Is the investment in a bending brake (is that the right term) for folding photo etched parts worth the money? I heard it’s pretty much a necessity for long folds but what about the 85 percent of parts that require only relatively small folds?
I also read that etched metal parts need to be heated in order to be bent/curved smoothly. I’d seen that a match or candle will work for individual parts. Can I treat the entire sheet at once in an oven if I set the temperature high enough?
How do you attached etched metal to canopies? I know that CA glues will fog clear plastic.
1-You kind of answered that one yourself. What do you do for that other 15% of the folds? It is handy for long or complex folds. Would it be better if they were half the price? What wouldn’t? An example of an alternative to the brake can be seen HERE about 1/4 downthe page. You can use CA glue to add some 3D dimension to the parts too… at the bottom of the page.
2-I’ve heard that too but have never done it and never had a problem with the PE parts.
3-AC glue “can” fog the clear parts… not always “will”. If all you are doing is attaching a mirror to the front edge, the amount of glue is small enough you should not have that problem. I have used CA for that type of application and it has been OK. I still use it to attached canopies when I pose them open. The fogging seems to happen more if the canopy is closed which leads me to believe that it is a ventilation thing. I am guessing the fogging occurs from the gases that are given off when the CA cures. Or oyu can use whit glue or even Future to affix the tiny parts. I almost forgot… never use an accelerator if you use CA as it can sometime turn the CA white.
As WingNut points out the use of a commercial tool, such as a Hold-n-Fold or Etchmate is not a real necessity. Just having one in your tool box will not make you a better brass folder. You need to manipulate the brass to understand the best sequence of folds to acheive your desired results. I will often use a method similar to the one which WingNut links to. I use two opposed razor blades intead of a razor and a steel ruler. Either one will work. You need to practice.
If you choose to go the razor blade route and you need a longer span than that provided by the razor blade - go to the paint section in your local hardware store and look at their scraper blades. These are razor blade-like items are longer and narrower and lack the protective sheath on the backside of the typical single-edge razor blade. I know they come in 4-inch lengths and I think I’ve seen them longer than that. The sellers of the Hold-n-Fold and Etchmate include these scraper blades with their tools for long folds. They just dont tell you that they are a commercial item.
Item 2: Annealing the metal to make it softer may be of some help on thicker brass or some stainless steel/nickle frets. I too have found that it is not a necessity. The trick is to heat the metal to a cherry red color without burning the fine details. A candle would be recommended over a propane torch. Your home oven cannot heat the metal hot enough to acheive the cherry red color, but the flame on a gas stove would work. Heat and allow to cool without quenching the part. Repeat until soft. Experiment with some left over parts.
Another trick to the annealing process would be to leave the part attached to the sprue at one location and hold the part over the flame by grabbing the sprue in a pair of locking tweezers. This works well for smaller parts, as it enables you to heat the entire part to the proper temperature for annealing, and as attachment points are generally very thin, there is less chance of heat-sinking, where the tweezer actually pulls heat away from the part, which does not allow the part to get hot enough. I learned that from first-hand experience.
I am tainted when it comes to the use of tools, but I can say that any PE bender will aid you in forming your PE pieces. Even small, and especially intricate pieces. That being said, the best tool you can purchase for PE bending is a quality pair of non-serrated, flat nose pliers. These will aid you more than any single tool you will purchase for PE work. If you have access to a machine shop, I suggest milling the end square and true.
As far as attaching PE to Clear pieces, I use 5 Minute Epoxy and many of my friends use Bindex, an acryllic binder.
Annealing is way over done IMHO. But when I have to do it, I use a hot plate, one with a small electric burner. It will heat the brass piece up to glowing red and then you just turn the burner off, wait till it cools and then your part is annealed.
Of course, I am no expert, so take what you want and leave the rest behind.
If you have a large surface area that will not be subjected to stresses, like a panel flat-glued to a surface, CA is good. CA has good tension strength, but not a lot of shear strength. You can’t easily pull parts apart, but you can break the bond with a sideways motion.
If it is a small part that may be subjected to some shear, like a blade antenna, use some 5-minute epoxy. Epoxy has good shear and tension strength, but is more expensive and wasteful than CA.
Just yesterday I built the foremast on a resin USCG cutter. The yardarms and railings were cemented with CA, but the small projecting antenna standoffs were cemented with epoxy. Mixing adhesives based on the parts being cemented is the way to go.
You cannot use a solvent glue, such as tube, MEK, or Tenax. The glue works by melting the two surfaces and fusing the pieces together. Solvent glues do not melt the metal.