Cutting and bending 6mm sheet steel on a budget

[Dave Moore]

Hello!

I need to make some steel straps for a timber house restoration. Some are straight, some will have a right angle bend in them.

I know a little abt metalworking but don't have a lot of equipment. For hole making I have a heavy drill press so that is covered. For cutting I have an angle grinder and a jigsaw and after watching a youtube abt cutting sheet steel I think the jigsaw with the right sort of blade seems to be a reasonable choice. I do own a Hammer woodworking bandsaw but I'm not sure it it would cope with steel. It might even say alu is ok but steel not, if memory serves. I will check on this, but it might not be an option for me right now anyway since my Hammer is three phase and I've moved to a single phase property and have yet to purchase an inverter. I did mention I'm on a budget.

For bending I wonder what people do without expensive equipment or a forge? Is it possible to heat certain steels with say a plumbers mapp gas blowtorch and hammer it over in a vice? What type of steels would be best to use? Does the steel have to be hot to bend or can it be done cold with some kind of lever - I imagine that is not generally possible without heavy machinery?

My motivation here is cost. I had two lots of two straps made which needed to be stainless as they were going to be installed externally and they came out at around £180 and £300 for the two pairs. The seven or so remaining straps are internal only so I'm happy to use bog standard mild steel, for example. I thought it might be quite a nice job that i could tackle myself.

The dimensions and shapes vary but all are 6mm thick and 40mm wide. I could probably make all the straps from a 1/2 meter square sheet.

What type of steel should I use and what are cheap sources? Do people use gumtree or ebay to buy metals?

Thank you,
Woodspiral

Cut with a grinderette and slitting discs.

 

[Homeless Squirrel]

But if the application is structural then even fabricated straps will need to be done by a welder because you don't want rat shiete welds holding your house up.

But he wasn't asking you to weld it for him!.

 

[Spectric]

But he wasn't asking you to weld it for him!

But as a qualified welder, having been coded in TIG then I could guarantee the house would remain.

 

[Dibs-h]

I like very much the idea of hiring the use of a workshop with a press brake for and hour maximum when I've got all my pieces ready to go. I will see if I can find such a place.

Thank you
Woodspiral

There's no hire involved. You'd supply the pieces and a drawing and they'd do the bending (i.e. they wouldn't let you near the machines).

You may have meant the same thing - in which case my apologies.

Cast your net further if you struggle for someone local - you may find someone that will bend them while you wait (i.e. drop them off in the morning, pop out to a high street\coffee shop\shopping centre and pop back a few hours later and they might be done.

 

[baldkev]

what is your application, there may be alternative options out there such as angle iron. You are not going to bend 6mm steel over any length without the tools and something like a promicam brake press is very expensive.

I have ( many times ) easily bent 5x30 wall plate straps to various angles.
I have an offcut of I beam about 500mm long. I mark where i want the bend, place the mark inlibe with the edge of the I beam, put a 500mm lump of 6x2 over it, clamp in place securely with 2 f clamps, them whack it downwards with a lump hammer. I can easily achieve a sharp 90 without heat.

Ive got no doubt 6mm is just as easily achievable

 

[Spectric]

I mark where i want the bend, place the mark inlibe with the edge of the I beam, put a 500mm lump of 6x2 over it, clamp in place securely with 2 f clamps, them whack it downwards with a lump hammer.

Thats the blacksmith method, T frenchs method of the 25 ton promecam brake is the engineered method or you could fabricate but maybe what he is looking for is actually available in a builders merchant, drawings would help.

 

[PDW125]

I use these guys who are local to me but I know ship all over the UK - very reasonable on price and will work from a dimensioned sketch emailed to them..!

https://laser-online.co.uk/

 

[glenfield2]

Thank you for all the replies

To clarify I'm not planning on using stainless, I specifically made that point in my OP. I will just use regular mild steel.

Two of the straps could be formed from straight 6x40 stock material with them having a simple 90 bend in the right place. The other 5 will have to be cut out from a sheet as they follow an S shape, or zig-zag shape, and then a 90-ish in the right place and possibly other subtle bends. I will make a template for these from wood before I start. I think I can handle the cutting part OK from what I saw in the vid.

I like very much the idea of hiring the use of a workshop with a press brake for and hour maximum when I've got all my pieces ready to go. I will see if I can find such a place. We are a bit rural here - Suffolk on the Norfolk border so if any members know of somewhere like that in East Anglia that it would be very handy to know.

Thank you
Woodspiral

I would have thought there’d be plenty of small agricultural fabrication engineers who could do that stuff pretty economically: here in Debenham we have Bloomfield Installations who we’ve used for odd stuff.

 

[imageel]

I'd fabricate these by welding two pieces together - I faced the same issue with some wall plates required for the mitred corners of an extension, and all the merchants ones were way too skinny. I cant remember whether I welded using a stick or TIG nor what thickness was used, from memory it was more like 4mm than 6mm, however it was a simple job to get a full penetration and hence sound join.
I'd have thought a blacksmith in your area could make this for you at a reasonable price if you don't have the kit to do it yourself.

 

[Ttrees]

Why would anyone choose to use tig or mig for this application,
Is it not much more expensive/consumptive?

This li'l liddle welder is 40 pounds when there in, and possibly 25% cheaper if it's on discount,
bargain to me, weighs a tonne, which is probably a good thing,
and likely going to last a lot longer than the featherweight by comparison inverter types also sold on the middle isle.
(ps the rods sold often on discount have good packaging in thick plastic wrapping which is better than most offerings)

Taking the pisch with 3.2mm rods really, but couldn't get 2.5 at the time.
Probably tops the top 5 best value tools I've ever bought new, and good enough to melt through 5mm steel.

I'd sooner buy this than get something bent for the same money, ya know it makes sense!
If you fail, grind it away and try again, no bothers.

All the best
Tom

 

[TFrench]

Why would anyone choose to use tig or mig for this application,
Is it not much more expensive/consumptive?

If you're buying a welder just to make some little brackets, obviously the Fisher Price Parkside is the way to go. I'm lucky enough to have access to mig, tig and stick machines and I can confirm the last one I've ever choose is the stick welder. Mig is faster, neater and much less faff. Tig is slow but satisfying.

 

[Ttrees]

LOL, my Fisher price has got me outta a pickle many's a time.
Unsure if I'd ever want to experience the difference between TBH,
(no space for anything bigger really)

Ignorance is bliss in my case, and do please refrain from encouraging me regarding the TAS... (tool acquisition syndrome) as I may likely have a problem already!

All the best
Tom

 

[TFrench]

LOL, my Fisher price has got me outta a pickle many's a time.
Unsure if I'd ever want to experience the difference between TBH,
(no space for anything bigger really)

Ignorance is bliss in my case, and do please refrain from encouraging me regarding the TAS... (tool acquisition syndrome) as I may likely have a problem already!

All the best
Tom

I'm way ahead of you on TAS. Incurable I suspect.

 

[imageel]

Why would anyone choose to use tig or mig for this application,
Is it not much more expensive/consumptive?

This li'l liddle welder is 40 pounds when there in, and possibly 25% cheaper if it's on discount,
bargain to me, weighs a tonne, which is probably a good thing,
and likely going to last a lot longer than the featherweight by comparison inverter types also sold on the middle isle.
(ps the rods sold often on discount have good packaging in thick plastic wrapping which is better than most offerings)

View attachment 152886
Taking the pisch with 3.2mm rods really, but couldn't get 2.5 at the time.
Probably tops the top 5 best value tools I've ever bought new, and good enough to melt through 5mm steel.
View attachment 152887View attachment 152888

I'd sooner buy this than get something bent for the same money, ya know it makes sense!
If you fail, grind it away and try again, no bothers.

All the best
Tom

I just happen to have an AC/DC TIG capable welder since I occasionally weld aluminium and sometimes prefer TIG'ing over MMA because of the finer control it gives.