- Thread starter Wallace
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Wallace
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- Staines, Middlesex, England.
Thanks Matt. I was supplied with bits of cardboard some of which were held together with masking tape as a template. I cut an over length strip of 1.5mm sheet the correct width on my Gabro Notcher and used a set of vice mounted 12" slip rolls from RDG Tools to develop the 180° bend adjusting the radius as needed to suit the template. The ends of this U shape were trimmed to length then the S shape marked off and cut roughly to size with a Monodex nibbler and filed to the template.
This U shape was taken to the job, offered up for fit, then bought back to me for trimming and to add the 5mm rod around the top as a bead which should have been all that was needed before powder coating. The customer pointed out that a vent would be needed to keep the flue cover cool and I was then asked to add a series of vertical slots around the radius! After some research I found a taller part by Aga with a vent so decided something similar would be preferable to the slots.
The 8mm round bar for the vent surround was bent to 90° at each end on a Clarke metal bender and due to the way I bent it gave an uneven radius on the bend exit like bending a bar in the vice by hand. This was deliberate to give a shallow curve on the top section and nice straight sides. The vent slats were cut to length and stacked together with 6mm packers between then laid in place at an angle that looked even then heavily tacked in place from the rear.
To make the vent surround top another strip of 1.5mm sheet was cut 40mm wide and bent by hand around the 90° bends made in the 8mm rod then tacked in place level with the rod outside diameter and fully Tig welded. This weld was sanded back flush and built back up as needed to give the smooth casting like front edge.
The cut-out in the U shape to accept the vent surround was made with a Falcon Nibbler and trimmed back to fit with a flap disc and file. A couple of heavy weld tacks held the two parts together for Tig brazing and left a nice fillet to file back so the part would look like a one piece casting. The excess 40mm material was trimmed off inside and fettled back.
The 5mm top bead was rolled to 180° on the POS ring roller I rebuilt recently to working standards as an excuse to make something on it. This was tacked in place from behind level with the inside radius of the U shape. After a lot of filing and sanding plus constant checking against the templates I gave it all a thorough shotblasting with J-Blast Superfine in a Clarke syphon cabinet.
Thanks, I have seen a genuine part for around £75 but it is twice the height and this is a one off to fit. I'm sure one should have been fitted at installation and I don't know why there is what looks like an unfinished gap, I suggested the Aga installers were contacted but it fell on deaf ears.
Thanks, I have done a couple of wall finishing plates in powder coat for another Aga and they have been ok. There is an external decorative flue with an air gap around the hot flue and this vent cover supplies the air to that air gap.
