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Bending Sheet Metal
ItchyD:
I'm working on a replacement sheet metal cp (in my brain) and I'm wondering how I can:
a) get the piece nicely to size
b) get nice curves and angles in the bends
I have tin snips, and even power tin snips but in my memory I always get a ragged crappy edge with those tools.
To get the curves do you hammer them or just gently bend them or what? What's the difference between a nice smooth curve and a sharp change to 45 degrees?
Should I bend the new blank CP over the old cp? Is it just going to crush it or what?
Thanks!
rrcade:
You speak of what I do for a living, You need to go to a local Heating and Air conditioning shop (HVAC) with a drawing of what you want. Have width, length, angles of bends or make a template on cardboard if you can't figure out the angles. They will cut your piece in a Shear and bend it up in a Brake. I can't see them charging you more than 50.00 if that, they probably have scrap that they're gonna throw out bigger than what you need. If you're lucky maybe they'll just do it for free. You're probably gonna want at least 18 gauge metal-galvanized will probably be cheapest. Good Luck
TheShanMan:
Good timing for the question and thanks for the answer - I need to find a place to bend some sheet metal that is too big/thick for my wimpy 24" brake and really wasn't sure where to go.
jeffremiller:
Great timing!!!
I recently bought a mameroom CP but I just can't accept the thought of pinball buttons at a 40 degree angle.
Does it sound reasonable to bend a piece of sheetmetal at a 90 degree angle and then bend lips at the ends at 40 degrees to make the buttons perpendicular to the front of the CP?
The problem I am having is finding 3-4 inch wide stock to work with, and the bending of course.
Crowquill:
Do what rrcade says.
Don't do what I did. It turned out OK, but definitely not what my brake was made for. This project now houses a hacked Xbox 360 controller. Pac-Man CE plays much better with a Happ Super than Microsoft's crummy d-pad.