Here’s what the part started out looking like:
Bed Mount Cutout
How I designed this part was that I needed the part to end up being 2 1/8 inches wide. With it being made out of 1/8 inch plate, this would result in a 1 7/8 inside dimension. Using a formula I found on the web
Bend Allowance = Angle * (Pi / 180) * (Radius + K-Factor * Thickness)
I needed to bend the material 90 degrees and using a 1/4″ radius of 1/8″ thick material. Using these values the formula looks like:
0.278 = 90 * (3.14 / 180) * (.125 + .42 * .125)
Where 3.14 is the value of Pi, 0.125 is the decimal value of 1/8″. I’m using the inside radius of 1/8″ and material thickness of 1/8″ and using the K-Factor of .42. K-Factor is the portion of the material where there will be stretching or shrinking.
Solving for this results in a distance of 0.278 inches. This is close to 9/32 inches or a little bit more than 1/4 of an inch.
How I refected this in my drawing was that I drew the inside shape, then added the bend allowance and then drew the side shape. Because I don’t have a press brake and this piece is about 5 inches long, I made a 1/8 wide cutout and left two tabs about 1/4″ wide.
This allows me to bend the part by hand and then weld up the edge. Here’s how it looks as I start to bend up the part.
Bed Mount First Bend
Flipping it over I can bend up the other side.
Bed Mount Sides Bend
All that’s remaining is the top part. Here I didn’t make a relief cut, I should have, and I did put in a relief cut for the side radius, but I put it a bit too high so it didn’t really help me make this bend. After a lot of hammering here’s what the part looks like.
Bed Mount Fully Bent
Here’s how the part compares to the original:
Bed Mount Comparison
After I was done with welding up the part and grinding the welds, I wanted to see how close I was to my original specs. I got the radius spot on at 1/4 inch, but I’m about 1/8 inch too wide. It doesn’t matter for this part, but I’ve figured out where I’ve gone wrong with my measurements and I’ll correct it in my TurboCAD drawing.
Bed Mount Bend Radius
Bed Mount Dimensions
Bed Mount Corrections
