Scratch Build T.R.O.N [V4]

[andy_mcp1]

I got back quite late on Sunday from the 10km run so didn’t get a chance to work on the case. Yesterday I trialled the bending process using the MDF sandwich method, as per my previous post, to bend the test sheet. The first issue I had to resolve was getting the bend point right. As noted on http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=127450 , you have to overlap the lengths to accommodate for bend radius and material thickness, ref.:





As my Aluminium is 2mm thk, I offset/overlapped the two measurements by 2mm + 0.5mm for a bit of play (for the stretching/radius in the bend).





The bending method worked ok, near enough 90deg.





The lengths however were slightly longer than aimed for. Doh , stupid here forgot that this was the radius and therefore the overlap would be 2mm either side of the bend line. The overlap should therefore be 4.5mm (adding the 0.5mm contingency for stretching/bending). With the new lengths marked on the new tester sheet, the result was near perfect. Both lengths, either side of the bend, were as required (10mm for the tester sheet) give or take 0.1 mm.





The main sheet of aluminium was marked up with the offsets.





And clamped into the MDF sandwich ready for bending.





After aligning the new mark-up I began to hammer the sheet around the bend (with a soft piece of wood to absorb the hammer blows and to evenly apply the bending across the entire length of the sheet). This did not go to plan . As the tester sheet was a short length, it was pretty easy to bend. The main sheet however was a lot longer and therefore not as easy to bend. The result was that the bend was unevenly applied and created a ripple in the sheet. The clamps were not tight enough to hold everything in place and resulted in the sheet shifting and the bend being off the marked line. I straitened the sheet out again with gentle persuasion from the hammer and tried again, this time heating the metal. It still would not bend easily and evenly, and again the clamps loosened to offset the bend from the intended line. So, back to the drawing board .

.

[andy_mcp1]

Plan B – Build my own bend/brake press. Buying one would take too long (for delivery) and as this is a do-it-yourself build, I thought I’d be as well extend this to the tools.

So a trip to B&Q later...



I kept the design simple and is essentially made up from 3 off wrought iron L bars, two hinges and two wrought iron square bars (for the handles).



First I attached the hinges onto the top clamping section of the break.



Then to the folding/pivoting section of the break, offsetting it from the top clamping section with a scrap of aluminium (the folding section won’t be able to pivot flush against the base clamp section due to the thickness of the material being bent).



Then attached the handles to the folding/pivoting section and drilled some holes through the top and bottom clamping section of the break and through the MDF which will act as the Workbench, and bolted the lot together.



A lot of drilling later, my bit finally gave up and snapped midpoint. Thankfully it was just as I was finishing the last hole off for my last handle.



And voila, one finished Bend press.



.

[andy_mcp1]

Ok, so 2mm Aluminium is a lot tougher than I gave it credit for. Despite the tester sheet working out fine...




the main sheet still wouldn’t bend properly...




and worse, the home made bend and brake flexed to the point of bending the wrought iron and the hinges.





Sad times.

Going to have to rethink the bending. Might try and re-flatten it again (if I can) and modify the bending tool, or just using flat sheets with an 10x10mm angle to frame / replace the tabs.

[jrs77]

As I've build two cases myself out of 2mm aluminium-sheets I know how damn hard it is to bend the material.

The solution for me was to use a Dremel first on the line where I wanted to bend the sheet. It made bending very easy, and the sheet bended at exactly the line I wanted it to bend. Additionally the edge became much sharper, i.e. the radius on the edge got smaller.

EDIT: Like this

[andy_mcp1]

Right, re-designed the Brake press...



Hopefully this method will compress into the MDF rather than rip it away from it. That combined with drilling screws through the angle bar and MDF at regular intervals and adding some more hinges to spread the load, hopefully tomorrow evening I'll have some smiley faces to put on my log.

[andy_mcp1]

Originally Posted by jrs77

The solution for me was to use a Dremel first on the line where I wanted to bend the sheet. It made bending very easy, and the sheet bended at exactly the line I wanted it to bend. Additionally the edge became much sharper, i.e. the radius on the edge got smaller.

Thanks for the advice, appreciated, will add that to the list of changes to carry out tomorrow. Hopefully that will straighten things out, or not as the pun may be.

[Attila]

I think the design is better but your main problem is the strength of the materials you've
used to construct the brake. Take a look here, post No11. This works great on 2.00mm and
I've even tried 3.00mm with limited success.
Also scoring the inside of the bend line will give you a tighter bend. Good luck with the
rest of the build.

[andy_mcp1]

Originally Posted by oldnewby

I think the design is better but your main problem is the strength of the materials you've
used to construct the brake. Take a look here, post No11. This works great on 2.00mm and
I've even tried 3.00mm with limited success.
Also scoring the inside of the bend line will give you a tighter bend. Good luck with the
rest of the build.

Nice work, cheers for the pointers . Will try once more with the materials I have in the new configuration (as it cost me a small fortune in parts), and if it still doesn't work will look into changing out the materials for something more rebust.

[andy_mcp1]

Yay, I got the Bending tool to work at last, though not quite as well as I'd like. The bend isn’t quite 90deg, but not far off. I'll use a dremel to score the next line, hopefully making the next bend a little more pliable.

The Break took forever to make this afternoon; mostly down to drilling (the bit was nearly blunt by the end). I first attached the Base clamp section to the MDF both from the top via counter sunk bolts and from the front via screws into the MDF (to prevent it levering away from the MDF).




Next I attached the Folding section (with bolts) via hinges to the base (with screws again into the MDF).



Then the Top clamp section is bolted down through the Base and MDF.




Bend tool version 2.0



The first bend...




I know, I hang my head in shame to say I do not own a dremel , however one of my mates does and will be asking him tomorrow to see if he will be willing to part with it for a few days whilst I carry out my bending .

Enough for one day, I'm on holiday after all and could do with a chill out in front of the TV with a cold beer!!

.

[alex2k10]

glad to see you can now bend your metal as that would of been a mojour set back. Really looking forward to the end product the lights look really good 2.

[ulfar]

nice job, really like the led-tape and plexi work.
got a question tho. aren't the hinges a bit weak for this job? i would've gone for stronger hinges, you obviously got the leverage =)

[jrs77]

Originally Posted by andy_mcp1

*snip*

I know, I hang my head in shame to say I do not own a dremel , however one of my mates does and will be asking him tomorrow to see if he will be willing to part with it for a few days whilst I carry out my bending .

Enough for one day, I'm on holiday after all and could do with a chill out in front of the TV with a cold beer!!

.

Nice to see it working out in the revised version.

The Dremel isn't necessarily needed to do the scoring of the line where you wanna bend. You can use basically any sharp tool that let's you "scratch" deep enough into the aluminium-sheet, like an old chisel for example.

[andy_mcp1]

Just back from being kidnapped away from the project for a few days by my wife. Before I jump back into it, I might look into my Sketch-up design see if I can modify it slightly to reduce the number of bends without taking away the structural strength they provide. Have just ordered a replacement sheet of aluminium (should be with me in a few days) in the likely hood I mess this one up (looking for a neat finish and this one is beginning to look ragged already). We live and learn I suppose... might use this sheet as a tester to see how to improve the next attempt next week.

Originally Posted by alex2k10

glad to see you can now bend your metal as that would of been a mojour set back. Really looking forward to the end product the lights look really good 2.

I have to admit it has been something that was worrying me since the start of the project, a possible show stopper. But with some guidance from the community and a little hit or miss learning I'm a bit a more confident in getting the job done now. Was originally hoping to have this finished tomorrow, but as usual these things always take a little longer than anticipated. Hopefully next weekend it'll be ready for populating with the component goodies.

Cheers for the words of encouragement, keeps me motivated!

Originally Posted by ulfar

nice job, really like the led-tape and plexi work.
got a question tho. aren't the hinges a bit weak for this job? i would've gone for stronger hinges, you obviously got the leverage =)

Cheers!

I was a little concerned too, but was all I had lying around. Thankfully I only have a couple of bends to do and scoring the bends will help make it a little more pliable with a little less force. The smaller tabs will be locked into a vice and beaten to submission with hammer.

Originally Posted by jrs77

Nice to see it working out in the revised version.

The Dremel isn't necessarily needed to do the scoring of the line where you wanna bend. You can use basically any sharp tool that let's you "scratch" deep enough into the aluminium-sheet, like an old chisel for example.

I'll experiment a little this afternoon with the chisel and dremel to see how best to score the line. Thanks for the advice!



Have modified the I/O plate exhaust vent hole design slightly to make it a little more personal, and will use some left over mesh from another project to cover it from the inside.

[andy_mcp1]

Well the testing of the dremel scoring on the old main sheet worked out pretty successfully, clean sharp 90deg bend where I wanted it.





Another couple of minor modifications to make to the Brake (to strengthen it that little bit more) and I should be ready to try again. Just have to wait for the new sheet to come in the door . Will give me an opportunity to re-plan/sequence the bends (the bends need to be done in a certain order otherwise they clash/conflict with the bending tool or other bends). I should have followed my own advice (see signature) and had this nailed before attempting the main section for real, note to self...

[jrs77]

Glad to see that it works out with the little modifications

[andy_mcp1]

Originally Posted by jrs77

Glad to see that it works out with the little modifications

Thanks again for the tip, helped make my life, and the bending, that little bit easier!

[Waynio]

Looking excellent so far mate, those light strips look awesome too , subbed .

[LooseNeutral]

Sorry playing some catchup .... and wow. Looking real good!

[andy_mcp1]

Originally Posted by Waynio

Looking excellent so far mate, those light strips look awesome too , subbed .

Originally Posted by LooseNeutral

Sorry playing some catchup .... and wow. Looking real good!

Cheers guys.


Excellent news, the new sheet of aluminium has turned up today

Will be spending this eve marking it up and maybe scoring the lines ready for bending tomorrow eve.

[andy_mcp1]

The final cut and bend plan (black lines for cuts, red for bends):




Unfortunately this evening was mostly taken up with re-marking the new sheet, didn't quite get time to cut or score it.




Whilst I was waiting for the new sheet of aluminium to turn up the other day, I messed around in sketch-up and downloaded a Coolermaster Cosmos case model (my current case) from Jez's site for a size comparison against the final TRON V4 case:




That’s it till tomorrow eve, where I hope to complete the cuts and scoring.