Sidebending machine steel 'slats' -where do you get it?

[joolstacho]

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"Originally Posted on:"Wed Jul 14, 2010 "

I've made a Fox type sidebending machine but I am having trouble finding a supplier of thin steel 'slat' material (which sandwiches the wood). Shim steel or similar I guess. (I've seen recommendations for thicknesses of between .010" to .025 - I'd prefer to go somewhere closer to the ten thou).
Any idea where I can get some? I need 140mm x 800mm -2 off.

[Allen]

Welcome to the forum Jools.

I switched from some thin stainless to using alloy roof flashing that I got a 6" wide roll from Bunnings. I've used the original "trial" pieces for bending well over 50 sets now without a problem. Have enough left in the roll to most likely last me the rest of my life, even giving some of it away to a few of my students.

[DarwinStrings]

G,day Jools, I recently went from a pipe to a blanket and bought shim steel from Blackwoods. It came in a roll at 2400mm x 150mm x 0.254mm and cost $40au. They have the same thickness in stainless as well.

[joolstacho]

Thanks Allen, I've seen that flashing at Bunnings but wanted to avoid that big expensive wasted roll issue. It may be that it's the best option, -useful to know that it works well for you. I have found a source of 10 thou shim steel, but it comes in 600mm lengths x 150w so it's 200mm short. Maybe I could do a graft.
Thanks for your quick response mate (and thanks for the welcome!).
-Jools

[TimS]

I sourced my .012"/0.3mm shim stainless spring steel from http://www.boynessprings.com.au/ (Perth). They sell the material in 300mm wide rolls at about $80 per metre. They have an unrolling fee included in the price. Let me know if you need any assistance.

regards

Tim

[kiwigeo]

An unrolling fee???!!!! Good god does anyone do anything these days unless theres a buck in it??

[Kim]

kiwigeo wrote:

An unrolling fee???!!!! Good god does anyone do anything these days unless theres a buck in it??

As I have moved into my middle age Ive become somewhat of a reverse prostitute...These days I need 50 bucks to get 'out' of bed and 'not' give a F#@K.

[TimS]

Unrolling fee!!!! Thats what I thought. I think it is the fee they charge when they can't be bothered unrolling the sprung material and have run low on beer!

[vandenboom]

Jools - I notice you are a Victorian. Where abouts - as that may help suggesting supplier.
I got some 0.3mm, 150 wide spring steel (supposedly) a couple of metres thereof - remnants of a role from Dawborn Steel for about $70 - I think they are over Huntingdale/Cheltenham way. I asked for spring steel, which I have been assured it is, but I was under the impression it would spring back to its previous flat state after bending. When it didn't spring back and questioned it, I was told it would need further treatment to behave that way. So there!

[Allen]

The roll of flashing from Bunnings was just under $60, and the alloy does flatten out a whole lot easier than the steel. And like I said, I've got enough to last a very long time plus it doesn't rust. A very big bonus when living up in the tropics.

[Localele]

After afew days bending sides with Allen I can attest to the fact that the aluminium flashing works great. The need for "Spring" just doesn't seem to apply here as the bender and the timber you are bending take care of that.Being able to quickly flatten and then reload is a big plus.If you are concerned about buying a whole roll try a few phone calls and share some with a few mates or stop a plumber and nick some out of the back of his ute.

[TimS]

Good suggestion Michael!

[joolstacho]

Thanks all for your advice. I got 10m of ally flashing yesterday and will give that a try today.

[Paul B]

kiwigeo wrote:

An unrolling fee???!!!! Good god does anyone do anything these days unless theres a buck in it??

Having worked in a sheet metal shop years ago... Most sheet material comes in bloody great big rolls (couple tonne each) and the material does have a memory (especially if it's been coiled while still hot), so you need to feed it through a machine with a bunch of rollers inside to flatten it out and take out the 'memory'. works like a charm, but you need to get the roll of material in the machine (via gantry crane), set up the guillotine to cut to length, then set up the rollers to give you a flat sheet (this also hardens the stock a bit). Takes a bit of work, so $80 seems reasonable to me, especially for a small one-off order.

I just use alloy flashing from mitre10.

[joolstacho]

Well, thanks all for your responses.
I've tried the Bunnings flashing, and whilst my first set is usable, it does have a hint of thuppeny bittin' (50c piecin' for the rugrats)
The flashing is very soft and malleable, obviously ok with a blanket, but I'm using lights as the heat source and am probably not getting quite the heat I need. (I'm adding another 100watts). I guess I'll try Blackwoods for the steel sheet.
One of the issues doing it without a blanket (which, if underneath the top slat has complete contact with the slats/wood even in the initial unbent stage), is that when you first 'load' it, the heat from the lights can't reach the wood at the bout ends 'cos it's sticking out straight, so once I got the waist down I helped the ends with a heat gun.
(I charge an unrolling fee to get out of bed, but I ain't getting many sales!)
-Jools

[Allen]

With the light bulb method, you are going to have issues no matter what slat you are using. It takes a fairly long time to get the heat up, and while that happens it is very easy for the wood to start to dry out.

When I did it that way, I found that by putting a lot of steel bars across the inside of my mending form just underneath the first slat they acted as a heat sink and it helped out a fair bit. Still no where as good as the blanket, but I got reasonable results.

You might find that by sealing up the al-foil wrapping fairly tight that you end up getting the steam to work for you, by allowing to heat up those area that aren't in direct contact with the bending form.

[Paul B]

I use light bulbs, 3 x 150W. The 100W globes ain't all that effective. Dunno what I'll use when these ones go, seeing as you can't buy them anymore (halogen instead?)

[kiwigeo]

Paul B wrote:

Takes a bit of work, so $80 seems reasonable to me, especially for a small one-off order.

Unrolling fees are like airline fuel surcharges.....a blatant rip off. Why not just include the cost of handling the material in the total cost per metre for same?? The reason they do it is the customer is less likely to notice an increase in the extra fee or surcharge....the customer thinks because the core cost of the item stays the same nothing's changed.

[liam_fnq]

Be aware that halogen lamps give off a bit less heat per watt than incandescents. so you may need to increase the total wattage of the machine slightly.

I'll give you the red hot tip though; being a sparky I thought I could rig up a light bulb bender piece of piss. Once I looked into it I realised that the blanket would be almost as cheap, easier and do a better job, I don't regret the purchase for a second.

that said coming home and doing my own electrics is severe punishment. I haven't even rigged up a switch for my blanket, I just pull it in and out of the power board................

[Allen]

That's what I figured out as well Liam. But I spent up twice. Doing it the light bulb way first, then the blanket. But I did manage to get mine rigged up to a switch.

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[Luke72]

Thanks for the tip about blackwoods. I was going insane!