Im currently building a frame with the Long Shen LR19 cast track dropouts, is it ok to bend the tabs inline with the stays being that they’re cast or is there a risk that they’ll crack? I slotted my chainstays at an angle but think it’ll look so much better if the tabs are inline with the skinny seatstays, even if they don’t match the chainstays.
Also, is ok to bend a tab with some taps from a hammer? These things are stout.
Put the axle part in the vice and use an adjustable wrench to tweak to the angle you need. Either use an adjustale angle ‘square’ or even draw the angle on cardbiard and cut it out and tweak the drop out tab till it matches. Because you have the raised faces you’ll need to use some packing to clamp near the tab and have the tab sticking vertical so the bend is across the tab. You could just clamp the raised faces with the top edge set at the top of the vise clamp face, and teh bend would be at the edge of the raised face. Up to you what you think looks good.
clamp the packing edge along the red for a short length bend.
All the steels we use in frame building are fairly ductile in that you’d have to go back and forth a tonne of times to crack and break those tabs. As Rich says, show the metal who is boss!
For Christmas my wife gifted me a small bending brake to be used via a vice, you can find it on amazon for cheap.
I have successfully used it many times to cleanly bend some aluminum and mild steel, works like a charm and it’s cleaner than hammer it.
However
I have successfully done it, the devlincc-way, for decades, a vice and an adjustable wrench
