Corrugator

[IWannaRetire]

Bernd, how thick is your roasting pan material?

How about starting with smooth material like this:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CRHR4TRX/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=AF9CPILHGHOMP&th=1

While it's described as "flashing" if the dimensions are correct it is really shim stock. Hard to see any flashing use for something measuring this small in all three dimensions.


The stated dimensions are 2" by 39.4" by .1mm  Unless my math is wrong, (a frequent occurrence) .1mm is .0039 inches, roughly the thickness of many ordinary printer papers.

[Bernd]

Thanks Gregory and you're welcome. I like to share things to help others who might need some information on subjects like this.

Bernd

[deemery]

Thanks Gregory and you're welcome. I like to share things to help others who might need some information on subjects like this.

Bernd

How thick are your smoothed-out pans?  Any thoughts about an 'optimum' thickness?  I figure there is a range of values, too thin and the stock tears.  Too thick and the corrugations don't form.  "And this thickness is Just Right," said Goldilocks...

(My sense is that you'd think about this kind of thing as you experimented with different materials...)

dave

[Bernd]

Bernd, how thick is your roasting pan material?

How about starting with smooth material like this:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CRHR4TRX/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=AF9CPILHGHOMP&th=1

While it's described as "flashing" if the dimensions are correct it is really shim stock. Hard to see any flashing use for something measuring this small in all three dimensions.


The stated dimensions are 2" by 39.4" by .1mm  Unless my math is wrong, (a frequent occurrence) .1mm is .0039 inches, roughly the thickness of many ordinary printer papers.

Mark, the pan material is .005" (.127mm) thick. A 3-foot by 8-foot sheet in HO would measure .413" by 1.653" (10.5mm X 42mm) The best that would work with that material would be the 50mm x 0.1mm (W*T).

I'll probably be looking around to see what else is available. I wouldn't go over .005 thickness. Anything thicker and it'll probably ruin the gear teeth faster. I did notice some flaking of the aluminum getting caught in the teeth.

Still tweaking the tool.

Bernd

[Bernd]

Thanks Gregory and you're welcome. I like to share things to help others who might need some information on subjects like this.

Bernd

How thick are your smoothed-out pans?  Any thoughts about an 'optimum' thickness?  I figure there is a range of values, too thin and the stock tears.  Too thick and the corrugations don't form.  "And this thickness is Just Right," said Goldilocks...

(My sense is that you'd think about this kind of thing as you experimented with different materials...)

dave

Check my post to Mark. I'll be looking around at other options. I used the pan because the Dollar store was just down the road, and I need some material for testing. I'm still in the R&D stage at this point.

Bernd

[deemery]

Thanks Gregory and you're welcome. I like to share things to help others who might need some information on subjects like this.

Bernd

How thick are your smoothed-out pans?  Any thoughts about an 'optimum' thickness?  I figure there is a range of values, too thin and the stock tears.  Too thick and the corrugations don't form.  "And this thickness is Just Right," said Goldilocks...

(My sense is that you'd think about this kind of thing as you experimented with different materials...)

dave

Check my post to Mark. I'll be looking around at other options. I used the pan because the Dollar store was just down the road, and I need some material for testing. I'm still in the R&D stage at this point.

Bernd

Our posts crossed, I think.  Thanks!

dave

[Bernd]

Dave, yes they did. I saw a warning that somebody was posting to the thread. No problem.

Besides Mark's find on Amazon I did a little search on McMaster-Carr. They have a variety of shim stock. A bit more expensive than on Amazon but you have a greater variety of choice. It's up to the user where he wants to purchase stock from. I've been a customer of McMaster's for quite some time and find them to be fast on delivery and quality products. Another metal source for me is On-Line Metals.

Link to McMaster on shim stock: https://www.mcmaster.com/products/shim-stock/shim-stock-2~/

Link to On-Line Metals: https://www.onlinemetals.com/

Bernd

[Bernd]

Ok, after some extensive testing I've added an improvement to the corrugator.

In the picture below you'll notice on the longer piece how it has curves in it. This due to the gears not running parallel. In other words at one point there is backlash in the gearing and about 180° there is a bind. This will cause the foil to curve because one side is crimping the foil more than the other. Note on the blue ones which are shorter that that wasn't the case. I was able to keep a shorter section straight going through the teeth. Not so good with a longer piece because it would stretch out the corrugations and it would not have even depth corrugations in the piece.



I came up with a solution. I made some shims that will sit on the upper gear bearings and be pushed down with a spring and plate.



First, I milled down a piece of aluminum for the needed thickness and then used my lath set up a saw to saw off the length needed. The two short pieces are sitting on the clamp.



Next I needed to make a plate that would press down on the plunger and springs. I ACCed a piece of aluminum on top to the top that holds the upper portion together.



This allowed me to, what is known as match drilling, where the plungers would come through. Note the plungers are already made with the springs installed.



The top plunger alignment plate ready to be installed.



Plungers in place and springs in place.



All ready to crank out some corrugated aluminum.



I'll post more on the corrugator's use when I write up the stone crusher for my quarry line.

Bernd

[Bernd]

Update on the corrugator.

I had ordered some aluminum foil from McMaster Carr in four thicknesses. It comes all rolled up in nice little boxes.





I cut a strip 6" long, the width of the roll, and an HO scale 8' (1.100") wide strip.



Ran each strip through the corrugator. Notice on the .005" and .003" thick strips that they curved. (green arrows)



This shows that one side of one (gear) roller is not parallel with the other (gear) roller. What this does is squeeze one side more than the other causing the foil to be "crinkled" more on one side than the other. The deforming causes it to curve due to the metal being pulled together more than the other side. This shows how metal can be curved by how much more you deform one side more than the other.

I took the corrugator apart and lightly held the gears in full mesh with a set of tool makes clamps and checked with gauge blocks (jo-blocks) the distance between the ball bearings.



The right side sized to .125" between the bearings and the left side sized to .128". A .003" difference causing the foil to curve. More inspection is warranted to see what the cause is for such a difference between the bearings. I might need to make new rollers and hold the diameter of stub axel where the bearing sits to a tighter tolerance.



More inspection to be done to determine what the heck went wrong and if new rollers need to be made.

That's it for now. back to having fun.

Bernd

[Dave Buchholz]

Just wondering if it would be an advantage to use spring pressing downward on both sides of the upper roller to adjust the roller pressure for varying thicknesses of stock? Can't say I took notice of that if that is what you did.

One of the other Dave's

[deemery]

Interesting to see the results of the alignment error.  And thanks for buying 4 different material thicknesses to try.  We learn from these experiments!

dave

[Mr. Critter]

Self-imposed quality control. As a modeller and former QC inspector both, I love this.

[Bernd]

Just wondering if it would be an advantage to use spring pressing downward on both sides of the upper roller to adjust the roller pressure for varying thicknesses of stock? Can't say I took notice of that if that is what you did.

One of the other Dave's

If you look through post #22 above you'll see the springs I used and how they were implemented.

Bernd

[Bernd]

Interesting to see the results of the alignment error.  And thanks for buying 4 different material thicknesses to try.  We learn from these experiments!

dave

You're welcome Dave. Besides aluminum McMaster Carr also carries brass, copper, nickel, bronze, titanium, plastic, stainless steel and steel. I've been a very satisfied customer with them for many years. Their prices may be higher than Amazon but there product is of higher quality. I'll pay for quality before buying cheap.

Bernd

[Bernd]

Self-imposed quality control. As a modeller and former QC inspector both, I love this.

Yes, that was one of my jobs at "The Gleason Works", a gear machine manufacturing company. I started work there as a 2-year apprentice and retired medically a little over 30 years later. My second hobby is "home-shop machining".

Bernd