Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I've read all about annealing and bending the alum. angle for the trim and haven't been enthused about the process or results. Got an add from Harbor Freight (still 99% junk) but they had these things called stretchers and shrinkers that I had never heard of. Went down there and bought the displays ($200 for the pair that they come as) and went home and tried the shrinker (for bending flange in). I used 1" X 1" X 1/16 Al angle and was able to easily bend it to a 10 inch radius and could probably go much tighter. The results were PERFECT, smooth bends with NO kinks. The tool leaves some score marks on the surface of the Al. where it compresses it but these are easily removed with sandpaper returning to the original finish depending on how fine of sandpaper you use and how much time you want to spend. Another big plus (as I plan to use 1.5" X 1.5" X 1/16 (but cut down the vertical flange to 1.125" or a bit less) to form the edge of the galley hatch and overlap it on the side of the trailer for a good weather seal, is that the Al is not annealed (read weaker and easier to bend) and is probably work hardened a bit (read a bit stronger) so it will not be as easy to bend when it's cantalever out over the edge of the hatch. I can send pictures of the tool and the Al. I've practiced on to those interested.

Wow, I went and looked at that bender and was suprised that it can make a 3" radius if needed!! I wish it was about $100 cheaper and it would be working for me in my garage today. Thanks for the headsup .


Jeff

I would like to see the pics.

Larry

Here is a picture from the Harbour Freight website. This looks like it will be great for door trim. It's item #95062.

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No doubt a nice addition to one's asrenal of tools, but unless I were making several trailers (more than 2) a bottle of MAP gas and a candle will work fine for me.

Who knows, if I ran into a deal like that, I may take them up on the offer. Afterall, I did buy a horizontal bandsaw to speed up the trim installation. I did waste less trim after getting the saw, I had fewer mis-cuts.

Weerider wrote:This looks like it will be great for door trim....

Exactly what I was thinking ................


Jeff

larryl wrote:I would like to see the pics.

Larry

I can send pictures of the test piece I made but need an email address.
Cheers,
Eric "Gus" Marquardt
[email protected]

eamarquardt wrote:

larryl wrote:I would like to see the pics.

Larry

I can send pictures of the test piece I made but need an email address.
Cheers,
Eric "Gus" Marquardt
[email protected]

How 'bout posting the pics. here... we would all like to see.

Howard

Weerider wrote:

eamarquardt wrote:

larryl wrote:I would like to see the pics.

Larry

I can send pictures of the test piece I made but need an email address.
Cheers,
Eric "Gus" Marquardt
[email protected]

How 'bout posting the pics. here... we would all like to see.

Howard

Show and Tell was always a favorite day for me...

Here is a picture of a test piece I bent. The photograph exagerates the marks which are easily removed with sandpaper.

http://tnttt.com/album_ ... c_id=25960[/img]

posting this picture here taxed my gray matter for a while!

eamarquardt wrote:Here is a picture of a test piece I bent.

Neat. It looks like it bent your keyboard too.

I didn't even know they made a tool that did this. I wish I had one.

Since my boys regularly bend me out of shape, I like my "bent" keyboard. How do I post the real picture rather than the link.

eamarquardt wrote: How do I post the real picture rather than the link.

I always open up a second window to do this stuff and then open my personal album.

1) Click the pic you want. It should open a new window.
2) Left click the address bar of the picture once so the whole thing is blue.
3) Hold the CTRL button down and tap the C key. Let go the CTRL button.
4) Now, when you are typing and want to put the picture in, go up above the box you are typing in and click the "Img" button.
5) Hold the CTRL button down and tap the V key.
6) Go back up and click the "\Img".

The picture will now be in your post. Keep typing and adding pics until you are done.

I learned how to do this by finding a post that had pictures and then hitting the quote button on that persons post. It took me awhile to figure it out but wasn't too bad. Hope I helped out.

Jeff

That could be a real time saver. It took forever to anneal and shape the trim.

Jeff a easier way to do pic's is when it is blue in the address bar just right click it and copy. Then whenever you want to put it in right click and paste. After it is pasted highlight it and then push the img button. It will put the tags on both ends.

Wish I had found those when I was bending/annealing. The cheapest I found at the time were about 100-150 more. At that price I would have probably bought a set.

Can't wait to see how the rest of your trim turns out.