I had never heard of these before today, when one of these showed up in the
local Craigslist (no connection to the seller). Found a video on youtube,
and it certainly does look like an interesting tool.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OipSiPSRti8

I don't do enough bending (or have the space) to justify getting one of
these, but this caught my eye. Anyone played with one of these before?

Jon

Oh, that's cool! I wanna' build one. Maybe use a bunch of microwave
oven transformer coils. I wonder if there's anything special in the
controls. E.g., a special waveform driving the electromagnets.

Thanks,
Bob

"Jon Danniken" wrote in message
...
I had never heard of these before today, when one of these showed up in the
local Craigslist (no connection to the seller). Found a video on youtube,
and it certainly does look like an interesting tool.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OipSiPSRti8

I don't do enough bending (or have the space) to justify getting one of
these, but this caught my eye. Anyone played with one of these before?

Jon


Magnabends are standard issue in most NSW Gov't high school metal shops.
(Australia)

Brilliant devices. More capacity than you would imagine, and more than I
usually need. Fine for all sheet work, only a problem when I try plate
rather than sheet. Able to do stuff a simple brake cannot do, due to the
placement of the keepers.

There is a safety issue, however, particularly with adolescent kiddies.
They have a two-stage magnet:
1) when you press the "on" button, the magnet comes on gently - just enough
to hold the keeper in place on the job.
2) when you lift the arm up, a microswitch turns on the main clamping
magnet, which is one mother-of-a-magnet. (*tons" of clamping force, it feels
like)

This is good, unless you are silly enough to have your finger under a keeper
when the second switch goes on. Your finger would then be converted to 2D,
and quite useless for picking your nose (or anything else).

Now - you would have to be extraordinarily stupid to actually arrange to
*have* your finger under the keeper when the second switch goes on, but,
....did I mention these are used in our schools? With 11-18 year-olds?

A likely scenario: two people working on the job (not unlikely with long
jobs which are tricky to line up well), and one of them lifts the handle
before the other one clears his finger out of the line of fire.

Hence rule #1: One person at a time, no exceptions.
And rule #2: No fingers under keepers.
And rule #3: See rule #2.

They are great machines. Thoroughly recommended.

Some folk may be under the misapprehension that the clamping force is
applied directly to the ferrous job. No. The metal being bent has nowt to
do with the magnetic clamping, which is *all* applied by the steel keepers.

Oh - and I have made some special-purpose keepers from 1/2" steel for
special projects. Works beautifully.

--
Jeff R.
(from not-flood-affected Sydney)

On Jan 12, 7:41*pm, "Jon Danniken"
wrote:
I had never heard of these before today, when one of these showed up in the
local Craigslist (no connection to the seller). *Found a video on youtube,
and it certainly does look like an interesting tool.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OipSiPSRti8

I don't do enough bending (or have the space) to justify getting one of
these, but this caught my eye. *Anyone played with one of these before?

Jon

That is a seriously cool tool. I wonder why I;ve never heard of it
before now.

Bob Engelhardt wrote:
Oh, that's cool! I wanna' build one. Maybe use a bunch of microwave
oven transformer coils. I wonder if there's anything special in the
controls. E.g., a special waveform driving the electromagnets.

Hmmmm, maybe rip off the "I" laminations, remove the coils, and replace them
with something custom wound, leaving the "E" laminations facing up?

Jon

Jeff R. wrote:

There is a safety issue, however, particularly with adolescent
kiddies. They have a two-stage magnet:
1) when you press the "on" button, the magnet comes on gently - just
enough to hold the keeper in place on the job.
2) when you lift the arm up, a microswitch turns on the main clamping
magnet, which is one mother-of-a-magnet. (*tons" of clamping force,
it feels like)

Aye, I did notice that when he put the workpiece on the unit it "stuck"
enough to hold it there for positioning, but less than when he actually
turned it on. Thanks, it makes sense now.

Jon (who likes his fingers in three dimensions thankyouverymuch)

BTW: here is the URL for the local one; dunno how much they go for new:
http://eugene.craigslist.org/tls/2157422533.html

"Jon Danniken" wrote in message
...
Bob Engelhardt wrote:
Oh, that's cool! I wanna' build one. Maybe use a bunch of microwave
oven transformer coils. I wonder if there's anything special in the
controls. E.g., a special waveform driving the electromagnets.

Hmmmm, maybe rip off the "I" laminations, remove the coils, and replace them
with something custom wound, leaving the "E" laminations facing up?

Jon

See this http://www.metalworking.com/dropbox/FunWithMOTs.pdf
all the way down at the bottom.
I've played with MOTs and have found that by wiring the primaries of
2 MOTs in series and connecting to 120VAC they don't saturate. This
keeps primary current lower and the core doesn't overheat when left
powered on for an extended time. (secondaries were removed)
Art

Artemus wrote:
See this http://www.metalworking.com/dropbox/FunWithMOTs.pdf
all the way down at the bottom.
I've played with MOTs and have found that by wiring the primaries of
2 MOTs in series and connecting to 120VAC they don't saturate. This
keeps primary current lower and the core doesn't overheat when left
powered on for an extended time. (secondaries were removed)
Art

Ooh, thanks Art, you did a good job of documenting that. Looks like you
already did a good deal of invention on this particular wheel; thanks for
that.

I found that I could put ~90VAC into a MOT primary (with a shorted secondary
IIRC) before it started to saturate, but that was using rather crude
instrumentation and methodology at the time. Getting better data (probably
using a scope) is on my "list".

Jon

Jon Danniken wrote:
Artemus wrote:
See this http://www.metalworking.com/dropbox/FunWithMOTs.pdf
all the way down at the bottom.
I've played with MOTs and have found that by wiring the primaries of
2 MOTs in series and connecting to 120VAC they don't saturate. This
keeps primary current lower and the core doesn't overheat when left
powered on for an extended time. (secondaries were removed)
Art

Ooh, thanks Art, you did a good job of documenting that. Looks like
you already did a good deal of invention on this particular wheel;
thanks for that.

Correction: Thanks to Bob Engelhardt for putting the page together, and
thanks to Art for showing it to me.

I need new glasses.

Jon

That was a good post!

Pete Stanaitis
---------------

On Jan 12, 10:23*pm, "Artemus" wrote:
"Jon Danniken" wrote in message

... Bob Engelhardt wrote:
Oh, that's cool! *I wanna' build one. *Maybe use a bunch of microwave
oven transformer coils. *I wonder if there's anything special in the
controls. *E.g., a special waveform driving the electromagnets.

Hmmmm, maybe rip off the "I" laminations, remove the coils, and replace them
with something custom wound, leaving the "E" laminations facing up?

Jon

See thishttp://www.metalworking.com/dropbox/FunWithMOTs.pdf
* * * * all the way down at the bottom.
I've played with MOTs and have found that by wiring the primaries of
2 MOTs in series and connecting to 120VAC they don't saturate. *This
keeps primary current lower and the core doesn't overheat when left
powered on for an extended time. *(secondaries were removed)
Art

Nice work and good ideas! Did you need anything special to cut the
MOTs in half? I haven't tried it, but I thought that they were high
silicon steel metal and quite hard.

Denis G. wrote:

Nice work and good ideas! Did you need anything special to cut the
MOTs in half? I haven't tried it, but I thought that they were high
silicon steel metal and quite hard.

The laminations are indeed hard, but they still yield to a grinding wheel.

However, it is not the laminations which you need to grind through, it is
the weldment (likely MIG) which connects the "E" part to the "I" part. Here
are pictures of a little one that has been opened up:

http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/3417/mot01.jpg
http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/6509/mot2k.jpg

In the first picture you can see the seperate "E" and "I" laminations. The
red arrows show the location of the welds which were placed at the factory
to hold the "E" to the "I". In the second picture, you can see where the
welds were removed using an angle grinder.

Jon

On Jan 13, 10:41*am, "Jon Danniken"
wrote:
Denis G. wrote:

Nice work and good ideas! *Did you need anything special to cut the
MOTs in half? *I haven't tried it, but I thought that they were high
silicon steel metal and quite hard.

The laminations are indeed hard, but they still yield to a grinding wheel..

However, it is not the laminations which you need to grind through, it is
the weldment (likely MIG) which connects the "E" part to the "I" part. *Here
are pictures of a little one that has been opened up:

http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/3...6509/mot2k.jpg

In the first picture you can see the seperate "E" and "I" laminations. *The
red arrows show the location of the welds which were placed at the factory
to hold the "E" to the "I". *In the second picture, you can see where the
welds were removed using an angle grinder.

Jon

Ok, I understand. I've cut some transformers like that, but I thought
that he was cutting an MOT in half to make two electromagnets. I
guess it not really necessary to cut it exactly in half, but I'll
probably have to find a few MOTs to experiment with. Thanks.

Denis G. wrote:
Ok, I understand. I've cut some transformers like that, but I thought
that he was cutting an MOT in half to make two electromagnets. I
guess it not really necessary to cut it exactly in half, but I'll
probably have to find a few MOTs to experiment with. Thanks.

Aye, once you remove the "I" section, the magnetic flux lines don't have a
continuous path back into the "E" laminations, so they extend out into
space, creating a magnetic force which extends outside of the core.

Jon

Artemus wrote:
See this http://www.metalworking.com/dropbox/FunWithMOTs.pdf
all the way down at the bottom.
I've played with MOTs and have found that by wiring the primaries of
2 MOTs in series and connecting to 120VAC they don't saturate. This
keeps primary current lower and the core doesn't overheat when left
powered on for an extended time. (secondaries were removed)

Ummm ... I'm going to have to revisit this. In FunWithMOTs, I mention
that I used the secondaries to make electromagnets 'cause the primaries
drew too much current (I could only put 12v on a primary). But I don't
remember how much "too much" was. Probably the 6A that my variac will do.

I also used DC. I don't remember why, exactly, but I think it was just
'cause of the buzz on AC.

Bob

Denis G. wrote:
Nice work and good ideas! Did you need anything special to cut the
MOTs in half? I haven't tried it, but I thought that they were high
silicon steel metal and quite hard.

Thanks! I just used my 4x6 bandsaw, not knowing that the steel was
anything special. I can say that I didn't totally ruin the blade, but I
can't say that it wasn't hard on it G.

Bob

Jon Danniken wrote:
However, it is not the laminations which you need to grind through, it is
the weldment (likely MIG) which connects the "E" part to the "I" part. ...

Yahbut, in FunWithMOTs in did indeed cut a few of them in half. Before
I realized that the laminations weren't interleaved and the MOTs could
be "opened" at the welds.

Bob

Bob Engelhardt wrote:
Jon Danniken wrote:
However, it is not the laminations which you need to grind through,
it is the weldment (likely MIG) which connects the "E" part to the
"I" part. ...

Yahbut, in FunWithMOTs in did indeed cut a few of them in half. Before I
realized that the laminations weren't interleaved and the
MOTs could be "opened" at the welds.

Gotcha, at least we know it's not too much work to cut the laminations.

On a side note, I played with the little transformer I posted pics of
earlier, using it as a lifting magnet. I hooked it up to my variac, and set
it to deliver about 10 amps to the transformer when the open end of the "E"
was facing down on a ten pound piece of steel bar. On each end of the steel
bar I placed 10 pounds.

I turned the power on, and it lifted all 30 pounds, but the transformer
vibrated along the steel bar, indicating that I was approaching the limit at
that current. Dropping the weight down to 20 pounds, it didn't move from
it's position on the steel bar.

That was my big fun for the day.

Jon

On Jan 13, 12:58*pm, Bob Engelhardt wrote:
Denis G. wrote:
Nice work and good ideas! *Did you need anything special to cut the
MOTs in half? *I haven't tried it, but I thought that they were high
silicon steel metal and quite hard.

Thanks! *I just used my 4x6 bandsaw, not knowing that the steel was
anything special. *I can say that I didn't totally ruin the blade, but I
can't say that it wasn't hard on it G.

Bob

I don't alway remember to test things like that, but when I do a good
test is with a file. I'm still not good enough to interprete the
sparks from a grinding wheel, but I can recognize the sparks branching
out to indicate a hard piece of steel. I hope that you blade still
has some life left in it.

On 2011-01-13, Jon Danniken wrote:
Bob Engelhardt wrote:

[ ... ]

On a side note, I played with the little transformer I posted pics of
earlier, using it as a lifting magnet. I hooked it up to my variac, and set
it to deliver about 10 amps to the transformer when the open end of the "E"
was facing down on a ten pound piece of steel bar. On each end of the steel
bar I placed 10 pounds.

I turned the power on, and it lifted all 30 pounds, but the transformer
vibrated along the steel bar, indicating that I was approaching the limit at
that current. Dropping the weight down to 20 pounds, it didn't move from
it's position on the steel bar.

I would have put a bridge rectifier and a filter capacitor on
the setup to eliminate the vibration. That way the current would never
drop to zero.

Enjoy,
DoN.

--
Remove oil spill source from e-mail
Email: | Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564
(too) near Washington D.C. | http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---

"Jon Danniken" wrote in message
...
I had never heard of these before today, when one of these showed up in
the local Craigslist (no connection to the seller). Found a video on
youtube, and it certainly does look like an interesting tool.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OipSiPSRti8

I don't do enough bending (or have the space) to justify getting one of
these, but this caught my eye. Anyone played with one of these before?

Jon


It's a neat concept. I immediately started thinking about how I would go
about making one. LOL. Sorry, that's not even on the long list of future
projects. If I ever get to the long list I'll have enough money to just buy
one. I do think its neat though.

Bob La Londe wrote:
It's a neat concept. I immediately started thinking about how I
would go about making one. LOL. Sorry, that's not even on the long
list of future projects. If I ever get to the long list I'll have
enough money to just buy one. I do think its neat though.

Buying is great, but building yer own stuff is half the fun. I mean heck,
you want the tool to make things, might as well try to make the tool
yourself if you can.

Jon

"Denis G." wrote:


Nice work and good ideas! Did you need anything special to cut the
MOTs in half? I haven't tried it, but I thought that they were high
silicon steel metal and quite hard.

We keep a tired surface grinder set up with a 7" x 1/32 abrasive cut off disk mounted for
dealing with shortening hard materials. We get the disks from Norton in a box of 25. They
are a bit fragile but I doubt you would have any trouble cutting those laminations with
it. You don't want to try free handing with these disks.

Wes
--
"Additionally as a security officer, I carry a gun to protect
government officials but my life isn't worth protecting at home
in their eyes." Dick Anthony Heller

"Jon Danniken" wrote in message
...
Bob La Londe wrote:
It's a neat concept. I immediately started thinking about how I
would go about making one. LOL. Sorry, that's not even on the long
list of future projects. If I ever get to the long list I'll have
enough money to just buy one. I do think its neat though.

Buying is great, but building yer own stuff is half the fun. I mean heck,
you want the tool to make things, might as well try to make the tool
yourself if you can.

Jon

That's a neat philosophy, but in this case probably not advisable.

The machine and the concept *look* simple enough, but (never mind the
electrics of the magnet) the compound hinges by themselves are probably
worth the purchase price.

A lovely piece of work, that bender.

--
Jeff R.

After viewing the video, I would buy the craigslist Magnabend at that price,
without hesitation if it were located near me.

The new Chinese 30" shear/brake/slip-roll combination machine that a friend
bought (locally) over a year ago cost $400 plus tax retail. OK, it does
other functions, but it's Chinese.

That 51" Magnabend handles a full sheet easily. The only part about it's
operation that I didn't particularly like, was the stooping to grab the
handles (seen in the video).
I think I'd need to come up with a different method, as that
stooping-to-lift looks tiring.. younger users wouldn't have too much
difficulty dealing with it, I suppose.

--
WB
..........


"Jon Danniken" wrote in message
...

Aye, I did notice that when he put the workpiece on the unit it "stuck"
enough to hold it there for positioning, but less than when he actually
turned it on. Thanks, it makes sense now.

Jon (who likes his fingers in three dimensions thankyouverymuch)

BTW: here is the URL for the local one; dunno how much they go for new:
http://eugene.craigslist.org/tls/2157422533.html

On Wed, 12 Jan 2011 16:41:57 -0800, "Jon Danniken"
wrote:

I had never heard of these before today, when one of these showed up in the
local Craigslist (no connection to the seller). Found a video on youtube,
and it certainly does look like an interesting tool.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OipSiPSRti8

I don't do enough bending (or have the space) to justify getting one of
these, but this caught my eye. Anyone played with one of these before?

Jon

That is freaking cool!!!

Want one!!!


--

"You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having both at once."
Robert A. Heinlein

On Jan 14, 4:04*pm, Wes wrote:
"Denis G." wrote:

Nice work and good ideas! *Did you need anything special to cut the
MOTs in half? *I haven't tried it, but I thought that they were high
silicon steel metal and quite hard.

We keep a tired surface grinder set up with a 7" x 1/32 abrasive cut off disk mounted for
dealing with shortening hard materials. *We get the disks from Norton in a box of 25. They
are a bit fragile but I doubt you would have any trouble cutting those laminations with
it. *You don't want to try free handing with these disks.

Wes
--
"Additionally as a security officer, I carry a gun to protect
government officials but my life isn't worth protecting at home
in their eyes." *Dick Anthony Heller

That sounds like a nice set up, but with 1/32" thk disk, you probably
have to feed it pretty slow or risk shattering the blade. If I don't
find enough MOTs, I'll probably use my abrasive blade chop saw to
halve the transformers. If that Magnabend had been in my neck of the
woods, I would have snatched it.

Gunner Asch wrote:
On Wed, 12 Jan 2011 16:41:57 -0800, "Jon Danniken"
wrote:

I had never heard of these before today, when one of these showed up in the
local Craigslist (no connection to the seller). Found a video on youtube,
and it certainly does look like an interesting tool.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OipSiPSRti8

I don't do enough bending (or have the space) to justify getting one of
these, but this caught my eye. Anyone played with one of these before?

Jon

That is freaking cool!!!

Want one!!!


WOW!! That is the "cats meow". :-) Wonder how thick of material
it'll handle.
...lew...

The steel in transformers isn't particularly hard.. it bends freely and cuts
quite easily with tin snips.
A quality hacksaw/bandsaw blade shouldn't have any difficulty cutting thru
the welds.

A fiberglas reinforced cutoff wheel will make easy work of cutting thru the
weld of microwave xfmers, or most any welds for common steels.

The entire weld doesn't need to be cut away to separate the E and I
sections, just cutting from the outer surface to the junction of the E-I
sections will do.

Cutting thru multiple layers of steel (where the welds aren't located) can
present problems if the layers start to flex or shift, which could cause
pinching or binding of a saw blade.

--
WB
..........


"Denis G." wrote in message
...

Nice work and good ideas! Did you need anything special to cut the
MOTs in half? I haven't tried it, but I thought that they were high
silicon steel metal and quite hard.

Denis G. wrote:

That sounds like a nice set up, but with 1/32" thk disk, you probably
have to feed it pretty slow or risk shattering the blade. If I don't
find enough MOTs, I'll probably use my abrasive blade chop saw to
halve the transformers. If that Magnabend had been in my neck of the
woods, I would have snatched it.

Call around to your local uwave repair place, and used appliance dealers.
The local repair place puts the dead ones out back, and someone always
manages to come and take them. The used appliance guy doesn't deal with
uwaves, but told me to drive by the side of his shop occasionally, as people
will just leave them there. You can also try your local second hand store
to see if they have any on the cheap.

I eventually had to quit dismantling them for parts when my MOT pile became
unmanageable. The best trannies were the ones from old Sharp units, the
ones with the rectangular red and blue button on the bottom of the control
panel (they have a knob you rotate for the time), but mainly any of the ones
with the fake woodgrain cabinet are better than the little ones you get
nowadays (unless you can find a commercial unit, but they are rare).

Jon

On Sat, 15 Jan 2011 08:18:41 -0700, Lewis Hartswick
wrote:

Gunner Asch wrote:
On Wed, 12 Jan 2011 16:41:57 -0800, "Jon Danniken"
wrote:

I had never heard of these before today, when one of these showed up in the
local Craigslist (no connection to the seller). Found a video on youtube,
and it certainly does look like an interesting tool.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OipSiPSRti8

I don't do enough bending (or have the space) to justify getting one of
these, but this caught my eye. Anyone played with one of these before?

Jon

That is freaking cool!!!

Want one!!!


WOW!! That is the "cats meow". :-) Wonder how thick of material
it'll handle.

Seems cool, but I'm wondering whether it can handle tight tolerances
repetitively.

--
Threee days before Tucson, Howard Dean explained that the
tea party movement is "the last gasp of the generation that
has trouble with diversity." Rising to the challenge of
lowering his reputation and the tone of public discourse,
Dean smeared tea partiers as racists: They oppose Obama's
agenda, Obama is African-American, ergo...

Let us hope that Dean is the last gasp of the generation
of liberals whose default position in any argument is to
indict opponents as racists. This McCarthyism of the left
-- devoid of intellectual content, unsupported by data --
is a mental tic, not an idea but a tactic for avoiding
engagement with ideas. It expresses limitless contempt for
the American people, who have reciprocated by reducing
liberalism to its current characteristics of electoral
weakness and bad sociology. --George Will 14 JAN 2011
Article titled "Tragedies often spark plenty of analysis"

On Jan 15, 12:19*pm, Larry Jaques
wrote:
On Sat, 15 Jan 2011 08:18:41 -0700, Lewis Hartswick





wrote:
Gunner Asch wrote:
On Wed, 12 Jan 2011 16:41:57 -0800, "Jon Danniken"
wrote:

I had never heard of these before today, when one of these showed up in the
local Craigslist (no connection to the seller). *Found a video on youtube,
and it certainly does look like an interesting tool.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OipSiPSRti8

I don't do enough bending (or have the space) to justify getting one of
these, but this caught my eye. *Anyone played with one of these before?

Jon

That is freaking cool!!!

Want one!!!

WOW!! *That is the "cats meow". :-) Wonder how thick of material
it'll handle.

Seems cool, but I'm wondering whether it can handle tight tolerances
repetitively.

Did you miss the fine adjustments on the clamp on the larger unit and
the stop setting? Looks like they'd stay put unless the operator was
a gorilla... I was impressed with how small an offset could be bent.
And using it as a vise/guide for cutting was pretty neat. Beats a
couple of 2x4s and a bucket of clamps by a mile.

Thanks to the O.P, definitely on the "wanna have" list should I ever
get shop space big enough for sheetmetal equipment.

Stan

"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 15 Jan 2011 08:18:41 -0700, Lewis Hartswick
wrote:


WOW!! That is the "cats meow". :-) Wonder how thick of material
it'll handle.

How long is a piece of string?
It depends on the width of the piece.
I've bent 1.6-2mm steel in fairly narrow strips (ISTR about 6") and have
only occasionally felt the need to add more keepers. A full-width (900mm)
sheet of gal somewhere around 0.8mm thick is no problem. I've never tried
very wide *and* thick stuff.
The Magnabend is designed for sheet, not plate (but can be bullied with
extra keepers).
I'd not be inclined to force it, though, for the sake of the compound
hinges.


Seems cool, but I'm wondering whether it can handle tight tolerances
repetitively.

Brilliantly, easily and quickly.
....and all the while handling configurations that a regular pan-brake could
not even consider.

If I lived in your hemisphere, I'd have bought that unit immediately.

--
Jeff R.
(Sydney)

On 2011-01-15, Lewis Hartswick wrote:
Gunner Asch wrote:
On Wed, 12 Jan 2011 16:41:57 -0800, "Jon Danniken"
wrote:

[ ... magbend ... ]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OipSiPSRti8

[ ... ]

That is freaking cool!!!

Want one!!!


WOW!! That is the "cats meow". :-) Wonder how thick of material
it'll handle.

They said 16 Gauge (or 1.5 mm), putting it in the same
capability range as my DiAcro 24" finger brake -- other than the ability
to handle wider workpieces than my mere 24".

Yes, I would like to have one of those -- but I don't think that
I can spend that much for one. The DiAcro was used, of course. With a
retired status, and with the metalworking being a hobby activity, there
is no way that I could spend what DiAcro wants for one new. :-)

Enjoy,
DoN.

--
Remove oil spill source from e-mail
Email: | Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564
(too) near Washington D.C. | http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---

Jon Danniken wrote:

Denis G. wrote:

That sounds like a nice set up, but with 1/32" thk disk, you probably
have to feed it pretty slow or risk shattering the blade. If I don't
find enough MOTs, I'll probably use my abrasive blade chop saw to
halve the transformers. If that Magnabend had been in my neck of the
woods, I would have snatched it.

Call around to your local uwave repair place, and used appliance dealers.
The local repair place puts the dead ones out back, and someone always
manages to come and take them. The used appliance guy doesn't deal with
uwaves, but told me to drive by the side of his shop occasionally, as people
will just leave them there. You can also try your local second hand store
to see if they have any on the cheap.

I eventually had to quit dismantling them for parts when my MOT pile became
unmanageable. The best trannies were the ones from old Sharp units, the
ones with the rectangular red and blue button on the bottom of the control
panel (they have a knob you rotate for the time), but mainly any of the ones
with the fake woodgrain cabinet are better than the little ones you get
nowadays (unless you can find a commercial unit, but they are rare).


Ask on Freecycle. I've seen three offered in a week. Also, if
someone is asking for a microwave because theirs died, ask for the bad
one.


--
You can't fix stupid. You can't even put a band-aid on it, because it's
Teflon coated.

DoN. Nichols wrote:
On 2011-01-15, Lewis Hartswick wrote:

Gunner Asch wrote:

On Wed, 12 Jan 2011 16:41:57 -0800, "Jon Danniken"
wrote:


[ ... magbend ... ]


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OipSiPSRti8


[ ... ]


That is freaking cool!!!

Want one!!!


WOW!! That is the "cats meow". :-) Wonder how thick of material
it'll handle.


They said 16 Gauge (or 1.5 mm), putting it in the same
capability range as my DiAcro 24" finger brake -- other than the ability
to handle wider workpieces than my mere 24".


But being in Australia they may be talking 16swg which is 1.6mm,
actually IIRC 0.065". A small difference but sometimes important. These
days in the UK we usually get supplied 1.5mm and some mills more
recently are producing to the bottom tolerance limit to get more sheets
out of a ton so it comes in even thinner.

I needed some proper 16swg recently to replicate a hinge on an old piece
of furniture and had to scrounge a bit off my neighbour as he has
various sheet stock collected over the years.

Yes, I would like to have one of those -- but I don't think that
I can spend that much for one. The DiAcro was used, of course. With a
retired status, and with the metalworking being a hobby activity, there
is no way that I could spend what DiAcro wants for one new. :-)

Enjoy,
DoN.

On Sun, 16 Jan 2011 11:17:24 +1100, "Jeff R." wrote:

Seems cool, but I'm wondering whether it can handle tight tolerances
repetitively.

Brilliantly, easily and quickly.
...and all the while handling configurations that a regular pan-brake could
not even consider.

If I lived in your hemisphere, I'd have bought that unit immediately.

I believe it is made in Australia's mexico, Melbourne, east of the
rabbit proof fence. That is the address on the video. I would
love to have on but cannot justify the expense.

If I can beat a seller down by $100 I hope to get a much better
power bandsaw than the one I have, more capacity, power downfeed and
built in coolant feed.

Alan

In article ,
Bob Engelhardt wrote:

Oh, that's cool! I wanna' build one. Maybe use a bunch of microwave
oven transformer coils. I wonder if there's anything special in the
controls. E.g., a special waveform driving the electromagnets.

The video showed the electronics assembly - it was pretty simple.

I didn't see any big power transformers. It may well be a line-fed
fullwave rectifier bridge and a filter capacitor feeding the magnet
coil, which is wound for high voltage.

I found the manual on the net, and the manual had the schematic. My
guess is right, but they didn't bother with a filter capacitor. The
fullwave diode-bridge rectifier is fed from 115 volts and the coil DC
resistance is 8.5 ohms.

It would not be hard to build the magnet assembly. The fancy hinges are
another matter.

In the US, I didn't find any patents assigned to Magnabend, but I bet
there are patents somewhere, starting with Australia. I did find a
similar company, ElectraBrake, that may be the same company in a new or
old name.

Joe Gwinn

"Joseph Gwinn" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Bob Engelhardt wrote:

Oh, that's cool! I wanna' build one. Maybe use a bunch of microwave
oven transformer coils. I wonder if there's anything special in the
controls. E.g., a special waveform driving the electromagnets.

The video showed the electronics assembly - it was pretty simple.

I didn't see any big power transformers. It may well be a line-fed
fullwave rectifier bridge and a filter capacitor feeding the magnet
coil, which is wound for high voltage.

I found the manual on the net, and the manual had the schematic. My
guess is right, but they didn't bother with a filter capacitor. The
fullwave diode-bridge rectifier is fed from 115 volts and the coil DC
resistance is 8.5 ohms.

It would not be hard to build the magnet assembly. The fancy hinges are
another matter.

In the US, I didn't find any patents assigned to Magnabend, but I bet
there are patents somewhere, starting with Australia. I did find a
similar company, ElectraBrake, that may be the same company in a new or
old name.

Joe Gwinn

More detailed manual and schematics:
http://www.aaybee.com.au/MagnaBend%20UserManual.pdf

On 2011-01-16, Rick wrote:

"Joseph Gwinn" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Bob Engelhardt wrote:

Oh, that's cool! I wanna' build one. Maybe use a bunch of microwave
oven transformer coils. I wonder if there's anything special in the
controls. E.g., a special waveform driving the electromagnets.

[ ... ]

I found the manual on the net, and the manual had the schematic. My
guess is right, but they didn't bother with a filter capacitor. The
fullwave diode-bridge rectifier is fed from 115 volts and the coil DC
resistance is 8.5 ohms.

Actually -- it is fed from 220 to 240 VAC not 115 VAC.
Remember, this is made in Australia, where 240 VAC is the norm -- and it
is single ended above ground, not center-tapped the way US 240 VAC is.

The color coding of the power wires supports this.

[ ... ]

More detailed manual and schematics:
http://www.aaybee.com.au/MagnaBend%20UserManual.pdf

This is where the 220-240 VAC is verified. Look on page 6 of
the downloaded manual.

Enjoy,
DoN.

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