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Power Flanger—Pittsburgh

Harry Thompson IVSeptember 11th, 2018

A Radius Elbow consists of 2 cheeks—these are the sides of the fitting and it’s on the top part of this cheek that the Right Angle Flange is turned at a 90º angle.

Both the top and bottom edge of the two cheeks (sides) of this Radius Elbow are run on a Power Flanger that turns the Male Pitts Flange
Radius Elbow fabrication at Nor-Well Company

Two pieces will be the inner and outer wrap of the elbow and two pieces will be the sides (aka cheeks) of the elbow. While still in the flat, each edge of both wraps are run thru a Pittsburgh machine to form a female pocket seam on either side and then put into a Roller to make a rounded section.

The two cheeks are then taken to an Manual Flanger (aka Easy Edger) or a Power Edger (aka Power Flanger) and a right angle is turned on each of the two edges that will serve as the male Pittsburgh flange.

The two edges of each cheek are then seated into the Pittsburgh Pocket and then assembled into a lock.

The sole purpose of the Power Flanger is to form the Right Angle Flange Male Pitts on one or both edges of radius cheeks...

Both the Heel connection and the Throat connection of this Cheek have a radius right angle flange (aka Male Pittsburgh) which will be mated with the female seam of the "Wrap" section that will become the Heel once it’s fabricated.
This elbow has a radius only on the heel.
Power Flangers turn the Right Angle Flange on a curve like this cheek of a Radius Elbow.

Many shops use a Manual Flanger like the Lockformer Easy Edger or the Flanging Attachment that is often mounted to a small Pittsburgh machine. Neither of these ways provides a work table…resulting in the operator enlisting an additional person to hold up larger cheeks.

Manual Flangers put a Right Angle Flange on the edge of a curved piece.
No work table means holding the sheet in the air while turning the radius cheek.
Lockformer Pittsburgh Machine Flanging Attachment

This can be very labor intensive especially when making large elbows like these…

Flagler’s 20 ga Power Flanger does this exact task of turning the 7/32” flange height on the Cheek while it’s still in the “flat”.

Power Flanger forming Male Pitts on Heel of Radius Cheek

Without a Power Flanger, fabricating a system with this many Radius Elbows would be a tall task.
The larger Cheek (shown in blue) is an example of how a Free Standing Power Flanger makes a difference. Turning the Flange on both edges (heel and throat) of this large radius elbow would be a challenge on a manual turn Easy Edger.

The value however isn’t really in the fact that it takes a manual task and makes it powered but rather a more unique and specific one...work space

The Power Flanger has a table top that provides the contractor a larger work surface—especially valuable when making large radius elbow heels.

And once a shop gets used to the work table space, they will often come up with ideas to add even more...