Front lower wishbone plate bending

[rincewind23]

Hi all,

Now my chassis is finished I'm starting on the wishbones. I am stuck at the point where I have cut the plates for the front lower wishbones, following the dimensions in the book. I am having trouble putting the 10 degree bend in at the bend line. I have tried clamping and bending it (obviously not going to work with 5mm plate!), heating and bending (still no luck). Thought about banging it with a *really* big hammer, but managed to convince myself that was unlikely to end well before I tried it (plus hitting exacly 10 degrees would be next to impossible..)

I just wondered how others have approached this problem - I thought about putting a groove in at the bend line with a grinder, bending, then putting a weld bead along the groove for strength. I'm not sure if the groove would weaken the bend and the weld bead wouldn't help - I'm hoping someone better at engineering than me might be able to help out.

I've got a 6-ton bottle jack if there's any way I could build a jig to bend the plate and use the bottle jack.

Cheers,
KEv.

[flyerncle]

Try a couple of bits of heavy angle in conjunction with the jack to form a press and use the point of one angle in the vee of the other.

[minicountryman1961]

the proper tool is a press brake.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Press_brake

someone near you has one, it could be a sheet metal fabrication shop or heavy metal working shop. Take a copy of the book to show the guys what you are building and ask them nicely to bend it for you. Take a 24 pack of beer to reward them.

Originally Posted by rincewind23

Hi all,

Now my chassis is finished I'm starting on the wishbones. I am stuck at the point where I have cut the plates for the front lower wishbones, following the dimensions in the book. I am having trouble putting the 10 degree bend in at the bend line. I have tried clamping and bending it (obviously not going to work with 5mm plate!), heating and bending (still no luck). Thought about banging it with a *really* big hammer, but managed to convince myself that was unlikely to end well before I tried it (plus hitting exacly 10 degrees would be next to impossible..)

I just wondered how others have approached this problem - I thought about putting a groove in at the bend line with a grinder, bending, then putting a weld bead along the groove for strength. I'm not sure if the groove would weaken the bend and the weld bead wouldn't help - I'm hoping someone better at engineering than me might be able to help out.

I've got a 6-ton bottle jack if there's any way I could build a jig to bend the plate and use the bottle jack.

Cheers,
KEv.

[deezee]

Where abouts are you? I used a press in the engineering shop next door. Just popped a bit of 5mm plate into the machine to test the angle before I risked putting the wishbone plates into it!

[rincewind23]

Cleckheaton - M62 Junction 26.