Hello Gentlemen,
I am slowly, but surely, being dragged into the 21st century by the photo etch monster....all our kits now come with it.But what a beating working with it. (although it looks outstanding..)
So besides my fat fingers which always seems to feed the carpet monster, I heard there is some bending tools to possibly keep my sanity. Any suggestions?
Cheers all..
-Chris (ziggy)

If you are limiting yourself to the kits PE, the a small bender like the "Bug" will do. But if you go into larger PE sets then buy accordingly.


HTH





Jeff

ok jeff, what is this "bug" that you speak of?
-chris

Here ya go, Chris:

The Small Shop: http://thesmallshop.com/

The "Bug" is one of their smaller PE tools:

http://thesmallshop.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=2

The old Etch-Mate was a good tool until they redesigned it and started making it out of plastic. The original aluminum ones are excellent, but no longer produced.

The best game in town are now the Small Shop tools. The smaller ones are good for - duh - smaller parts, but for parts like fenders and long stowage boxes, a larger tool is better so that you don't have to make the bends in sections.

A larger tool will also do the smaller PE parts, but it will be more cumbersome on the workbench.

I use a the "Bug" for 90% of my PE folding needs and my old Etch-mate for most of the other 10% (with the occasional bends just done with flat tip pliers, tweezers, or a metal straight edge on a piece of glass (that I also use as a cutting board for other things, so the small glass sheet is always on my bench).

The Small Shop 5.5" tool is their equivalent to the old Etch-mate. Their longer tools are more specialized, but if you have long bends to make, they're the ideal.

HTH,

For extremely small pieces, I would recommend the smallest pair of tweezers you can find. I got mine from the dollar store. They are the ones that come with a magnifying lens attached. I also have a Mission Models pe bender. This is the 6" one. It works well, but the blades are plastic and wear out rather quickly. I've tried using a metal blade and it mares the bending station. Hope this helps.

I have one of the original Hold and Folds. However, for the bulk of my PE bending, I simply use straight hemostats. since 98% of my bends are on very small parts and 100% of my parts need to be removed from a fret and have their "nib" filed off, I hold the part in the hemostat jaws and apply a file file and then bend with a knife blade if one is required.

I RARELY use my H&F but I'm very productive and fast using my hemostats.

Look at #21110 from Micromark

Roger that! Cheap and they work great for the various kit PE parts.

Chris, to get started I would invest $7 at your Home Depot for a razor blade and some floor stripper or wall stripper blades.these are basically the same blades that are used for doing large folds. Get your self a few of these and you are off to the races, the you can decide if you want to pick up an expensive folding tool. Cheers.

For start I suggest this:

http://www.radubstore.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=77_79&zenid=ad0000d2bc1f0b4c57cbb9312e021d1e

Very practical, small, low cost tool for beginers!

For very small stuff you won't scream as much with one of these. My 2 year old daughter calls it the space hat... http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B001MJ0JW2/ref=pd_aw_sbs_1?pi=SY115

I use one of the small "Hold&Fold" tools. It'll do 95% of any PE work that needs to be done on a tool. For most of the small stuff, a quality pair of pointy tweezers does the job (or, as Roy suggested, hemostats).

Also, get a candle or small mini-torch to anneal any parts that need it. If you're not familiar with the process, it's no more than heating the metal and letting it cool. This softens the piece, and removes the springiness, allowing curves to be bent easier. It's a great process to use doing fender end caps and muffler covers, among other things.

also to add to this....for curved items, pencils and other rounded objects work great for these types of bends.

Hi Chris,

Having the right tools is an important part of the PE "bending job," but also understanding the right way to do certain tasks as well is essential to good results.

Also, knowing how the parts should be formed will let you figure out "expedient" tools and techniques that will yield similar results. A lot of what we do with specialized bending tools, was simply done using expedient tools - old school - back when PE was first offered commercially as AM.

Here are a couple of illustrations on the usual correct manner for bending parts that have etched bending lines.







If you want to read all of the notes that go with those, you can find them here:

AMPS Central SC::PE Demo Notes

(NOTE: Sometimes the person who drafts the PE artwork doesn't follow the "standard" geometry, but usually this is the correct way.)

If you're looking for some information on "old school" PE bending (using expedient tools and methods), this special edition of our club newsletter covered a detailed "how-to" on making working PE German WWII tool clamps. Although you might not be at a point where you want to tackle those, the article show BOTH bending with a special PE bending tool AND making the EXACT SAME BENDS using expedient methods. The point was that specialized PE bending tools are not always necessary and many, if not most, simple PE forming can be dome with what you normally have on the workbench.

AMPS "Wildcat" Special Edition::PE Tool Clamps

We also have some other information on using PE on our club's website's "Group Builds & Demos" page, especially under the "Build No. 2" list (a club build that used a full AM PE up-grade set for the DML Steel Wheel Panter G).

AMPS Central SC::Group Builds & Demos Page

PE is nothing to be intimidated by. Sure, there are a few "tricks" you need to learn, but once you "crack the code," the extra detail possible is well worth the effort to learn. Most of the techniques needed are pretty simple and with some practice, they can be done quickly and easily.

HTH,

Holy cow,
That's why I joined this site back in the day. You ask a question, and everybody helps. Thank you gentlemen.
-chris (ziggy)