OK, hobbyist metal worker with no real specialist tools here.
I want to bend a strip of aluminium. I want to put four neat half circles i= n a strip! Probably something matching the size of the diameter of a coke c= an. The strip will probably be 40mm wide, 1000mm long and about 3-4mm thick= depending what I can get at the hardware store.
Would it be possible to put the bends in over a former, cold, without the s= trip bending?
Yes. Just back up the parts you want to leave straight with something straight and solid -- a thicker piece of aluminum, or steel, or even hardwood -- while you bend it around a piece of pipe.
If you fasten the backing strips/bar/blocks to the aluminum strip with C-clamps, you'll have better control of the whole affair.
in a strip! Probably something matching the size of the diameter of a coke= can. The strip will probably be 40mm wide, 1000mm long and about 3-4mm thi= ck depending what I can get at the hardware store.
strip bending?
Don't try for real sharp corners between the curves and the straight sections or the metal will crack.
jsw
"Would it be possible to put the bends in over a former, cold, without the strip bending?"
I guess I should have said, without the strip breaking, not bending!!
e strip bending?"
Try the bends on a practice piece first. Aluminum is easy to bend but making neat bends the right size is harder.
jsw
Try the bends on a practice piece first. Aluminum is easy to bend but making neat bends the right size is harder.
jsw
Heat the bar hot enough to char a pine stick and then quench it in water. You have a few hours to work it till it 'stiffens' again. phil
I bend the hardware store stuff cold, made all my gutter hangers out of it, with open tops to clear the long-handled cleaning scoop.
Are you thinking of 2024?
jsw
You're assuming he's bending 2024. If it's 6061, he has days. If it's 1100 or some other architectural grade bought at a big-box store, he has forever.
OK, What's the best way of finding that out? I'll be buying it in my local B&Q (I'm UK based)!
(I'm UK based)!
Where in the UK are you as there are plenty of companies around that can supply you with a known alloy and probably cheaper than B&Q. IIRC my local stockist in Bath normally stocks flat in 6082. That'll bend easily cold in the size you mentioned but be prepared for some spring back, also the stock seems to be inch sizes not metric.
London....
You might want to post on uk.rec.models.engineering and see if you can get some more local input regarding metal suppliers. If you do then what part of London you're in would help also I expect.
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