Recent content by Ryoko

I tried something similar to that. The device held the strip in place while interchangeable rollers "massaged" it into shape. It almost worked. But it was prone to twisting the work piece..

The problem is each needed piece is 80" long. That's a pretty big press brake. I made a test brake that could do 12" test strips and it mostly worked. The problem it had was that the material wanted to shift producing uneven flange height from one end to the other. But I agree, a press brake...

Not an issue. This is for a very small run (less than 100 feet). Scuffs are not a problem as long as the aluminum isn't gouged. There's a bunch of additional forming to be done after the u-channel is made.

Actually, the paper wasn't entirely clear. It suggested that the first 3 stations increase the diameter of the driven roller by 0.050" each for working with thinner materials. Latter stations would use smaller increments under the assumption enough form would be present to resist column...

A paper I read says that each successive roll station in a roll forming line runs at a slightly higher speed than the previous station to prevent buckling. In order for each successive stage to run slightly faster, either the drive speed would need to increase or the rollers would need to be...

In theory, that's true. But it's a Chinese mini lathe which is not known for precision. Plus the rollers need to be carefully dimensioned so the male and female dies fit together well, otherwise bad things happen. If it had a DRO, it would be more feasible. I've made a some test rollers in the...

I believe I have the rollers worked out. But finding a CNC service to make them is proving to be difficult. Services in the US are extremely expensive. And the Chinese shops are getting priced out because of the steep tariffs. Is there a solution here? The rollers are 2" diameter and about 2"...

The first link was very helpful. It looks like I'm on the right track. It appears I can increase the bend amount to reduce the numbers of rollers needed ... maybe.

I have bent samples that tight using a die in a press brake without issue. But it's an easy change. IIRC, the recommended minimum bend radius for 0.040" 5052-H32 is 1t, so it should be good.

Quick and dirty drawing. Dimensions are for the outside. The aluminum is 0.040" thick.

I would really like to get it right or at least near right the first try. This project is getting expensive.

You would need a high angular moment of inertia in your CT disks which is going to cause weight issues. The disks would also be subject to reaction wheel "saturation" if you tried to move while blocked resulting in a loss of control. The tall wheels are also very vulnerable to bending/breakage.

I want to make a small roll forming machine for my garage. I need to bend a strip of .040 5052 alum into a u-channel that's about 3/8" thick and 1/2" tall. It's too small to use a brake and much too long. (It needs to be 80" long.) I have the flat strips on hand ready to be bent. But I'm still...

Not actually designing anything. I just want the model to be reasonably accurate. Though admittedly 99.9% of people playing a game looking at it would never see anything wrong even when it is totally messed up. I've played games with power distribution as part of the modeled environment and it...

That helps a little. It seems there is an extra bus bar for grounding redundancy. (I'm probably over thinking this. It is just a game model after all. Hard to take the engineering hat off.)