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Ausfwerks has a knack for coming up with tools which are quite handy and safe. I truly was impressed with the Bendicator and The Block (see reviews on this site). Now, they have released a miniature bending brake called the Fender Bender.
Upon receiving my pre-production sample, I noticed how hefty it felt. It is 18 ounces, about half a kilogram, of steel with a bit of brass thrown in. See photo 1. Also included are instructions on two pages which should be heeded.
The first thing I did was to take the tool apart to see its composition. In photo two, the dark ring on the movable bending arm is a lift spring. So, be very careful each time you take it apart to turn around the Pressure/Finger Plate. I have decided to leave it on the long side, without fingers, as the name is the Fender Bender. My tool was already oiled but this should be done before each use. This brought back several memories of using a full sized bending brake at the shop where I volunteered to restore aircraft.
To test out the product, I grabbed a side mudguard from LionRoar’s Tiger II set. After loosening the brass tensioning screws, I slipped the PE part and made sure the etched line matched the very small gap between the movable parts of the main body. See photo three. Then tighten the screws. It should be noted that the instructions warn against using more than finger pressure to tighten the screws as it will damage the product.
It was very easy to lift up the tray of the main body with one hand as can be seen in photo four and five. I did a poor job of creating a bending strategy and did resort to piers for one bend but the rest, including the folded lip of the mudguard were done quite effortlessly with the Fender Bender. See photo six for the finished folded mudguard.
Being made of steel and quite sturdy, I read the tool’s maximum limitation to be 0.020 inch (0.5mm) thickness for the material. To test out a fold on a thicker brass piece, I chose the PE frame from Dragon’s SdKfz 251/7 which is 0.015 inch thick. Even without any etched fold lines, the tool easily created the bend with a small radius. The sharpness of the bend can be appreciated in photo seven.
To try out the fingers, I turned around the Pressure/Finger Plate and tightened the screws. I looked around for something that was not easy to bend and found an old Eduard fret which had been brush painted silver. Although it has etched bend lines, the part is small, already painted and the paint had cured very hard. I was able to bend the item without too much of the paint flaking off.
Personally, the Fender Bender has found a place in my tool box for bending long items and heavy stock. It has replaced my Etchmate in this regard. I will probably still use my smaller Hold and Fold tools since I prefer the tactile feeling I became accustomed to with The Bug in my hand. I do recommend the Fender Bender for what the name implies, and for those that like to scratchbuild. A case in point would be the time a PE part was too thin so I used it as a pattern to cut another from thicker stock. Bending said item took more than one try and the blade kept slipping. The blade slip was not as bad with the Etchmate thanks to the engraved groove but the bend radius was larger than I would have preferred.
At $114 USD it is not cheap but it is built to last. Ausfwerks has shown enough confidence in this tool to offer a 5 year replacement of any component of the tool used under normal circumstances. A look in the Micro-Mark catalog shows two bending brakes, stock numbers 82817 and 16101, but neither has a clamp or the control offered with the Fender Bender. To top it off, they limit the bend to 90 degrees while the Fender Bender can continue to 120 degrees.
My thanks go to Ted and Jeff for allowing me the preproduction sample.
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