What's new
What's new

Curl hems at home?

OT1138

Plastic
Joined
Aug 23, 2015
Hi everyone,

I'm trying to figure out how to form curled hems at home on long strips of 26 gauge sheet metal. I see that there are industrial machines for this but so far haven't found anything that can do it at a small scale. Any suggestions?

Thanks!
 
Here's a graphic showing the intended design:

8kakDlP.png
 
Here is a video
This is used to make gutters from zinc The result is a bit different as drawn
The bar with the slit in iot is drivenmanually by a long crank
I did make those curled hems on a piece of aluminium sheetmetal rolled into a short pipe on a exentric press in a long past period
The dies took some try and error but it was dammed fast

Peter
 
I used press brake dies to make those years ago, but that limits you to straight runs. And the dies weren't cheap...
 
Here is a video
This is used to make gutters from zinc The result is a bit different as drawn
The bar with the slit in iot is drivenmanually by a long crank
I did make those curled hems on a piece of aluminium sheetmetal rolled into a short pipe on a exentric press in a long past period
The dies took some try and error but it was dammed fast

Peter

Wow, that seems like it could work but my lengths can be up to 4 ft (1.3m) long. What is the machine that the rod is mounted in?
 
I woud not call them machines as it has no motor but I would call them devices
It is just a rod with a slit in it positioned in 2 V blocks with one a bit adjustable
The rod has a square for a crank
For zinc they go up to 2 mtr I believe with a square and crank on each side then
I do not know if these devices are used in the US


BTW On steel I would do the initial bend on a panel bender

Peter
 
I saw once, in a tips and kinks article, a simple tool for rolling the edges of small buckets.

Dill a hole, the diameter of the desired roll bead in a thick chunk of steel, the hole should be about 2 inches from an edge.
Then make a saw cut tangent to the hole in from the edge. think the letter P inside a box ;-)
The tool is held in one hand. The other hand wields a hammer. work the tool along the edge progressively pounding and forming the rolled edge.

I've not tried it...yet ;-)
 
In the late 70s - early 80s I worked for Kawasaki snowmobile R&D, we did 5/8" diameter curls on the edge of the running boards when we made tunnels. We used a press brake with 2 sets of dies, one set started the curl and the other set finished it.
 
At home?

Hatchet stake and a wooden mallet. 4 feet would be a bit of a drag, but possible. (A brake or even a rotary turning machine would be nice to start the roll, but not required.)

Bring the whole edge over gradually in multiple passes. To much work in one area will cause distortion when you try to work the area next to it.
 
I have done it the old fashion way. I used a rod and a seamer, grabed the edge of the metal and rod with seamer and with the rod on the edge of the bench started rolling over the material a little at a time.

Then once I had a big enough edge rolled over to work with, I clamped the metal to the bench with the rod on top and used a hammer, and auto body dollies to continue rolling it over. It was crude but came out pretty good. a little heat every once in a while to work the metal where it started to deform out.
 








 
Back
Top