peter_m7uk
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| posted on 7/1/22 at 11:23 PM |
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Shaping a windscreen frame
My windscreen frame needs some adjustment, but the bottom is particularly difficult! It's an aluminium H-section, 22mm x 16mm and is very
sturdy. My aim is to tweak the bend in it, try on the car, tweak some more and so on until the fit is good.
Maybe Eddie Hall could do it by hand, but I need some sort of tool. I had a go with a pipe bender, but I found that when I applied enough force to
bend it, I was knackering and distorting the surface of the ali. So I could do it ..but it would look a real mess when finished.
I imagine using a blowtorch to apply some heat might help, but I don't think that would avoid messing up the surface. It's probably
possible to make some homemade tool, but that sounds like a significant job in itself. Anyone got any ideas for something I could buy to do the job,
or some clever technique?
Cheers,
Pete
PS I wanted to add a pic of the H-section, but can't see how to add pics?
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ianhurley20
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| posted on 8/1/22 at 09:16 AM |
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There are quite a few posts on You Tube showing how to do it - but - the issue is the aluminium will harden by itself so you need to anneal it before
bending. To add to the issue the annealing lasts around an hour or so. To anneal rub hand soap over the surface of the metal and then with a
blowtorch heat the alluminiumuntil the soap turns black moving along the piece of metal until the area you want to bend is done. Allow to cool and
then you have soft aluminium for a while. Bending itself will start the hardening process so be prepared to repeat if needed.
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40inches
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| posted on 8/1/22 at 11:37 AM |
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I bent one by marking the lower frame at 25mm intervals and bent it slowly by clamping it horizontally in a vice and tapping it with a hammer,moving
it in the vice one mark at a time, it was a slow process, but it worked 
 
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snapper
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| posted on 9/1/22 at 05:09 PM |
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Haynes book and I think the original showed how to make the tool to bend the U section around a plywood buck
I eat to survive
I drink to forget
I breath to pi55 my ex wife off (and now my ex partner)
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peter_m7uk
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| posted on 12/2/22 at 10:31 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by 40inches
I bent one by marking the lower frame at 25mm intervals and bent it slowly by clamping it horizontally in a vice and tapping it with a hammer,moving
it in the vice one mark at a time, it was a slow process, but it worked
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Hi 40inches,
Great, thanks for letting me know about a way that works! I'm wondering exactly what your process was, though, as I have a frame that was
supplied pre-bent for a different car. My idea was just to modify it. As you can see in my attached pic, if I clamp it up to bend the right hand end
a bit more, say, I'm already clamping a curve so I can't go too tight. I used wood to soften the vice jaws, but the problem then is
that, when you hit the ali, you just deform the wood rather more than bending the ali! (I did heat with a blowtorch until the soap went black, by
the way)
How did you deal with clamping ali in the vice without knackering the surface? And how did you deal with working a shape that already has a curve in
it?
Cheers!
 
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Sanzomat
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| posted on 13/2/22 at 08:46 AM |
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Windscreen frame utube
This is a video a friend in my local club made of bending his. Warts and all! Basically the same principal as a pipe bender
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