Anyone have any ideas on the best way to bend a 4mm thick steel strip as close to 90o as possible without it breaking?
Thanks in advance.
Bending 4mm steel at 90o
You could bend it in a vice or something with a hammer but it will be weaker at the joint, heat would also help.
But if you just want a 90 degree angle I’d suggest cutting it then welding it, is it galvanised?
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One end in a vice the free side bolted to something sturdy right up close to the bend so you get a nice sharp angle, rather than a slow bend? If it’s long enough the leverage will make bending it by hand possible. Another length of strap might be enough, angle iron would definitely do it
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Dale, you could also use an angle grinder to score a line where you want the bend, it’ll be neater and easier to bend.
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Not sure. It’s been outside in the elements and the surface is a bit matted. I’d say there’s no protective coating on it…so I’d say no, not galvanised.
Cutting & welding may be a good idea. I don’t actually need a sharp 90o join, but having one would make life a little easier.
As dermot suggested, I was gonna vice and bend by hand, but I need 5 of them all bent consistently and I don’t want to faff about too much.
I’m on the wait list for a weld induction. As and when I get a space, you think I could bring them down to weld?
Yeah do bring - it would be great if folk can bring along things they’d like to weld.
Would it help if it was done soonish? Can get you a place on the next one as you’ve got a specific project for it.
Cheers
Soonish is good for me. Can’t do this weekend however. From Monday 19th I’m free quite a bit though.
I’m quite near the top of the list, so shouldn’t be putting anyone out either. Wouldn’t want to jump the queue or anything!
Looks like it might be galvanised to me. What does label say?
Hi Robert, if its just strait steel you could heat it up then bend it in a vice without weakening the metal, however if its galvanised you cannot heat it and will have to use a bit of brute force as my friend recommends( I hope this helps in some way )
Those restraint straps are usually galvanised…the fact that it’s been outside and hasn’t rusted also suggests the same thing
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This might be too much work for this project but might be useful for ideas
- big vice bolted down
- grip where you want bend (preferably as far from holes as possible)
- bash with mallet or sledge hammer as close to the vice as possible whilst visualising the way you want it
- maybe practice first
Just to emphasise - if they are galvanised they will need to be degalvanised around the weld area, maybe an inch or two each side of the joint, before welding, as the zinc in galvanising is pretty serious (deadly) stuff if you weld over it.
But hopefully you’re right that they aren’t galvanised and will all be easy peasy.
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I honestly couldn’t say either way for certain if they are or aren’t galvanised.
I may have to go with the vice & hammer method. Or use the holes to screw it down and hammer it over the edge of a bit of wood to get the bend exactly where I want it.
May even score it like Ross suggested.
Thanks for the ideas though people.
You could check if our neighbours have any facility for bending it accurately
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That’s a new one on me. How’s that done?
The vice method should give a fairly accurate bend. You’ll be hammering it flat against the vice. Especially if you practice to see how the bend occurs.
I doubt screwing it to wood would work very well. It would likely bend at the screws, unless it was extremely hard wood.
literally by scratching off the zinc coating in some abrasive manner.
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Synchronistically, I just saw a vice with special jaws for bending metal. It had a pointed edge on one side and a groove on the other.
Perhaps there’s vices with interchangeable jaws?
Something like this?
10 minutes with a welder and some angle iron might get you something similar…
A press brake would be the way to do it, but something like this is the jaws of a vice might work. Watch out for ‘spring back’ though, as there will be a little bit of relaxation back from the elastic part of the bending - in practice you need to go a little past 90 so it springs back to exactly the angle you want.
Yes very similar