The Spec Tools Bending Brake, No. BRB-100, is a patented fabricators hand-held bending brake , for accurate bending of sheet metal strip material for brackets. A duckbill clamping plier, fitted with a pivoting bending jaw, it handles metal widths to 3 inches in thin materials, down to 3/4 inch in gauges up to 5/64″ thick. This tool is especially useful for making pattern brackets and fabricating intricately shaped strap material for metal-mounting brackets. A reversible jaw provides extra leverage to create tight Z-bends with the jaw mounted at 90 degrees. Users can also dismount the tool, flip it over and remount the jaw straight off for maximum hand leverage on thick materials like muffler brackets and accessory mounts.
The review
Eric Moore, co-owner of DeMary Truck, put the Spec Tools Hand Held Bending Brake, No. BRB-100 to the test at his Columbus, Ohio-based shop and was impressed by the added convenience it offered him.
“Because (it) is a tool used more for fabricating than for actual repairs, I am not able to correlate (it) with any time savings,” says Moore. “Convenience is another matter entirely.”
Moore used the tool for making brackets on motorcycles and other power sports vehicles. More specifically, he made fuel line brackets for a 1995 Sea Doo XP personal watercraft, mounting brackets for a headlight on a 2001 Yamaha WR250F motorcycle and fairing stay mounts for a 2000 Honda CBR600F4 motorcycle. In addition, he modified a throttle cable bracket on the Sea Doo.
“I did not find any features I did not like,” says Moore of the tool. “I can see a use for larger and smaller versions of the Spec Tools Hand Held Bending Brake being useful.”
He also states he found the Spec Tools Hand Held Bending Brake easy to use, though it took a few tries for Moore to get the proper width opening dialed in for the material he was working with and the type of bend he was making.
While Moore had not used a previous version of the tool, he says he once tried to make something like the Spec Tools Hand Held Bending Brake using duckbill pliers and locking pliers.
“It did not work nearly as efficiently,” notes Moore.
After testing the tool on a number of applications, Moore says he sees a need for larger and smaller versions of the Spec Tools Hand Held Bending Brake. However, he has nothing but praise for the current iteration of the tool and rates it a 10 out of 10.
“I found it to be useful, allowing me the ability to creatively repair items I would normally have to order OEM replacement brackets for,” says Moore.
