[chbot] Another supply question - bending thin wall channel

[Andy Gardner]

Might be more practical to pick a size of thin wall round tubing that's big enough to prevent the wheel from escaping and bend that into a hoop and tack that on. It would look strange but would be a lot easier to do, I think. Channel is not going to be happy being bent without heating or a special former.

Would be easier to roll the hoop and form the channel at the same time out of flat steel, but that would require a fairly complicated roller setup I suspect.

Another possibility would be plastic irrigation pipe (50mm?) sliced down the middle then bolted onto the cage with countersunk bolts so the wheel runs inside the half-pipe?

Then again, how about 2 hoops of 25mm irrigation pipe, bolted on so the wheel runs between them?

On 9/01/2015, at 11:39 PM, Robin Gilks wrote:

> It would certainly work but would require a huge waste of materials and
> I'm not sure that cutting and welding something as thin as 1mm (I really
> don't need any more weight in this thing!!) is economic (laser cutting a
> $50 sheet will be 2-300 dollars I should think). This also assumes the
> part I fit it to is absolutely round - which I doubt it is and who knows
> how it will distort when its hot dip galvanised.
> 
> I've seen stainless bent round like this so mild steel must be easier!!
> 
> How about bending box section and cut the top off :)
>