While shaping the aluminum canopy skirts for our F1 project, we needed to put a relatively sharp crease into the top edge—about 3/4 inch down. Since this was beyond the reach of a typical edge-breaking tool, we found a block of Delrin we had lying around and used the bandsaw to cut a notch—coincidentally the same width as the skirt material thickness—3/4 inch deep.
We held the skirt in our vise and ran our homemade “creasing tool” down the length, introducing a twist with the wrist. It takes some force, and you need to keep repositioning the material in the vise, as you can really only kink it where it’s firmly held.
The result is a nice, even crease at the desired distance from the edge—just one more metalworking arrow in your quiver.
Ha, great minds think alike. I came up with the same idea a few years ago.
Mine is smaller and only 3/8″ deep, for the typical skin break.
A little bit easier to control for me.
Didnt think of grease in the slot.
Thanks for the tips.