Stop Gauge

Once you use this system you will wonder how you ever did any amount of fabrication requiring bending without it. It doesn’t take long before the advantages of the Stop Gauge become quite obvious.

The rotating round disk has 48 numbers plus 192 increments engraved into its outer surface which are used for reference points. At the rear of the disk on the left side is a red pointer that points to one of the numbers or an increment thereof.

Mounted to the disk is a stop pin that hits against the bending handle. When doing a manual test bend the Stop Gauge is rotated counter clockwise until the stop pin rests against the bending handle. The clamp handle on the left side of the disk is then tighten slightly. The disk will then rotate as you make your bend and will stop at the point you stop your bend.

The number or increment the red pointer is pointing at can then be recorded. Assuming no adjustment needs to be made the clamp handle can then be firmly tightened locking the rotating disk in place. Any subsequent bends will be made by simply inserting the material into the bender and pulling the bending handle until it hits against the stop. The instruction manual, while not listing all material, does lists a sizable number of bend angles made on various flats, rounds, squares and tubing. Due to slight differences in the characteristics of some materials of the same size the numbers and increments listed may need to be changed slightly, but they will be close. However a test bend is still prudent.

It was fun and interesting testing this number system which could actually determine and record for the future how a bend was made. We found that the amount of time it took to build a project was greatly reduced especially the second time around. Once the bend number or increment is determined for a particular bend the information can then be recorded off the disk either on paper or into a computer.

Since we sell a lot of bending equipment to school shop classes we knew shop teachers would appreciate the repeatability of doing some of the same projects over again in different classes. It is our goal to develop different projects and publish them along with the corresponding numbers required to position the rotation of the disk at in order to build these items.

A lot of bends listed in the manual have been tested by our company to determine the various numbers and increments involved to produce a particular desired result. This of course has produced a lot of scrap for us (Instead of for you). Some scrap will always be a result of making anything requiring bending. However when using the Rotating Bending Gauge the amount of scrap, and its associated costs, should be greatly reduced.

The Stop Gauge also works with the hydraulics and has some neat features designed into it for that purpose with can be seen in some of the videos.