'Forming' Tufnol strip

I need to put a permanent set (arc of a circle approx. 6..8" radius) into some 1/16" x 5/8" Tufnol strip. The stuff can be bent quite easily to very small radii and when released will spring back to the required radius but it appears to have a memory and, over time, will straighten further. I believe that heating will teach it some manners but unfortunately I don't have enough spare to risk sacrificial experiments.

Any ideas?

The application is 'passive' (i.e. Dummy) leaves of a leaf spring assembly. The top two leaves are tempered PB and do all the real work the rest (Tufnol) are purely cosmetic.

Reply to
Mike H
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Genuine Tufnol is Synthetic Resin Bonded Fabric in one of a few grades, Paxolin is Synthetic resin Bonded Paper.

Both will soften with heat, our transformer bobbin guy used to heat sheets of Paxolin over a hot plate before punching to stop it shattering.

Try boiling water first and see what that gets you, if more heat is needed then either hot oil or open flame but the stuff will burn so be careful.

Tufnol are in Perry Bar, Brum and their technical guys are quite helpful.

Peter

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Reply to
Peter A Forbes

easily

required

straighten

experiments.

Only an Idea, but can you sneak SWMBO's iron into the garage for a bit

Thermostatcally controlled and temps from low to quite high wih minima burning risk.

Dav

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small.planes

In message , small. planes writes

Erm! I need to iron them round rather than flat IYSWIM.

Boiling water was only marginally effective but a brief sojourn in SWMBO's oven at 115 degrees C seems to have done the trick and, hopefully, no discernible olfactory evidence remains!

Reply to
Mike H

In message , small. planes

writes

Sorry, I wasnt clear in my suggestion, I ment to heat them with th iron, and then form them around the curve afterwards, Ive had to d this recently wit some veneer I needed to steam.

minimal

:) good job it didnt catch fire... :0

Dav

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Reply to
small.planes

It is common practice when Tufnol is to machined to tight tolerances to 'cure' the workpiece first. This reduced creep or relaxation during and after machining. A temperature of 150 degC is used - but not more as this tends to reduce strength.

Reply to
Tim Christian

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