Is there a hand tool for

[Mary Fisher]

... rolling sheet metal over the edge of another sheet at right angles to the first?

If there is, will it roll round a curve?

Mary

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "Mary Fisher" saying something like:

Most certainly so. Have a look at the Frost tools catalogue for hand metalworking tools. You'll find tools on there to do anything with metal.

What you can't buy is the years of experience needed to not ufck it up the first time you do it.

What kind of thing are you needing it for?

[Richard Downing]

Depends what you mean by 'hand tool'. The correct tool to do this called a 'brake', it is used to put precise bends in sheet metal. Small ones (3-6 foot long) are operated by hand leverage (although power brakes do exist), and usually floor standing and fairly large (size of a wood lathe typically). With the right attachments they can form rolled edges.

't find a UK one)

Sheet Metal Fabricators will be in Yell.com and don't charge much for easy jobs - for instance putting an edge bend on a sheet of mild steel for a bench.

For DIY this might help:

[Andy Dingley]

Depends on what your metal is. The typical tool for this is a "jenny", a bench-mounted hand-cranked geared roller swage (not cheap!). They'll do tinplate. If you're working silver, then you do it with simple handtools (or "sticks", as they basically are) -- a flat-ended pusher and a smooth-sided burnisher. If you're working copper or alumium (Mr Davy's new discovery) then you're somewhere in the middle - you might manage it with a hand tool, but I doubt it. Generally it's done with a fixed stake and a hammer or mallet, working in stages.

Usually yes. However it's normal to design the piece to minimise the need for shrinking or stretching, i.e. you roll the curved side of a cylinder over the lid, not the lid over the sides.

[Guy King]

The message from "Mary Fisher" contains these words:

Yes, a hammer and a stake. If you take your time and anneal the metal as needed and can make the former strong enough (or use the intended mating part if it's up to it) then very neat results can be achieved.

[meow2222]

This is something thats easy to make a tool for. I made a 19" bender for 1.6mm steel several years ago. With a little trivial woodwork it would do an assortment of radii.

NT

[R.P.McMurphy]

Don't you mean 'Almost certainly so.'?

Steve

[Mary Fisher]

I thought that was aluminum!

Today it was for tinplate, I'll leave you to guess what it was for :-)

He did it, he formed an flange edge on the cylinder, folded the base round over the flange and swaged the two to form an edge similar to that on a standard food can but with a flat base rather than a recessed one.

It took him a long time and he's impatient :-)

He usually uses stakes and hide mallet for tinplate and a variety of hammers for other metals.

If a jenny would do it he'd be prepared to buy one if the need arises again.

Thanks,

Mary

[Mary Fisher]

This was for tinplate which he doesn't anneal (he was a metallurgist so knows a bit about properties of metals ).

Thanks anyway,

Mary

[Andy Dingley]

Sadly I doubt that it was. You're lucky to find tinned steel plate as sheet these days, let alone terne plate and I'm not sure tinplate is even made any more.

Working tinned steel plate by machine is fine, but you ideally want tinplate if you're hand working it. Grade can get fussy too. It's not annealable, so you certainly don't want it hard to begin with.

I'm guessing lanterns ?

Try searching on eBay for swages. They do show up, usually at better prices than most shops have them.

[Mary Fisher]

I don't know what the official name for this tinned steel sheet is but it's not difficult to obtain, we use it for all sorts of things but never lanterns before..

We know about the annealing of course. When he's made 'dark' lanterns from mild steel sheet the folding has been easy.

You might be right! A customer wants a particular style which is out of his period and we don't even like that type but the customer is always right even when s/he's wrong :-)

The trouble is that once people see it others might want one and he thought there just might be a bench tool which could do the task more easily. He's made a very good job of it (of course) but grumbled all the time. I don't really mind, while he grumbles he lives and it was on the cards that he might not have for long until recently :-)

Mary