Rolled Wide edges?

On the right side of the page are illustrations on how to do it on a rotary machine.

You can also do it with a hammer and a stake, but that takes a long explanation.

Paul K. Dickman

Thanks, Paul

If the sheet is flat you could cut an acceptably half round edge on a piece of steel, clamp it to the aluminum and bend the seam allowance over it. Then insert the wire and hammer or press the seam closed.

The 3-in-1 import sheet metal machine has grooves in the rolls for making circular wire loops and possibly rolled wired edges. The CM manual doesn't tell how. It didn't work out for me because I couldn't simultaneously hold the metal and wire in place and turn the handle.

jsw

The latter sounds more like what I need. It's not a flat piece though.

It a cockpit combing (surround/fairing) piece that needs a stiffened edge.

Sounds like a job for four hands?

The four hands of two experienced sheet-metal pros. I've heard that the edge rolling machines

are difficult to use, even the good industrial-quality ones.

jsw

I haven't seen this "3-> It a cockpit combing (surround/fairing) piece that needs a stiffened > edge.

Like, maybe 3' or more across? Yeah, 4 hands if you're going to use a jenny/wiring machine.

A freind of mine in Ohio made a lot of replacement parts for Model T & Model A Fords. He had one of the machines Ford used to roll wire into the edges of the fenders and it was one of the worst jobs they had to do. He was a tool & die maker from Aeronca who started making a few parts on the side. Aeronca laid some people off for a while, and he never went back. He bought every original Ford T or A die he could find, and made his own for things like the battery. He used bits & pieces of corroded samples to make a new die. His quality was so high that Ford let him use their early logo on his shipping boxes. He had the best machine shop I ever had access to. I could use any machine in the place that I needed, if it wasn't busy. It was intersting to watch a flat sheet of steel be stamped a couple times and turned into a new fender. Or to watch him assemble the can they made with with the early Ford logo with an insert from Echlin. :)

I finally tracked it down: Engle's A & T Reproductions, 2516 Oxford State Rd, Middletown, OH 45044

Since you've done aircraft sheet metal work, do you have a wedge tool? That's the hand tool that's traditionally used for starting an edge over past 90 degrees, for things like inserting wire edges. It's also used for shrinking metal edges over a wooden die, as when you're making a shallow dish from a flat piece of aluminum. The wedge is used to work the bent-over edge down the sides of the die, shrinking the metal as you go. This was covered in a little volume titled _Aircraft Metalwork_ a few decades ago -- maybe published by the EAA? I forget. I may have a copy if it wasn't ruined in the flood here.

Anyway, it works, but the result won't be as neat as you'll get with a wire-edger or other type of roller that makes a channel for the wire.

This is the user's manual:

The rollers and half-round grooves are shown on Figure 13, page 15. You can skew the rear bending roller to form a cone such as a bucket, megaphone or cockpit cowl and smooth the bend around the wire in the grooves, but the sheet metal has to rotate as it passes through the front clamp rolls. It's a fight between enough clamping pressure to force the metal against the bending roll and too much to steer the wire into the groove.

They are cheaper and ocupy much less space than a separate shear, finger brake and roll. I ran a company machine shop that had both types, as it was a refuge for the equipment from closed labs. A well made 3-in-1 such as I had there isn't too much worse than the separate machines. The Central Machinery model like I have at home, second-hand, takes much fussing to work well enough. It's OK unless pushed near its capacity, then it won't hold adjustments long. 0.050" Al is quite a bit easier to work with on them than

0.062". (1.5mm)

jsw

=========== I don't know if either of these is the same book but see

and for our welders also

Nope, those are different books, but they look interesting.

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I like the manual -- in particular on PDF page 8 (printed page number 6) warnings #10 ("Never leave when the machine is running") and

13 ("Ues a grounded extension cord rated for the machine amperage".) :-)

It does seem to contain more warnings and safety advice than information on how to actually *do* something with it. :-)

And I like the fact that it can (supposedly) roll and bend 22 Ga. mild steel, but can only *shear* 28 Ga. mild steel. It does not fill me with confidence. :-)

Enjoy, DoN.

IMHO they are for hobbyists who don't -need- a sheet metal machine. Mine is a second-hand reject from industry. I could have used one to wrap enclosures around circuit boards for heavy in-house use or make board meeting demo prototypes of products if I hadn't had better equipment.

But that better equipment takes up a lot of space that I don't have in my basement, thus I put up with the 3-in-1.

Effectively it helped expand my reputation until they'd give me a rough circuit sketch and leave me alone to build it however I wanted, my idea of the ideal techie job.

This cuts 1/8" steel easily for a lot less money:

jsw

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Sounds like a realable use for it.

I've got a 24" DiAcro finger brake and a 24" DiAcro shear -- both good to 16 Ga (about 0.062") in mild steel. But yes, they do consume bench space.

Indeed the ideal.

A variant on a Beverly shear. Great for making curved cuts, but a bit of a pain to make straight cuts with. The price on that web site looks pretty tempting, if I had any more bench space to mount it. As it is, the shear it taking one end of a bench, and the reloading press the other end of the same bench. The back side of the bench with the brake is loaded with arbors and tool holders for the Nichols horizontal mill. :-)

Enjoy, DoN.

Not exactly. They have more straight-line guidance than a Beverly shear and can cut curves in only one direction.

I made a wheeled stand with a trunnion top that holds the corner notcher on one side and either this shear or the HF compact bender on the other, with an accessory cabinet below. It sleeps jammed in with other wheeled equipment. Usually though I attach the shear to a plank lying on the driveway, which makes a good work surface for large sheets resting on 2x4s.

jsw