Metal shrinkers and stretchers - might help with radius bend

[TheClayman]

Has anyone used these before. I've used them for my radius bends, they work really well. With the aluminum moldings and angle that you guys are working with, these would easily bend your radius'.

TC - Clay

[emiller]

Yep I've used them before just not on my trailer.

[cuyeda]

I can see how it might work on angle materials. Is there something that would work on C channel widths of 1.5-2"?[/b]

[doug hodder]

Cliff...that might just have to be rolled. Having used a shrinker before. I found that it does leave marks on the material that in a mill finish or raw material trailer, will need some work, painted projects can be taken care of more easily. Just my opinion. Doug

[cuyeda]

I will have to do more research, but thought to ask the question on this subject line. Perhaps finding a fabricator that have the machines to make it would be cheaper. If C channels could be curved to form a structural frame, ie. Airstreams it would open up some alternative designs. Just thinking out loud for the moment.

[Keith]

Hi Cliff,

We bend our side curves on a ring roller as the picture below shows. We use
one inches square tubing. The problem I think you would have with channel is that the sides would start to collapse as you bend a tighter radius. On the square tubing you can see the sides start to bulge some but with it having four sides to hold it in place it remains straight. I can talk to my brother-in-law to see if he has bent any channel to see if this is a problem.




Keith

[Billy Onions]

You should be ok to bend channel with a section bender/ring roller as long as you have the right size tooling and work within the capacities of the machine.

I also used 25 x 25 box section for my trailer but as long as the top tool fits nice on the inside of the channel I can't see a problem.

a href="http://s389.photobucket.com/albums/oo340/lee_gog/?action=view&current=Rollerpic1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i389.photobucket.com/albums/oo340/lee_gog/Rollerpic1.jpg" border="0" alt="First Roll"></a>

<a href="http://s389.photobucket.com/albums/oo340/lee_gog/?action=view&current=GalleySkeleton1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i389.photobucket.com/albums/oo340/lee_gog/GalleySkeleton1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

A shrinker would leave marks especially on a tight radius and could take a lot of linishing to return to it's original finish.


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