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Metalworking (rec.crafts.metalworking) Discuss various aspects of working with metal, such as machining, welding, metal joining, screwing, casting, hardening/tempering, blacksmithing/forging, spinning and hammer work, sheet metal work. |
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#1
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Bending Perfect Rings???? Help!!!
I have tried to use my bender to make 14" perfect rings out of 1/4 inch steel
rod, however I keep having the same problem! They are not perfect!! They are not flat rings--when I lay them on the table they are not even close to lying flat!! I can't figure out what I am doing wrong!! Also they are not perfectly round. Is there anything I can do--I kinda need to make a lot of them, any help would be greatly appreciated! Shannan |
#2
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You can make near perfect rings by winding the rod on a mandrel, then
clamp the coil in a vise and saw through them with a hacksaw. They can be aligned by clamping each ring in a vise and twisting it with a flat jawed wrench [large Crescent]. I made thousands of them in the 1960's as parts for various ornamental iron products. I built a dedicated mandrel by slotting the end to start the coil and mounted it in a sleeve and put a handle on it. A ball bearing rider on the frame did the actual bending. matohato |
#3
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Bugs wrote:
You can make near perfect rings by winding the rod on a mandrel, then clamp the coil in a vise and saw through them with a hacksaw. They can be aligned by clamping each ring in a vise and twisting it with a flat jawed wrench [large Crescent]. I made thousands of them in the 1960's as parts for various ornamental iron products. I built a dedicated mandrel by slotting the end to start the coil and mounted it in a sleeve and put a handle on it. A ball bearing rider on the frame did the actual bending. matohato This is the best idea, assuming the OP has 1/4" rod in long lengths to make it worthwhile. The mandrel should be maybe an inch smaller in dia. to allow for springback. It can be made of hardwood (maple). It's necessary to wind the rod straight around the mandrel, a shoulder at one end would help (just an area about an inch or two larger in diameter at one end). I would make it maybe 6" long, and mounted horizontally on a heavy base at waist height. With a lever pivoting at the center of the mandrel, and carrying the ball bearing rider, you'd walk around the thing to wind it. Would take some more thought to actually engineer it, but hopefully you got the general idea. Ken Grunke -- take da "ma" offa dot com fer eemayl |
#4
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I think I would use a set of slip rolls for this project. Most sets of slip
rollers I have seen have a notch for rod and this way you could cut the rod to length first, weld them grind the edges and re-roll them if not quite round. Harbor Freight usually has these. -- Roger Shoaf About the time I had mastered getting the toothpaste back in the tube, then they come up with this striped stuff. "Bonettes" wrote in message ... I have tried to use my bender to make 14" perfect rings out of 1/4 inch steel rod, however I keep having the same problem! They are not perfect!! They are not flat rings--when I lay them on the table they are not even close to lying flat!! I can't figure out what I am doing wrong!! Also they are not perfectly round. Is there anything I can do--I kinda need to make a lot of them, any help would be greatly appreciated! Shannan |
#5
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On 07 Jan 2005 10:49:15 GMT, Bonettes wrote:
I have tried to use my bender to make 14" perfect rings out of 1/4 inch steel rod, however I keep having the same problem! They are not perfect!! They are not flat rings--when I lay them on the table they are not even close to lying flat!! I can't figure out what I am doing wrong!! Also they are not perfectly round. Is there anything I can do--I kinda need to make a lot of them, any help would be greatly appreciated! I don't suppose you have a lathe big enough to turn this rod around a large drum (at very low speed)? I've turned small rings (up to 3/4") out of steel wire with a lathe and a piece of round stock as a mandrel, but you're getting past the upper limit of what I could do with _my_ lathe. But if you can handle it, could you set it up as if you were cutting at 4 threads per inch, and basically make a long "spring" looking thing? |
#6
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"Dave Hinz" wrote in message ... On 07 Jan 2005 10:49:15 GMT, Bonettes wrote: I have tried to use my bender to make 14" perfect rings out of 1/4 inch steel rod, however I keep having the same problem! They are not perfect!! They are not flat rings--when I lay them on the table they are not even close to lying flat!! I can't figure out what I am doing wrong!! Also they are not perfectly round. Is there anything I can do--I kinda need to make a lot of them, any help would be greatly appreciated! I don't suppose you have a lathe big enough to turn this rod around a large drum (at very low speed)? I've turned small rings (up to 3/4") out of steel wire with a lathe and a piece of round stock as a mandrel, but you're getting past the upper limit of what I could do with _my_ lathe. But if you can handle it, could you set it up as if you were cutting at 4 threads per inch, and basically make a long "spring" looking thing? The method you want is exactly how custom springs are made. Call around to some machine shops, and see if they have a manual spring winder you can look at. Or check out some catalog pictures at an industrial supply house. You should get some good ideas. LLoyd |
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