Power Flanger—Pittsburgh
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
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…
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.
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