Aluminum Brake
An aluminum brake is a kind of brake people use when they want to put aluminum fascia on their house or trailer, cap off your windows and doors or just about any other sort of bending that you can imagine. Simply follow the step by step instructions below and you too will be able to master the aluminum brake.
1. You can either pre-measure everything before starting with the aluminum brake or you can measure everything once you start(the way I do it). Some people say to pre-measure before hand, for the shortest amount of time, but once you are experienced it will not matter much.
2. Then once you have your aluminum brake, using the two saw horses, set up the aluminum brake on the saw horses before you start the process. After the measurements are done and you know how much aluminum you will need, you will then put the aluminum in the brake. You can use big rolls of aluminum or usually purchase the amount you need from the local hardware store. Make sure to purchase a little extra! The bigger rolls are better because the
smaller rolls tend to curl more tightly. Make sure you use heavy enough aluminum.
3. Mark where you would like to cut the aluminum. Now put it in the brake, being sure to line your marks up with the upper straight edge of the brake. Clamp the straight edge in place and take a sharp utility knife to put a score in the aluminum, making sure it is a clean score all the way across, but not pushing so hard you are trying to cut through the aluminum. Lift the bottom straight edge, using the handles on the brake to bend up the aluminum at the score
line. This will brake the aluminum in a clean, straight line. If it does not brake the first time, simply push it down gently by hand and bend it again, doing this until it does brake.
4. Mark where you would like to bend an line up your marks to the upper straight edge. Now just clamp the upper edge in place and lift the lower. Keep repeating this until you have the desired shape.
5. After that is all done you can now place your aluminum in your designated area and nail it in place with the aluminum finish nails. This is not a hard task to do. A lot of people use aluminum brakes to wrap their windows or door frames with aluminum.