Metal Tool Box Plans

Review by Edward J. Cyr "ecdoesit@twcny.rr.com" : Love the portability

I have used the Malco portable metal brake on several jobs, and find it to be very handy in that you can bring it right to the job site. I have made custom plenums, as well as other pieces I couldn't have made without the brake. I recommend it to anyone who can use a brake, but needs the portability. HVAC guys...get this.

Review by J.S : Great Tool

Great tool for the handyman. Works great for my part-time business.

Review by T. L. Donat "Mechanical contractor" : Great portable brake

I have owned one of these for 9 years got when first came out.Works well for HVAC work. Have made many plenums, transions, and etc.. Its not as accurate as heavy duty shop brake. I have issue with the bolts that the lock down handle pivot on in the cam slot, but you can replace them with standard bolts and use better lock nuts and they stay tighter longer. The weight makes it easy to take to the job. Wouldn't use it on anything heavier than 24 gauge steel. Good tool for the price.

Review by "tostaos" : good quality, portable and [inexpensive] in comparison

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.

Review by Nabil Ibrahim : great tool

i do heating and air-condition this tool is great it helped me a lot with my work i just love it

Review by Stephen Tashiro "sometimes reliable" : An Average Sheet Metal Brake

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.)

Review by Donald F. Gyde : Malco 48 brake works well in the field

This is a simple lite wieght portable brake that works as expected. Great for retro fits.

Review by farmboy : Malco 48 inch brake

After using this brake I was wondering how come I hadn't bought this thing a long time ago. Works wonderful and is very handy to use.