Cheekbender—Pittsburgh

Harry Thompson IVSeptember 17th, 2018

The Cheekbender turns a 90-degree flange that serves as the Male Pittsburgh on Square Throats of a Rectangular Duct Elbow.

Tennsmith DS24-20 Cheekbender

Vicon Pneumatic 24″ Cheekbender

Square elbows have two sides, referred to as “cheeks”. While those cheeks are still in the flat, the manual cheek bender turns a 90 degree flange on each of the two sides of the throat. One side turns the flange for small Pittsburgh (1/4” high) and the other side turns the flange for large Pittsburgh (7/8” high). This flange will serve as the Male Pittsburgh.

Radius and square back elbows have two cheeks (sides), one wrap (the backside of the elbow), two heels (the upper seam of the elbow), and a throat.

The throat can be either radius (essentially a short version of the heel) or square. Interestingly, making a square throat requires a Cheekbender. This machine, usually sold as a 24" hand-operated unit, has two sides each with a handle. One side turns up a 90-degree flange 1/4" high and is used for standard 20 ga Female Pitts. The other side turns up the 90-degree flange 7/16" for the larger female Pitts seam, usually an 18 ga Pitts machine.

Why is it only 24"? Throats of square elbows are typically small, so it is rare for them to exceed the 24" that the machine accommodates.

All Fittings are four piece, which means the shop makes and assembles four pieces into one Fitting. These are all grouped in four pieces prior to assembly. Shops prefer making square fittings instead of radius because they are straight instead of curved and thus easier to assemble. These rectangular offsets are made much faster with a Power Cheekbender because all of the 90 degree flanges you see are done on an inside throat and thus a Hand Brake doesn’t suffice.

Cheekbender—Pittsburgh

Sheet Metal Forming Machinery