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Repairing bent easel blade

Elmarc

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Hi all,are there any tips to repairing a bent easel blade? The blade in question has approximately a 1mm + rise from being flush. I have included a photo although not the best the problem should be evident.
Thank you in advance.
 

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There is no other technique as with any critical straight-bending of metal sheet.

At least one, still straight part should be clamped straight (vise, clamp etc.) and the other part bent, working in short distances sequentially through the bent part.
 
I put a bar magnet on mine when I use it, my easel is all steel. It also helps keep the blade flat with curly paper. The blades are very light and over the years of use they bend, no big deal.
 
Put a pencil directly under the bend and gently bend it back a bit. That little bit doesn't seem significant enough to bother with, though.
 
Thank you for your replies. The bend certainly doesn’t look significant enough but in practice it is. I tried magnets but have so far not been able to find any strong enough. The bend will lay flat with downward pressure but that’s not ideal when dodging burning etc.
 
I like the idea with the bar magnet to keep blades pressed to the paper.
 
Where would one find a bar magnet?
 
The neodymium magnets are really strong - if you get one of those, make sure that you get one which has something on it like a handle that makes it easy to handle under safelight.
I expect you will need a European source.
 
 
But it would be great for hanging the easel for storing at a wall...
 
Elmarc said:
Where would one find a bar magnet?
Click to expand...

In any good hardware store. I have one somewhere with a "handle"

Bending back blades is very difficult, I have never succeeded. Tried with Leitz easels and with RRB easels. My last easels I have checked before buying, to make sure the blades were flat on the bord. About half of the sellers said they were, but they weren't.
 
For the magnets, Axminster Tools in the UK may be a good source; https://www.axminstertools.com/us/benches-vices-storage/holders-hooks

FWIW, for the US (and Canada), I like Lee Valley tools

One big challenge in un-bending bent metal is that the bending causes it to be work hardened, meaning that the bent area is harder and somewhat stronger than the unbent area. So making the bent part straight requires more force than putting a new bend in somewhere else. Potato crisps are made this way.
 
AgX said:
Never saw a bar magnet in a hardware store.
Click to expand...

You're right, I read the word bar wrong. I thought it was like a handle to make taking the magnet off easier. Here a picture of a magnet I have. It is strong and would do the job. But I am not sure about the shiny chrome, for obvious reasons. A rectangular black bar magnet would be safer.

Anyway, on this end it won't work: the Leitz and RRB easels have a wooden base.

 
I've bent blades back before. If you carefully draw the blade over the edge of a tabletop you can slowly get it back in shape. It isn't difficult to do. Don't try to get it in one go. Just gradually get it straight. You don't want to have to bend it back the other way.
 
These 4" bar magnets are left over school supplies from when I home schooled my youngest daughter, they work perfectly with my two blade easel.
 
[QUOTE

Anyway, on this end it won't work: the Leitz and RRB easels have a wooden base.

[/QUOTE]


This won’t work for me either as the easel in question is also a RRB....I should have mentioned that..
 
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This may be my only solution save keeping one hand free to flatten the blade at the time of exposure/s
 
You could always use a propane torch on the top of the blade and stop as soon as it starts to bend. Even a very hot iron may do that. Or, if that's the top blade, make it the bottom blade (if that's the type of easel it is).
 
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