20070224

February 24, 2007

Making Parts

I have been "marking" up a group of parts in the basement one night, then going out to the garage making the part the next night. Here, we are cutting off the excess material from the channel using the bandsaw.

Bending one of the flanges with the bending brake. So far everything was going good.

In case you were wondering how I know when I am at the correct bend angle, I use a protractor for a "rough" idea. I then "fine-tune-it" with the seaming pliers.

Here is an example where I did not look at the plans close enough. When marking all my pieces, I just looked at the degree of the bend and marked it on the part. This one shows a bend of 22 degrees. After bending down 22 degrees, I realized something was not right. Closer inspection revealed that It is actually "opened" 22 degrees. So... 90-22 = a 68 degree bend. Back to the brake!

So far most of the bend angles were labeled like this one. You can see where paying attention to detail is important. For me, it was part of the learning curve.

Used a piece of scrap aluminum angle to make this 90 degree bend on this flange. Actually, you must bend over 90 degrees to allow for "spring-back." The aluminum will not be at 90 degrees if you try and bend it right on 90 degrees, you must bend it past 90 degrees because the aluminun will spring back a little once it is bent over.... clear as mud? Good. Fine tuned with seaming pliers.