How to Bend Return Flanges Shorter Than the Hinge Setback (Brake Cheat)

Happy International Flashing Awareness Day 2025!

All bending brakes have a physical limitation: the hinge setback distance.

In this video, we share a simple, proven technique that allows you to bend return flanges shorter than the hinge setback — a trick passed down on jobsites for years.

While this limitation applies to bending brakes in general, the Innovatools Adjustable Anvil Setback dramatically reduces how often you run into it.

This is a great technique to know when you’re working on tight returns or non-standard profiles.

Sharing the knowledge this construction holiday — because good tools and good techniques go hand in hand.

👉 Learn more: Innovatools Modular Bending Machine

#InternationalFlashingAwarenessDay

@Aron_Jones_Carpenter ​

Longest Portable Bending Brake

The longest brake we have assembled so far on display

Presenting the longest portable bending brake ever made (to our knowledge):

A few weeks ago we assembled six 42’’ modules together to create a 21ft long Heavy Duty Innovatools Modular Brake with a 24’’ throat. A customer reached out to us asking if he could have a brake that is 21 ft long, our answer was; Why not?! Having the ability to join modules together and create a virtually infinite length of bending brake is a design that is easily achievable with the Innovatools Modular Brake design.

21 foot outside corner with J-Trims made with Modular Brake

See us bending an outside corner with integrated J-Trims on the 21 ft brake in action right here:

Watch the process of bending a 21 foot outside corner with J-Trims

Conclusion:

So as you can see here, the advantages of having a modular design are VERY beneficial from many aspects from manufacturing, to shipping, to the end user. Although with some explanations the Whys might seem more obvious now, sometimes benefits need to be explained to truly grasp and understand the revolutionary aspect of a new product in an industry that hasn’t seen much design changes in a long period of time and has therefore set baseline expectations from a long time ago. Innovatools is there to disrupt the industry and to reset the baseline on those expectations.