Folding a scrap steel cowbell

Someday I may feel justified in buying myself a sheet metal box bending brake so that I can do this right. In the meantime, I worked around the missing tool by making a brake jig for each bend with a couple of lengths of slotted angle. I clamped a length of angle along the bend line, front and back, and used the benchtop or another length of angle to push the steel over. The angle spreads the force and prevents the metal from folding, bending, or creasing anywhere other than intended.

I find that to get the fold right on the line, I need to place the outside angle edge right in the middle of the line, and the inside edge just under it. That is, the inside angle is set perhaps 1/32 inch below the outer one, to account for the thickness of the material and the radius of the bend.

The sequence of bends is also important. I folded the back over first, and then made the long folds, starting at the over flap and finishing with the under flap. It would be very difficult to fold the back last.

I had to persuade a couple of the long bends to square up a bit with an anvil and ball peen hammer.

The last bend can only go to about 45 degrees before it binds on the guide angles. That's OK, because I still need to brush off all of the enamel in the general area of the welds.

The mounting bracket will be folded over after the cowbell is welded closed.