Stainless Steel

[David CostelloParticipant @davidcostello75947]

One for you experts,

7″ x 3″ stainless steel 1.5 mm thick needs to be twisted through 90deg over length,my first attempt wrinkled it ,whic h method would produce a smooth curve throughout.

Simple for you boys.

 

Thanks

Dave.

Click on my album to see actual shape & enlarge it.

Edited By David Costello on 19/04/2011 19:52:34

[David CostelloParticipant @davidcostello75947]

[DustyParticipant @dusty]

David

What your post does not say is that you require 6 of these plus another 6 of the oposite hand. Do they need to be made of stainless? Stainless steel is not the most forgiving of materials, a better bet would be Mild Steel sheet. I see from your sketch that the height is 1 3/4″. From this, are we to take it that the 3″ width you quote is the developed size? or are you trying to bend material that is later going to be cut away? Can you provide us with a sketch of the front elevation which may help us to help you.

[David CostelloParticipant @davidcostello75947]

Thank you Dusty,i am using SS as described on John Hainings drawings,but yes i take your point that MS would be an easier option.

My mistake width is 13/4″ not 3″,i have put a photo on my album to show the share twist on a full size plough.

Dave.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

I’ve not bent much stainless but I know some grades are better for bending than others, I think 304 is the better but don’t quote me on that.

 

Have you tried doing it hot or after annealing the sheet?

 

J

[David CostelloParticipant @davidcostello75947]

Thanks Jason,judging by the number of members that have looked at my question,without replying,it seems that what i am trying to achieve with SS is more difficult than i originally thought,i think i will try MS to see what result that gives.

But first i will try your idea by giving it some heat.

Dave

[mgjParticipant @mgj]

I think you will need a former for each hand made out of hardwood. Anneal, clamp each end and then with a small stretching hammer tap it into final shape. If it wrinkles, use a contracting hammer and tin bash the wrinkles out. Make hte blank a bit oversize and finish to size. Its not nearly as difficult as one might think.

For the amateur a contracting hammer can be knocked up out of a file, and a nice well radiused face on a small hammer will do for stretching. Or a softface if oyu are putting marks in)

The only problem is that stainless is a sod for work hardening so you’ll be annealing every few bashes.(taps) Prototypically they were iron/steel shares, so I’d be inclined to make them out of steel and polish them up on a buffing wheel. Lot easier. Give it a couple or three tries in ali just for learning how you can move metal around quite effectively with just those two hammers.

(Buy a book on tinbashing, preferably by an american author. The techniques are not rocket science. Thats how I taught myself because I had to tinbash bits of racers to a reasonable standard in both ali and steel.)

[Anonymous]

From the pictures this looks like a fairly gentle bend and twist, so I suspect that work hardening is unlikely to be an issue. I’ve just finished cutting and cold bending a whole load of 1.5mm 316 stainless sheet with no problems; if I can do it so can you!

 

Regards,

 

Andrew

[oilcanParticipant @oilcan]

What method did you try first?

could you start with a piece 1 3/4 by 8 , clamp one end in the vice and the other between two lengths of flat bar and twist then use a paper template to mark out the profile?

should avoid creasing.

just a thought . never had to make anythink like that, but am curious as to how it should be done.

 

peter

[DustyParticipant @dusty]

O.K. Here we go, this is the way I would tackle it. In fact two contributors have suggested the answer. I have only combined the two.

First I would use ‘oilcans’ method with the difference that I would cut two pieces of 1/4″ thick mild steel at an angle of say 60 deg, sandwich the metal to be bent between them. This needs to be with the straight portion of the bar aligned with the top edge of the plough share so that the angle crosses the share blade, the tip of the angle probably needs to be 1 1/2″ to 2″ up from the base. The reason for this is that the 1.5mm plate will want to turn about its own centre line. By the way make sure you clamp the tips of the angle with toolmakers clamps. Then bend away, you will probably need to bend through 100 deg as the material will want to spring back, in stainless this will be even worse.

Now MGJ suggests a hard wood former, having got the basic shape, with the hardwood former and a few taps with a hammer you should have something which looks like your plough share. These should all look the same. There will need to be a bit of trial and error and as MGJ says have a go with some alli.

Best of luck, please let us know how you get on.

Edited By Dusty on 20/04/2011 09:23:59

[WeldsolParticipant @weldsol]

As a thought you could try rolling the sheet (on a set of bending rolls ) on the long length and then cut the rounded end and flatten the front to suit

 

Paul

[David CostelloParticipant @davidcostello75947]

Hi All

I must thank you for all your help/advice to my problem,everyone gives much viable methods,so much so that i will need to study each in more detail before deciding which way to go,but will let you know how i get on.

I guess the drawing uses SS instead of MS in order to preserve the shiny finish.The main problem is not in the twisting but the preservation of the smooth contour.Not being a panel beater am not too sure about hammer bashing it would leave a lot of marks,would it not?

Dave

 

 

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