On Sep 17, 12:00*pm, Newshound wrote:
On 17/09/2011 19:16, Joseph Gwinn wrote:









In article
,
* *wrote:

On Sep 17, 10:03 am, Kristian *wrote:
On 9/17/2011 19:49, Alyson wrote:

What type of metal rod/strip could I insert in a pad that could then
be molded to fit a knee without breaking when bent and unbent
repeatedly?

Just design it so that stress stays elastic..
After that take cyclic fatigue into consideraton..

Some spring steel flat might be a good start..

Thanks...
Would spring steel hold its shape in order to hold the pad on my knee
until I wanted to unbend it to take it off?

There is no metal that will do this forever. *But soft aluminum wire is
pretty good, and cheap. *Art stores sell such wire for use as armatures
in plaster sculpture.

Black or galvanized iron wire is also pretty good, in the thicker
grades. *McMaster-Carr is a good source.

You will also need wirecutting pliers and a file (to smooth the cut ends
of the wire).

Joe Gwinn

Excellent advice. Pure lead is pretty good too. If you are old enough to
remember the flexi-curve rulers used by draughtsmen, these had two thin
strips of spring steel, one each side of a square lead core (the whole
lot encased in PVC). The sheet lead used for roof "flashing" is pretty
ductile.

Ours just had a spring holding the lead and the metal strips.