What's The Best Way To Bend 10mm X 96mm, 24ga Sterling Silver Sheet?

[justin8888]

Hi all,

I mostly work with wood but have a need to bend a 10mm x 96mm piece 24ga sterling silver sheet for an upcoming project. My goal is to bend it at a 90 deg angle in 3 places with the smallest radius possible (without causing too much stress). I would also likely need to purchase the tools to do this, and it will be relatively low volume, so not looking for any big tool purchases to accomplish this. So far I can think of a couple ways: arbor press with a wedge head, V bending pliers, hold it in a vice and bend by hand or just wide flat nose pliers. I'm open to suggestions though.

Thanks

 

[justin8888]

Ok so after a bit more research, it looks like my best options are a hand seamer (seaming pliers) a vice brake, or a mini bench top brake. I feel like the bench top brake will give the cleanest results but it's the most expensive (not prohibitively) and doesn't allow multiple bends across short distances, the vice brake is probably overkill in terms of power without the precision of the hand brake. The seamers are the most versatile but maybe not the most precise.

 

[RJSakowski]

Normally, silver is quite ductile but Sterling has copper added to make it harder so I don't know about work hardening or stress fractures.

I would assume that appearance is important. To that end, I would avoid hand bending if possible as any imperfections will stand out. Tight bends are toughest to make cleanly. I would suggest enlisting the aid of a sheet metal shop. The cost will be minimal.

You didn't say if the sheet comes in an annealed state but if you had the choice, it would lessen the chance of any fracturing at the bend. Ask your vendor for advice. Apparently, Sterling has to be heated to 1000 - 1200ºF to anneal. At that temperature, it is subject to oxidation so precautions to prevent exposure to air should be taken. It is also gett5ing close to the melting point. All this cries for a special oven. You might inquire at a local technical school. Most offer classes in jewelry making and would have the experience and equipment.

 

[RJSakowski]

If you want to make your piece entirely yourself:

I have made impromptu bending jigs., using my machinists vice and custom shaped blocks. The 24 ga. should bend easily. You would want to fully support the work as close as possible to the bend line. Using a piece of steel, come up close to the free side of the bend and lever it. You should get a clean bend. I have made some nice little boxes in this fashion.

I would try it on some copper sheet first to work out the procedure. A drawing of your final shape would be helpful

 

[l. bacon]

Sterling silver is very easy to work and doesn't need any specialty tools, especially 24 gage, to do what it sounds like you are wanting to do. Clamp your silver between two pieces of steel or even wood the length of your intended bend, in a vice. And with another piece of steel ,the same approximate length, hold it against the silver and bend it over. Sterling will dent or scratch easily so have smooth or polished steel to put against the silver. Hope this helps.

 

[Joncooey]

You're looking for good results and this is a one-off project, I would source out to some one who has a good quality pan-break. They would also have the experience to do a perfect job first time without marring the surface. I wouldn't think that it would cost much and you would have no worries.

 

[Tony Wells]

I hope George sees this thread. He has done a bit of jewelry work, and his wife is a jeweler. I'm sure he would have some valuable input.

 

[Bill Gruby]

I sent George a PM on this.

"Billy G"

 

[george wilson]

I'd need a sketch to see the shape you are wanting to achieve. But,24 gauge is quite thin,and no trouble to make a sharp bend in it. You can anneal just the areas where you intend to bend,if the strip is too ungainly to get all at once. Unless you groosely over heat the silver,you won't damage the surface by just the heat alone. BUT,your silver is very THIN. So,it could suddenly just melt. Probably better to just NOT ANNEAL. It really isn't necessary as thin as your silver is.



If I wanted to bend a strip,I have a SMOOTH JAWED machinist's vise properly mounted so that the jaws are situated beyond the edge of the bench. I can put a long strip in one place at a time. Letting it hang down to the floor,and take a gentle curve to lay along the floor. BE CAREFUL TO NOT KINK the silver. Bend the silver and whack it down snugly against the crisp edges of the smooth jaws with a piece of hard wood. Use a mallet. Don't try hitting the silver itself with a mallet as silver is soft enough to DENT. And yours is too thin to file the dents out of. Be careful that the hard wood doesn't dent the silver. If you anneal the silver,it will be so soft that it can be dented pretty easily.

Sheet metal equipment is fine,but sometimes the equipment may have damaged surfaces,so unless the surfaces that will come into contact with the silver are completely SMOOTH,and not dented,has no burrs in it,or anything that can dent your silver,I'd stay away from it. This being said,I have even worked pewter in a slip roll,but made sure the rollers were in excellent shape before doing so.

Many ordinary drill press vises are smooth jawed,and you can buy a new one pretty cheaply. You could just feed the silver out of the SIDE of a smooth jawed drill press vise,and bend it snuggly with a hardwood block to finish the job of getting a clean,sharp bend. You will not be able to get absolutely SHARP outer bends,but your silver is so thin,it will look quite sharply bent anyway.

BE ABSOLUTELY sure that the silver strip is laid down firmly against the bottom of the vise. If you don't get the bend dead square across the width of the strip,it will bend off at an angle that you likely will not be able to correct easily.

I advise you to NOT ATTEMPT to bend the silver with just flat nose pliers. I don't know your skill level. It would be too easy to not quite bend the silver dead square across the strip at 90º. AT LEAST,buy a smooth jawed drill press vise which DOES NOT have a "V" groove in the jaws where you will be attempting the bend. You don't want a V groove under the silver when you are trying to bend it. As narrow as your strip is,even if there s a horizontal V groove in the vise's jaw,your silver will rest below that V groove,provided you don't buy a really small vise.

 

[Sheetmetalman]

As someone who has worked with sterling to make a small lantern before, my approach would be to score a line on the inside of the corner of the sheet, on each break, then use a knife edge file to make a slight run in the metal, deepen and widen with a triangle file, then use a square file to finish to just over half the thickness of the metal.
After all three are done, I would make the bends, and use hard, then medium, then soft solder in each of the joints to strengthen the joints.
To clean up, I would start with 200 grit sand paper, and work lightly up in stages to 800, followed by burnishing to achieve final polish and to work harden the metal's surface.
This will give you near zero radius bends, as long as you clean up the solder joints. It should also be more rigid than a plain break in the metal, even if it is more involved.