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Temporary seam for odd angles?

OT1138

Plastic
Joined
Aug 23, 2015
Hi all,

I've been racking my brain about how to achieve this without luck so I thought I would ask here.

My wife and I are trying to design a holiday sculpture out of 26 gauge stainless steel. It consists of 4" wide strips which are bent into various radiuses and with rolled hems. The overall project is large (4-5 feet) and we would like to disassemble it for storage.

We're looking for a way to temporarily - but sturdily - attach the pieces together at the ends without welding. An example is shown below - the arrow shows where two pieces need to be joined.

The simplest idea I can think of it would be something like a corner bracket (bent into the correct angle) and a few screws but this is kind of ugly and it requires additional pieces. It would be really ideal if we could slip fit the ends together but I realize that may be asking a lot.

Any ideas welcome!

7tiQd4j.png
 
Thank you. I am familiar with that page. Unfortunately I was not able to find any suggestions there that are A) not permanent and B) would work with a rolled edge perpendicular to the seam. Most of the seams suggested there require that the perpendicular edges be flat.
 
Fig 2-60 if made loosely enough might work. Cap strip seam. You make the cap and get rid of the rolled edge on one side to make it work.

Similarly:

Get rid of the rolled edge just enough to put a small 90 degree bend on the end. 1/8"-3/16" flange.
The mating pc will have the same 90 degree bend in the opposite direction.
Get a pc of stainless tube maybe 1/2" od. Slit down the middle and push over flanges.

voila
 
If you dont want to add items like a Pittsburg seam, then you are limited to clips and epoxy it seems.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
 
Thinking out loud
Mill a small slot in the end over the 4" side All the way or less Then make a C-shape clip out of spring steel that you can push over
As tight as you want it to be
That slot can be very shallow and narrow
All the 4" or just over a small section even
You could even mill down the end some to get the clip flush with the flat steel
Like this rough pencil drawing
solution.jpg

Or simpler like this
sol3.jpg


Peter
 
Last edited:
What if you cut two or three slots in each piece sort of like a dovetail joint then insert a pin like you would a hinge pin. It looks from the drawing that there is already a rolled section something like where a hinge pin would go. If that were tubular you could slip in a pin. I don't think it would look bad and be very easy to take apart as you suggested you would like to do. Yes the joint would be flexible (it's a hinge) but it would only move as far as the angles of the bend on your piece would allow.
 
What about soldering the joints? I would consider that a semi-permanent joint. If it is a seasonal decoration (assembled once a year, but displayed for days to weeks) it might be worth the time.
 
Thanks for the suggestions everyone. Not shown in the above image are the curl hems which would be on both sides. Cutting these back is not an option as it would leave an unsightly gap where two pieces meet. This makes things a lot more difficult!

The clip idea is interesting but I think it would only work for acute angles. I don't think the clips could hold where two pieces come together at 45-60 degrees or so.

Hinges/pins won't work because the angles need to be locked in place. Any rotational freedom would cause the sculpture to partially collapse (sag).

After considering all of your ideas, I'm incline to think that one of the two pieces will need a flange extended from the end, which is bent to the appropriate angle. Then matching holes could be drilled into both pieces and small machine screws/nuts could be used to secure them.
 
If you can tolerate a gap between the sheets you can form a channel on the outside with a screw pulling a wedge in.
 
Combine a hinge/pin with an additional stop+clamp bolt, through both parts a few inches from the hinge, to fix the angle where you want it.

Or just make a small solid taper block (small enough not to disrupt the design) and bolt both pieces to the taper block, two bolts much better than one.
 
Why not make wire clips that fit inside the rolled edges?

That would set the angle and be removable. You might need to number or tag them for later reassembly. (Or solder them in one side of the joint, that's best.)
 








 
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