Making grills the caveman way

[jimbo7]

Got some old drop-ceiling return vent grills off a job that'll be perfect to cover my SLA's with. Just need cutting, shaping and some black paint. I was thinking a metal brake would be ideal. Don't have one, don't wanna buy one, and don't wanna build one. But I could make a box-like frame a bit smaller than the baffle and screw the grill down then hammer the corners over. Same results, right? I have the wood, so in the end this wont cost a thing. Has this already been done? Couldn't find anything other than diy metal brake presses. Tips, tricks, advice?

[J_Dunavin]

I did something similar, but not with a box.
Should be fine, don’t forget to notch your corners and don’t forget to calculate bend radius so your grill will fit nice.

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

It takes longer than with a full length brake but this will work, bending just a bit at a time:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000 ... UTF8&psc=1

[Charles Jenkinson]

The one thing a press brake does do is hold/clamp the material down with the knife/blade, to prevent it bulging. Maybe short pieces of angle iron would do same on edge of a bench help down with F clamps, and then use a mallet to blend it all up slowly, working back and forth.

[Charles Jenkinson]

You may want to 'dress' a radius on the angle iron edge. Folding sheet steel properly does account for and utilise a bend radius on the knife. i.e. if you whack a grill folded edge over a sharp angle edge it would likely break / shear the material due to local stress.

[Seth]

Jim, I'd totally do it similar to the way you're thinking. I'd just measure the thickness of the metal, take that into account when cutting a piece of ply to use as a buck. I like the idea of screwing the material down. I'd also consider sandwiching it between two pieces of ply to help keep any edges from raising while hammering the lip over. It was mentioned already... just snip the corners out before starting.