Making a decent bashplate

[Bruce CurtisMember]

Hello fellow old bulls,
my next project is to make a decent integrated bashplate/pipe guard for the YZ, and was wondering which is the best way of simple home bending of aluminium plate with out access these days to a bender or TIG?
Am using around 2.5 mm T6 alloy plate (yes an old street sign :laugh: )

Heat along bend line and clamp between two bits of wood, pipe, angle iron?

Cold bending?

Drill reliefs in the bend line?

or a combo of some of the above?

Your experienced wisdom will be appreciated.

Bruce C.

[DeanMember]

Bruce 2.5mm is pretty thin for a bashplate? :ohmy: Most bashplates are 4mm. If you want to bend your alloy easily and it is T6 you will have to anneal it where you want to bend it. You do this by running a carbonised flame over the bend line so it is covered in black soot. You then heat this area up until the soot is removed,this will be the right temp for the annealing. remember though the alloy in this zone will no longer be “T6”

To bend is easy enough, just use a vice and two flat pieces of board clamped around the outside and bend as recquired. I made a Carbon fibre guard for my pipe with a thick alloy bashplate to protect the frame rails/engine etc. Best of luck with your project mate.

OllieB)

[Bruce CurtisMember]

Thanks heaps Ollie, much as i thought, to help it I’m going to run 3 or 4 aluminium channel pieces inside to reinforce it, or I have another piece that is around 4mm but is very hard alloy and thought it might be a bit messy to bend.

Bruce

[Jeffrey SmithMember]

If you have it all cut and shaped and the bend lines marked with templates for the angles you could take it to a sheet metal place and have them press it up for you, it wouldn’t cost much that way I woudn’t think.

[DeanMember]

I think the channel idea would not work to well, go with the thicker plate and anneal a biger section,use a good vice and plenty of clamps and a big hammer:laugh: or do as Jeffro suggested and take it down to a local fabricator

Ollie

[Bruce CurtisMember]

We have a local fabricator, i used him for stuff before and i don’t mind paying my way but he charged me like i was the State rail corp, or the council and ended costing me more than an aftermarket one when he spent ten minutes on it. Went to him cause we used him for two of my workplaces maybe he don’t like me too much.

Nah I’m determined to make my own, have done heaps more complicated than this but want this to be Mickey Duck and was when my FIL lived next door and he’s an engineering whizz, with a lot of gear, what he didn’t have I did, but got out of that scene for a while and so sold the lathe and other bit’s ‘n pieces.

BC.

[Anonymous]

Go for it Mr Blue – nothing better than something you make yourself from someone elses crap.

(Especially if the aluminium was still attached to a post in the ground:) )

[Eric SmithMember]

Keep us posted BC, I’m keen to see your efforts!

Dan, love that ally, there’s a “sheet” of it in my shed! :laugh:

[drewMember]

if you don’t have oxy, could you run a candle/burn something that makes smoke that sticks, then use Mr Blues heat gun to anneal the bend line?

dose anyone know of the procedure for using oxy/lpg to heat/anneal alloy for bending?

oh and this thread is worthless without pics! Mr Blue, once you start and end product.

keep us informed.

[DeanMember]

you could use a candle to laydown the soot but I dont think a heat gun would have enough grunt to get to the right temp. annealing with a LPG/Oxy is the same process as acetylene only will take a bit longer to heat to correct temp.

Ollie

[Bruce CurtisMember]

Gunna start this weekend, camoings been called off due to the insanity of camping in ZERO degrees, oh and there’s a Vinduro i want to go to watch.

So I’ll take pix and post ’em

Bruce C.

[bob kiddMember]

G,day Mr Blue i spoke with my welding guru at work he is a very smart man he said cold bending of that thickness should,nt be an issue but suggested stress relieving after bending to remove residual stresses according to the standard would need to be heated to 450 degrees F for 4 hours which you could do in the oven at home. 450 F=232c thats only his opinion hope it helps your project:)

cheers
bob

[GregMember]

Nice tip novice

TB

[jamieMember]

Hello Mr Blue,

A couple of years back i made one for my husky that sounds similar, just used a vice cold bent and hammer and variuos shaped items to bend around didn’t use any heat. Was a sheet of checker plate.

Biggest hassle was making the mounting brackets and getting the curves right for the profile and gap between the frame rails, had to use on oxy at work(night shift project)

Any way it was thinner and dented bit but cost was zero. I only replaced it becuase i smashed the chamber and got a hyde guarde at the same time.

But on the hyde guard i use a stainless worm drive clamp to hold it on and these work well and have copped a hammering over a few years, and would have saved heaps of time than building the brackets and lighter too.

I was p..s easy to build a glide plate but the wings are the harder part.

good luck mate

[AlexMember]

Coincidently, we have to make a couple for our 2smokers and have been trying to work out the best way for weeks. We have carbonf, various alum sheets and a TIG welder. I’m keen on an aluminium skid plate into a carbonf expansion chamber idea, but not final. If you want to make your street sign stronger, you can carbonf or fibreg the back of your aluminium, similar to what they do to airplanes. Makes it much stronger. We are going to use similar thickness alum.

[Author]

Posts