Bending 1/8" stainless steel cage

[hroark2112]

Good evening!

I am planning to make a cage from 1/8" stainless steel flat plate. The plate will be cut with a water jet. After it is cut, I will need to bend the cage to conform to the front of a helmet. The overall dimension of the cage will be roughly 6" wide by 12" long.

What is the best way to bend this material? I've looked at roller machines, but they all seem to cap out at about 20ga. for the smaller machines. Should I look at a hydraulic press and a form to bend the cage into?

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[mcgyvr]

Got a drawing showing the final form?
How many do you need to make? 1 , 100, or 1,000,000

 

[hroark2112]

I'd love to say I'll need 1,000,055. That's likely a pipe dream.

Ideally, I'd like to be able to fabricate them as they are needed. I have a local water jetting company that will do 5 at a time for a very cheap price (cutting).

 

[mcgyvr]

I hope you're charging a lot.. Don't see how you could ever make your money back on having to invest in a press or roll forming machine for something you might make 5 parts on..
Is the forming in only 1 direction.. Really need to see a print to make any educated guess on cost effective solutions.

 

[MikeHalloran]

The word 'cage' suggests that you will be removing a lot of material from the sheet. That also removes stiffness.
Depending on the design, you may be able to bend the product by hand.



Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[hroark2112]

Ideally this will not be able to be hand bendable. It really needs to be strong enough to take a hit.

Here's something like what I'm looking to do. Not exactly this, but it will give you an idea.

http://s40.photobucket.com/albums/e221/hroark2112/?action=view&current=Hexgrille.jpg

 

[berkshire]

Find a local sheet metal shop, take it in and say "roll or form this for me".
This sounds a bit like some of the stuff I used to do for the creative anachronism guys.
B.E.

 

[MikeHalloran]

You can get a rough idea of how stiff the structure will be by analyzing just one of the resulting 'beams'. At say, 1/8" thick x 1/4" wide, they'll be hand-bendable, at least in a hockey player's hands.





Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[MikeHalloran]

One of the really cool things about abrasive waterjet cutting is that you can use it to make parts that you can't punch. E.g., your cage cut from 1/4" thick or 3/8" thick stainless, with webs 1/4" or 1/8" wide. ... or even narrower than that, probably down to 1/16" or less, with essentially no distortion associated with the cutting and no serious limits on edge distance. Of course you make a lot of scrap with heavy plate...



Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[ckeen]

Any decent brake can form this material. You should talk to a local fabrication shop. Most shops will help you design for manufacture.