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Posted by Father Haskell on November 13, 2006, 7:50 pm
mm wrote:
> bending 1/2 inch wide stock to a 3/8 inch radius
>
> I need to make a bracket for rear turn signals for my new-to-me '69
> Honda cb450. I'm going to use a steel rod? [I don't know what you
> call it. The Home Depot cash register calls it "flats"] 1/2"W by
> 1/8"T x about 18"L, and I need to bend it twice, 90 degrees at each
> location, to make a rather square C shape, but the corners have to
> have a 3/8" radius (to look good where it wraps around the luggage
> rack. Can't figure out how to do this, and don't want to try too many
> times. I look to you sages.
Carve the desired radius into the edge of a hardwood block. Clamp
to your workbench over a leg. Beat the metal strip against the block
with a mallet.
> A. My vice has a rounded part at the end away from the vice, but it's
> sort of conical.
Ain't gonna work, way too hard to control the bend.
> B. I could clamp it in the vice at the start of the curve and clamp
> two 6-inch pieces of 2x4 (or 1x2, or thinner if I could find some
> steel to use) the right distance from the start of the curve ( (2 pi
> R)/4 = one quarter of the circumference plus a tiny bit more for the
> circumference of the outside side of the flat), but this assumes the
> metal bends evenly. Is it likely to?
Mild steel, less than 1/2% carbon, dead soft temper. You should
have no problem.
> C. I could clamp the flat to the bike luggage rack and clamp two
> 6-inch pieces of 2x4 the right distance from the start of the curve
> same as in B), but this assumes 1) bending it around the luggage rack
> tube would make it bend evenly, and 2) that I could bend it in that
> situation. Usually I bend this kind of stuff by hitting it with a
> hammer, and here the luggage rack might be too springy to let it bend,
> or I might break the luggage rack.
>
> D. I could find some other rod or tube that is 3/4 inch in diameter
> (2x3/8), clamp that in the vice, but then how to I hold one end of the
> flat while I hit the other? This would be a problem for A too.
>
> How would you do it?
Bend the strap you already bought.
If you screw up, go to the fence department and buy a few pieces
of "stretcher strip." Same stuff, except galvanized so it won't
rust, same size, cheaper cost.
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