Door Trim (T-Molding)

[Bandit]

Who sells T-Molding that will bend around the radius (easily) of my doors?
I am going to finish the door frame using bondo and paint, so the door opening will not require a molding. I only want to use the molding for the doors themselves.



Thanks!

[asianflava]

Whew, that is pretty tight. What you may have to do is anneal a piece and bend it, then anneal it again and bend it some more. I played with different thicknesses and found 1/8 to work out OK, the thinner pieces would buckle.

But like I said, that radius looks pretty tight so I don't know if it would work.

[Bandit]

To get your attention, I am posting this back to the top of the list!

Come on guys and gals!
Where can I get T-Molding for my doors.
I know at least one person has done this.
I'm practicing with annealing, I'm afraid soft would be susceptible to bending on the edge of my doors.

[rainjer]

Whew, that is pretty tight. What you may have to do is anneal a piece and bend it, then anneal it again and bend it some more. I played with different thicknesses and found 1/8 to work out OK, the thinner pieces would buckle.

But like I said, that radius looks pretty tight so I don't know if it would work.

I would have to agree. I do not see it possible to bend that radius even annealing it. I don't even think you could do it with a shrinker-stretcher. In order to bend that tight of a radius the metal need somewhere to go. You would need ti V-notch the inside side of the "T".

As far as where to get it, I am getting mine at a carpet store. I is soft enough to bend, but not that much.

[Bandit]

I do plan to notch the inside radius.
What do they use this for in a carpet store?
Thanks!

[rainjer]

I do plan to notch the inside radius.
What do they use this for in a carpet store?
Thanks!

They call it hatch metal.

This is the one I used.

http://www.tacometals.com/prod-level6.asp?c=3&StartPage=Home&rootN=A50-0305&sID=1&ssID=124

I beleive Taco Metals sells direct.

[madjack]

Bandit, as the Rain man said, it should be available thru a flooring store and is called hatch trim or trap door trim...and like the others, it would be hard to amke that bend without cutting the metal either with a notch or radiusing inside section of the "T"...the outside section should strech enough on its own...we did some angle in a 2" radius and as long as it was the outside leg it would strech enough...most of the TD supply houses sell a deadsoft "T" molding (Lil Bear, Teardrop Fix-it, SoCal td's etc)
madjack

[Bandit]

I did some testing this evening with annealing and kerfing. I used a small torch that uses MAPP gas and Oxygen, sooted with a standard candle and it took less than a minute to anneal about a foot of the aluminum. All the soot burned off.
I then tried kerfing it and found that I need to kerf it before I anneal it. When I kerf after annealing, the small tabs are so soft that they bend down with the scroll saw blade. Tried kerfing before annealing and it worked much better.

[Ira]

Everyone I've heard from says that Grant's stuff is great to bend, so I'm gonna go with that.

[Rickxr2]

I got my t-mold from http://socalteardrops.com/ Bent very easily with no annealing, no kerfing. Not quite as tight a radius as you have though.



Rick

[Bandit]

Rickxr2,
Where did you get the drip rail?

I could add some radius to my doors, but it would require adding a filler and a lot of finish smoothing work to make it un-noticeable.

[Joanne]

Rickxr2,
Where did you get the drip rail?

I could add some radius to my doors, but it would require adding a filler and a lot of finish smoothing work to make it un-noticeable.

My trailer is grasshopper/weekender/or whatever you want to call it. I have gone with square corners and they don't look bad since the rest of the trailer is angular (like yours). No bending the trim. Just a thought.

Joanne

[Rickxr2]

Bandit,
I got the drip rail from Mobile Mart. I'm not sure if they sell it from the internet, I picked it up from their retail store in Tulsa.

www.mobile-mart.com

Rick

[Bandit]

I kerfed the aluminum and then annealed it and it is working quite nicely. I'll post some pics later.

[rmcelroy]

Rainjer, the T you used looks like it has a ridge cut halfway down the leg. Could the leg be broken off at that point? Long story short I need a T with a 3/8 or 1/4 leg.

Mc