Buy Malco MB48A 48-inch Portable BrakeMalco MB48A 48-inch Portable Brake Product Description:
- Makes bends to 135 degrees in galvanized sheet metal up to 22 gauge
- Compact size and lighter weight
- Accommodates sheet metal up to 4-feet wide in any length
- Adjustable strenghtening ribs assure tightly formed bends
- Optional legs sold separately
Product Description
Make big or small fabrications on the job with this lightweight and portable tool! The versatile Mini Brake produces bends up to 135 degrees in sheet metals, including aluminum, copper and 22-gauge galvanized steel. The brake's compact size can accommodate sheet metal stock up to 4-feet wide, in any length, because there is no fixed throat depth to contend with. Use the Mini Brake anywhere on the job site, even on a truck tailgate, for a variety of fabricating tasks from large HVAC transitions to narrow roof flashing to structures as small as a 4-inch square. Strengthening ribs on the brake's anvil and apron assure consistent bends. A safety-conscious, cam-over style clamping mechanism, similar to much larger shop-floor brakes, keeps the anvil secure in any position. Optional legs are available separately.
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful.
An Average Sheet Metal Brake
By Stephen Tashiro
The Malco MB48A sheet metal brake is "light and portable" relative to stationary shop equipment, but it weighs about 58 lbs. It isn't anything you would enjoy carrying up a flight of stairs and it doesn't have carrying handles. The two feet that the brake rests upon slide in and out of the body of the brake. There are bolt-on clamps that you can attach to keep them captured to the body of the brake. The most troublesome aspect of the brake is the bolts that hold the handles for the clamping bar (the handles with the black grips in the photo). The threaded part of these bolts is too short and I find that the nuts tend to work their way off these bolts. These nuts have the plastic type of lock ring in them, but not enough threads of the bolt go through it. These are specialty bolts that have one section of the shaft that is oval in cross section instead of round, so you can't replace them with ordinary bolts. A bad feature of the design is that these bolts restrict how far you can rotate the clamp away from the work. The maximum clearance that you can get between the base of the brake and the clamp is about 7/16 ths of an inch. If the heads of the bolts weren't in the way, you could swing it to get over an inch of clearance. The 7/16 ths clearance is fine if you are making bends only one way on a sheet of metal. If you are bending something that has bends both ways or has ribs, you'll wish you had more clearance. The clamping bar on this brake works very well and exerts even pressure all along the 4 ft span of the bed. It would be nice if you could lock the clamping bar open while you are inserting sheet metal into the brake, but there is no such lock. The brake has no indicator to show what angle you are making with your bends.I rate this tool as three stars out of five to indicate that it is an average sheet metal brake. (It may be a better than average deal, depending on your requirements and its current price.)
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful.
good quality, portable and [inexpensive] in comparison
By A Customer
I use this small and not to heavy break for HVAC duct work. I can carry the brake by myself and can do pretty good work with it.It's devinitly not a toy and does a great job, when you only have to use it once in a while. For every day use, you need a big break in your shop for better speed and accuracy.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
Works great
By Rob Orrill
Great for small projects, You just need to start with scrap to get tension settings correct before bending your project so that bends are true and sharpe
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