welding hot rolled angle corners with a radius

[mikem]

Did you guys see the article in MW or HSM where the guys was showing how make welded rounded corners when making angle iron frames. His work looked really nice but he made several cuts for each corner. Looks like a lot of work though. When I made some similar corners, I just cut out a wedge of metal to allow for a cold bend and then welded the gap after bending. Some times the gap was too big and I had to clamp a copper scrap under the gap and fill it in with weld. Am I missing something?

[Sprocket]

What I've done for that kind of bend is calculate the difference between the inside circumference and the outside circumference of the curve, divide the difference by a convenient number,drill that many holes along the web, and cut out triangles. The side of the triangle along the edge is the difference between the circumferences divided by the number of holes. I make many small wedge shaped cutouts, then bend the corner and weld the slots shut. The longer the distance between holes, the more "facets" you show on the outside surface. It is a lot of work, but it makes nice corners.

[Thrud]

Mike
No. There is no best way. You can use solid copper round bars to do a corner quickly too by building up the rounded coner with a weld bead and then grinding smooth. It depends on what you are doing and how anal you want to be on a single aspect of the project. If you are building a super scale loco or plane - the hard way may be the only way to get the authentic look you desire. One man's hell is another man's hobby.