u-channel or rectangular tubing

I'm looking for a u-channel that is 1/8 x 1/2 x .040 or close. I want
bronze, but brass or steel will do. I've searched everything I have, and
the internet. It seems like a very odd size, if I could find rectangular
tubing an cut off a side that would be great.

I've been thinking of ways to make a channel, the only way I've come up
with is to deeply score the metal before I bend it ot shape. The project
needs the channel to be about 5 inches long. I test this on a small piece
of scrap, it seemed to be ok but not great. Can I solder the seems left
from scoring after the channel is bent? Is there a better way to do this?

For the project, it's important that the sides are flat up to the edge,
that's why I scored the sheet first.

matthew
ohio

On Sat, 28 Apr 2007 23:27:17 -0700, in rec.crafts.jewelry MatthewK
wrote:

I'm looking for a u-channel that is 1/8 x 1/2 x .040 or close. I want
bronze, but brass or steel will do. I've searched everything I have, and
the internet. It seems like a very odd size, if I could find rectangular
tubing an cut off a side that would be great.

I've been thinking of ways to make a channel, the only way I've come up
with is to deeply score the metal before I bend it ot shape. The project
needs the channel to be about 5 inches long. I test this on a small piece
of scrap, it seemed to be ok but not great. Can I solder the seems left
from scoring after the channel is bent? Is there a better way to do this?

For the project, it's important that the sides are flat up to the edge,
that's why I scored the sheet first.

matthew
ohio

Scoring and bending, and then soldering the resulting joints, would work, but is
likely going to be quite difficult to do with the needed accuracy unless you've
got access to something like a shaper, milling machine, or engine turning
machine to help you get really precise and equally spaced scores. Not
impossible to do just by hand, but not easy either


And if you've got that access to a shaper, milling machine, or engine turning
(guilloche) machine, then...

With Even a small mill like a unimat, sherline, or larger up to a full sized
bridgeport type, you could simply mill your channel. That would be fairly
simple machining to do. Sufficiently simple and reliable that it might even be
worth paying someone else who does have such a mill, to just make it for you, if
you cannot find it already made.

And since you don't need all that long a piece, It might also be not so hard to
just fabricate this from seperate pieces of sheet metal, rather than scoring and
folding. Use pieces slightly longer than you need and slightly wider for all
three pieces than you'll end up needing. One piece, the center, needs to be
very flat, but edges don't matter so much. The other two need to be flat with
one very true edge. Then make a couple small spacers from sheet the exact width
you wish the channel to be on the inside, and made very square on the three
operative surfaces. Those spacers can then be used to hold the three main
pieces in alignment when set up to solder all three together. Then just file
off the excess, and saw away the ends with the spacers. This ends up slightly
harder to solder together than the scored and folded version, and leaves solder
seams perhaps visible on the outside. But corners can be made very sharp and
crisp, while with score and fold, unless you're scores literally almost cut
through the metal, you'll have slight rounding of corners. And with score and
folding, if the score is not an exact 90 degrees, precisely angled rather than
the groove leaning at all to one side or the other, then your inside seam gets
to be a mess, and the dimensions get thrown off too. And with assembling from
three seperate pieces, your soldering can be done from the outside of the
channel. Considerably easier to do.

Peter

Peter W.. Rowe, wrote:
On Sat, 28 Apr 2007 23:27:17 -0700, in rec.crafts.jewelry MatthewK
wrote:


I'm looking for a u-channel that is 1/8 x 1/2 x .040 or close. I want
bronze, but brass or steel will do. I've searched everything I have, and
the internet. It seems like a very odd size, if I could find rectangular
tubing an cut off a side that would be great.

I've been thinking of ways to make a channel, the only way I've come up
with is to deeply score the metal before I bend it ot shape. The project
needs the channel to be about 5 inches long. I test this on a small piece
of scrap, it seemed to be ok but not great. Can I solder the seems left

from scoring after the channel is bent? Is there a better way to do this?

For the project, it's important that the sides are flat up to the edge,
that's why I scored the sheet first.

matthew
ohio


Scoring and bending, and then soldering the resulting joints, would work, but is
likely going to be quite difficult to do with the needed accuracy unless you've
got access to something like a shaper, milling machine, or engine turning
machine to help you get really precise and equally spaced scores. Not
impossible to do just by hand, but not easy either


And if you've got that access to a shaper, milling machine, or engine turning
(guilloche) machine, then...

With Even a small mill like a unimat, sherline, or larger up to a full sized
bridgeport type, you could simply mill your channel. That would be fairly
simple machining to do. Sufficiently simple and reliable that it might even be
worth paying someone else who does have such a mill, to just make it for you, if
you cannot find it already made.

And since you don't need all that long a piece, It might also be not so hard to
just fabricate this from seperate pieces of sheet metal, rather than scoring and
folding. Use pieces slightly longer than you need and slightly wider for all
three pieces than you'll end up needing. One piece, the center, needs to be
very flat, but edges don't matter so much. The other two need to be flat with
one very true edge. Then make a couple small spacers from sheet the exact width
you wish the channel to be on the inside, and made very square on the three
operative surfaces. Those spacers can then be used to hold the three main
pieces in alignment when set up to solder all three together. Then just file
off the excess, and saw away the ends with the spacers. This ends up slightly
harder to solder together than the scored and folded version, and leaves solder
seams perhaps visible on the outside. But corners can be made very sharp and
crisp, while with score and fold, unless you're scores literally almost cut
through the metal, you'll have slight rounding of corners. And with score and
folding, if the score is not an exact 90 degrees, precisely angled rather than
the groove leaning at all to one side or the other, then your inside seam gets
to be a mess, and the dimensions get thrown off too. And with assembling from
three seperate pieces, your soldering can be done from the outside of the
channel. Considerably easier to do.

Peter

It all depends on what the use is of your channel. Any chance of some
more info on this?

If I had to make these, Id get 2 pieces of steel say 6in long the right
width to suit your int dimension of your channel, ,get my
brass/bronzestrip fully annealed clamp really hard between the 2 pieces
of steel using my third hand , my silversmith leg vice. and dress it
over with a soft mallett..
If you then take a slightly narrower say 20/1000 in steel piece and
use as your internal supprt of your channel, youll be able to dress the
extra up to a sharp corner with a steel hammer.. Look up any manual for
blacksmithing where this technique is described.
No need to score or solder or mill out of the solid.
Hope this helps
Ted Dorset uK
PS can you get a true bronze sheet?
Ive a s/smith friend thats been making his own to do a full size
replica of the Battersea shield.
waht do you mean by bronze anyway?
I use in fact cunifer 10, which is a 90/9 cu ni with 1% iron. Oxidises
to a true bronze patina. Cant buy a true bronze sheet here in the UK
anymore. ie a 90/10 cu/tin.
Or do you mean say a 90/10 cu/zn? which we call guilding metal.

On Sun, 29 Apr 2007 06:42:46 +0000, Peter W.. Rowe, wrote:

Thanks Peter, that is a much better idea. I thought about things a bit
more, and I'm going to build in a different way than I thought about
earlier. Instead of 3 sides and a spacer, I'll just use two sides and a
"spacer" that runs the length of the channel. I have enough room for this
to work. The "spacer" will be the third side. If I build this way at all....

Thanks the info will come in handy.

matthew
ohio