Between their sale and a 20% off coupon, the price seems pretty good, even with shipping. I know HF has some trash and some treasure, so I thought I'd see if anyone has any idea where on the spectrum this guy sits.
http://www.harborfreight.com/30-inch...roll-5907.html
I have an equivilant machine in aanother colour and it is junk. Hate to say it but "sorely lacking" would be an understatement.
I've got a similar machine. It stated the capacity is 1 mm steel, but that is a bit optimistic. Depending on what you want to do with it, it works fine with 0.5 mm galvanized sheet, and I made some dust extraction pipes for the workshop.
Eric,
Check out this link from Baileigh Industrial. Manually Operated, 3 in 1 Combination Shear Brake and Roll. 30" Bed Width, 20 Gauge Mild steel Capacity on All Operations. 90 Degree Maximum Bend Angle, 1-1/2" Minimum Roll Diameter. Includes Back Gauge and Wire Grooves.
http://metal.baileighindustrial.com/...ar-brake-rolls
A little more expensive but probably worth the extra money for a better quality machine. Baileigh has a Forum here and we have a direct connection to Shane Henderson if you needed help. I purchased two Baileigh machines and I am more than happy with their quality and performance.
.
My best advice is to,line up one of your friends who's also interested in buying one..........Because,there's a very good chance you'll be selling it a year or two after you get it.
Understanding the above sounds facetious,but it's a pretty accurate statement.You will either,
#1Use this new pce,and really like the processes and subsequently invest in better designed,quality equip.Think,gateway drug.
or
#2 Get completely fed up with the quirks that this design has and want to rid yourself of the headache.
In either case, you may be getting rid of it.We have one of a "different colour" along with bigger/badder/old arn.I even have a cpl friends who want it....yet it stays here.The reason....after replacing most of the cheesy hdwre,and re-engineering some other critical parts...that it actually serves a purpose in our shop.Ours cuts an awful lot of heavy card stock(paper).Heck,we even bend card stock with it.This is for patterns.In fact was using it a day or so ago cutting 30g metal to be used as permanent "patterns" for the cabinet shop.
All sheet metal equip has "optimistic" gauge ratings.Thats been going on for a cpl hundred years.The 3-1 "issues" aren't really so much about that as it is about certain compromises(quirks) that come from trying to do too many functions.As posted above,it can play nicely with DC pcs.
I bought one for my day job. It works OK. The "handles sheet metal as thick as 20 gauge" is for aluminum. The roller worked great for a sheet of 20 gauge perforated sheet steel I rolled. The press brake also worked very well. The table broke when I tried to cut 22 gauge galvanized sheet metal.