system by the average operator. What some folks new to the activity of sheet metal bending find interesting, is once they begin to operate their box & pan brakes they realize they can go above the stated thickness capacity of the bender as long as they are trying to bend a narrower piece than full width. Because of the uncertainty of what thickness can be bent at what width, this leads to the lever sometimes being overloaded in an effort to bend oversize material. Regardless, box & pan brakes provide the ability to bend metal to companies who do not have the budget for a hydraulic or motorized bending machine. As an addition to the typical maintenance shop, box & pan brakes are a moderate revolution in the capabilities and scope of their application.
The easy answer is you can buy these benders just about anywhere; the intelligent answer is Bud's Machine Tools in Salt Lake City, Utah. With a family that has been in the business of selling metal fabrication machines for decades, Bryan "Bud" Jorgenson is the man to turn to for brakes of any type. At Bud's, we like to think we know a little bit more about bending sheet metal that the average supply house. Our trained and very experienced staff, from sales to logistics, are the very people that can make a real difference. to the customer looking for a good purchasing experience.
The equipment we represent is the epitome of its respective industry, as we’ll continue to insist on only presenting the highest quality equipment available. If you are in need of assistance, call us and we will respond with the information you require, usually within the hour of receipt of your communication. At Bud's Machine Tools, you can “have it your way” when communicating with us, whatever method strikes your fancy, be it email or phone call or in person.
