Van Mark’s game-changing metal bending products

By Emma Peterson.  

Discover how customer-driven design has fueled 60 years of success in metal bending technology. 

Since their founding over 60 years ago, Van Mark Products has worked to develop portable bending brakes that not only produce quality bends, but also serve the evolving needs of contractors in the field. To learn more about their game-changing tools, Megan Ellsworth spoke with Gary Weinert, director of sales and marketing at Van Mark Products, in an episode of the Roofing Road Trips® podcast. 

The first brake that Van Mark made in the 1960s was called the Trim-A-Brake. This brake set the stage for jobsite trim fabrication. And while it was innovative, and brought a lot of value to the installer, it became limited over the decades since its inception. Then in the 1990’s Van Mark changed the game again with their introduction of a cam-locking brake for siding installers and roofers as it was able to do a hem (which was traditionally a five-step process) in just two steps! Gary explained:  

You used to need a factory folder to do a hem. With the cam-operated brake, you could hem right on the brake. Additionally, the cam also improved upon the prior brakes in terms of maintenance.  Anytime you have metal rubbing on metal, you're going to get wear and stress points. What the cam-operated brake does is replaces any areas where there could be metal-on-metal wear with ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMW), eliminating those friction points. 

The result of all this engineering? A high-quality metal bender that can go decades without serious maintenance. 

But Van Mark is far from a one-trick pony. In addition to selling the game-changing cam-brake, they have continued to innovate and engineer tools for the modern contractor. Gary shared a bit about their process, explaining, “For us, everything boils down to interaction with our end users and improving their experience. That’s why you’ll see us at tradeshows. We’re there to see things with our own eyes and talk to people who use our tools so we can come up with new products they actually need. 

And there are a few examples of these contractor-driven tools, the residential heavy-duty brakes and the metal roofing brakes. Gary explained:  

Our initial brakes were meant to bend .019” trim coil. And then people realized they needed slightly heavier metal for the gutter business. So, we created the residential heavy-duty version that will bend the heavier gutter stock and some of the light gauge sheet metal that a roofer might use for a valley flashing for residential roofs. When it comes to metal roofing brakes, we evolved our offerings as the industry evolved. We’ve had a brake available that will bend heavier gauge materials for metal roofing since 1991, but in the decades since, the industry standards have evolved. So we have made sure our brakes evolved with it, by creating more space in the brake with our MetalMaster lineup that features an expansive 20” throat depth. 

These are just two examples of how Van Mark makes sure that they are offering the tools contractors need in the field.  

Learn more about Van Mark and their incredible innovations by Reading the transcript or Listening to the full episode.