Roper Whitney sheet metal brake. I need your advice.

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Does anyone know anything about Roper Whitney sheet metal brakes? There is one for sale on ebay that is kind of close to me. I don't know anything about brakes. It is a Connecticut model# U422 which I believe is made in the USA. The starting bid is $500. Here are the specs: Length of bed: 48 1/4" Capacity on mild steel, 3/8" flange, full length: 22 ga. Minimum reverse bend: 5/16" Maximum lift of beam: 7/8" Finger widths: 2", 3", 4" Maximum depth of box 3" Shipping Weight:  280 lbs. Can I bend thicker gauges in shorter lenghts? I probably wouldn't need to bend anything thicker than 16ga. I don't know what it means by finger widths. Any info on this brake or sheet metal brakes in general is greatly appreciated.Last edited by Carl26; 06-01-2007 at 10:30 PM.Lincoln AC/DC 225/125 Stick Linde HDA-300 MillerMatic DVI MIG Miller Dynasty 200DX Hypertherm Powermax 1000
Reply:This is a decent brake. Connecticut is Roper Whitney's lower priced line.It is not very heavy duty, and I would worry about springing it if you bend 16ga in it.Springing a brake is what happens when you try to bend too thick of material in it- it bends the bottom beam into a curve, ruining the brake.At 280 lbs, its pretty lightweight.Here is the roper whitney website-http://www.roperwhitney.com/Those connecticut 22 gage brakes are only $700 or $800 brand new.For comparison, I have a Chicago D&K, which is pretty much the best US made brake, and mine is a 12 ga brake- and it weighs a bit over 2000 lbs, for a 48" brake. when you double the thickness that you want to bend, the force is squared- which means it takes a LOT more metal to make a brake strong enough to do the job.A "finger" brake is also known as a box and pan brake- rather than having one solid upper bar, it has a series of different sized "fingers" which you can move around. This allows you to bend a piece that has a bend in it already at 90 degrees- like a box.If you need to bend 16 ga, you should buy a 16 ga brake. Good brands, besides Roper Whitney, which is very good, would include Chicago D&K, W.A. Whitney (an entirely different company, even though it is also in Rockford Il.)  Tennsmith, Pexto, Niagara, and Di-Acro.These are all american companies, some are no longer in business. A used brake from any of these companies would be good. Seems like in Chicago, you ought to be able to find one.Then there are lots of new, cheap imports- I guess I would stick with Jet or Grizzly, or maybe Knuth, which is in Illinois near you. I would skip no name chinese brands. Chicago brakes are made in Chicago- they used to be right in town, now they are out in the burbs in Peotone. They might still have a factory on Loomis. They are the best, but cost accordingly.http://www.americanmachinetools.com/hand_brake.htmhttp://www.dreis-krump.com/hand_brakes.htmKnuth is a german company that sells a mix of chinese, european, and turkish stuff- I think their brakes are mostly turkish.http://www.knuth-usa.com/Here is a newer american company that sells made in usa stuff- again, the brake you are looking at is only $770 new, and often times ebay goes higher than that.http://users.cwnet.com/thall/proform...ger_brakes.htmLast edited by Ries; 06-01-2007 at 11:17 PM.
Reply:Wow, that's a lot of information. Thank you Ries for taking the time to explain all of that to me. You got me started in the right direction.I don't really NEED a brake, but I think it would be nice to have for general maintainance and fabrication around the shop. I would rather buy an American made unit even if its old and weighs a ton. Space is not an issue. You are right, there is no shortage of used machinery here in the Chicago area.Lincoln AC/DC 225/125 Stick Linde HDA-300 MillerMatic DVI MIG Miller Dynasty 200DX Hypertherm Powermax 1000