KAKA INDUSTRIAL SG-18 Shrinker Stretcher Set, 16 Gauge Capacity, Durable Cast Iron Construction for Metal Forming

The media could not be loaded. Yes it will handle 16ga. I wouldn’t rely on it to last forever beating it up with 16. However if you take your time and have some patience it does work great. A lot of the problems with the China blue and yellow kits is from fitment of the internal components and jaw line up. This doesn’t have either for those issues. Both sets of jaws are well made, especially at this price. They are easy to change. I needed to make window channels for a car from the 60’s. I wanted 16ga steel to patch where it’s needed. Only miner metal distortion, but I did apply a good amount of pressure to the material. It will clean up fine, and it didn’t cause any tearing, besides your never going to see it in the car after paint and the windows installed. Outer radius maintained original thickness with a .015-.025 increase on the inside radius, as to be expected, the metal has to go somewhere. Great budget tool. I think it feels like it would hold up to production quantities if using 20ga or lighter. Don’t waste your money on the $160 kits, spend a little more for this tool. If your running a custom metal shop, go ahead and expense the $1,200 big name guys stuff. But, for the home shop this is more than adequate, just take your time, mount it securely, and keep the mating surfaces lubricated. Seems like they are importing a decent product currently.

I did a lot of shopping for this critter and selected the Kaka SG-18 for two key reasons: 1) it had a deeper throat than the other budget shrinker-stretchers and 2) it advertised ability to work with 16 ga mild steel. I was not expecting the performance to rival name brands which are much larger and heavier.This thing stretches like crazy on 18 gage and thinner mild steel! I built a stand for it after reading countless times than few people achieve good results with the hand lever on the budget sized shrinker-stretchers.I also did a limited amount of shrinking on a fender repair arch for my daughters Mustang. That seemed to work well with 18 gage material too.I was unable to have any success stretching 16 gage. Even putting all my 190# on the pedal with a 2:1 ratio I did little but score the surface of that piece. Ultimately I am going with four stars for that reason. I did disassemble the dies and grease the sliding surfaces and verify that gripper grooves were clean.Fit and finish is pretty good. The dies are grooved where they need to be and smooth where they need to be.

This is the first shrinker stretcher I have owned, so I do not have anything to compare it to, but it seems like a very sturdy piece of equipment for the price. As I am brand new in metal shaping, I went for the least expensive one I could find, and I was impressed with the size and weight of it. The frame is cast iron and heavy. I have yet to mount it on a work surface and have experimented with it on a bench and the floor. Eventually I will probably mount it, as I imagine this will improve the leverage and control. So far I have used 22 and 20 gauge steel. The blades are fairly wide, so I find it hard to start a tight radius on a small piece, but I probably could with more experience. As you get to the edge of the metal it shrinks Very fast!

I returned the shrinker /stretcher because the jaws kept binding and after may adjustments at least 5 good hours of dedication for corrections I hit a wall and determined that Why am I making corrections on a tool that is suppose to be ready out of the box?It did shrink but on every stroke it would bite and you would have to wiggle the steel part your were shrinking. I took it apart oiled and re-seated the jaws and did a bit better but not what I would expect. The manufacture was willing to offer help BUT all said and done enough is enough.I think if enough buyers would expect a good product should contest the product and avoid being a proving ground OR advertise that adjustments will be expected.

I’m not impressed, used it for the first time a week ago. It’s very difficult to get the material fed into the jaws making it a pain to use. Very disappointed in this product.

Nice quality deep throat good price recommend packaged nice with styrofoam solid recommend this seller on time with item inexelent shape just no stand bought one for 40.00 fits great mounted to floor the stand

This is a great tool for sheet metal work. The price was great shipping was early. Only complaint I have is it takes a few while to change the dies. I would buy it again

Not one flaw out of the box and I went through it thoroughly by removing the cosmoline to replace it with some better antirust chemicals.I specifically needed the depth of the tool to make some new drip rails, window channel corners, and various other parts on my K10 Blazer. This shrinker/stretcher (SS-16) doesn't disappoint at all!I have only used 18 ga to 16 ga aluminum and I can say that if you're using the full stroke... it'll wrap the sheet around the jaws quickly... It gives a whole lot of leverage and the weight really makes it to where you don't need to bolt it down to a workbench's tabletop to use it.Sure, they have the 6" S/S, but those don't allow for much room on larger pieces to rotate within the frame... I'll happily use this one unit until I'm long gone.