To prevent damage or unsightly dents it s best to use a rubber plastic or rawhide mallet to gently tap the metal.
Binding sheet metal to hard plastioc.
Bending is a manufacturing process that produces a v shape u shape or channel shape along a straight axis in ductile materials most commonly sheet metal.
This is done through the application of force on a workpiece.
Your tapping should start at one end of the evolving bend.
The force must exceed the material s yield strength to achieve a plastic deformation.
Commonly used equipment include box and pan brakes brake presses and other specialized machine presses typical products that are made like this are boxes such as electrical enclosures and rectangular ductwork.
Also known as press braking flanging die bending folding and edging this method is used to deform a material to an angular shape.
When a bend is made in sheet metal or plastic the outside of the material structure expands while the inside compresses.
You can see this in the fogging of some clear plastics on the outside surface.
Holding the sheet material evenly with both hands both in protective gloves push the sheet up gently bending it against the line of the jig as shown in the photo above.
All this occurs on a molecular level.
Bend the metal with your mallet.