Best way to straighten a bit of bent aluminium?

Help…my rails took a tumble in their bag last week and of course, they landed end-on at the unpadded end of their bag. 😐

Ok rail on left, bendy bit on right:

Rails are joined with strip as shown here (inside track with grub screws), which now will not go any further than where it is. The track/strip size is pretty precise (for my needs anyway) as it joins two together squarely to make a longer rail.

It’s not the end of the world as it is fine at the other end, but it’s useful to have both ends free. Would it be best to heat it a little, then tap the strip down until it goes through relatively freely? I’m a bit wary of just using some grips to bend it back in case I snap it.

**Paging maccruiskeen**

If you fail to straighten it neatly, a backup option might be to just cut the rail shorter to get a clean edge?

Don’t heat it, just get some molegrips and have at it.

IMHO I would use his head as that is pretty hard 😉

Ah, hello Ben, I hoped you might see this. Maybe a combo of gentle mole grips action and tapping joining bar down until I can get it through?

As for cutting the rail, I don’t really have anything I’d trust to cut it square. 😕

go with the grips just ca canny

Yup – a hammer and drift would be another way to gently tap it back into shape.

What do you use them for Darcy?

am I being a bit daft but can’t you just join them at the other end where it’s not bent/out of square?

Even if you end up trimming it a bit so the saw travels smoothly off the end it won’t affect the squareness of the joint, either.

[edit] *re-reads OP* yes, I am being a bit daft.

As for cutting the rail, I don’t really have anything I’d trust to cut it square.

How deep’s the rail? Sliding mitre saw would probably do it?

And I’m talking about it as a backup option, you’re not going to make it worse even if you get it a bit off-square, and you might be able to file it perfect.

Do you need me to bring an assortment of grips etc down with me tonight or have you got something?

Nah, just the usual handcuffs, chains and clamps Stoner. 🙂

Usual “safe” word?

Usual “safe” word?

“Binners!”?

**Paging maccruiskeen**

Should have bought a Mafell 🙂

If it were me, and I hadn’t bought a mafell instead, I’d cut it rather than try and straighten it. Depends though on what material sizes you’re typically cutting as festool rails are pretty close to full ply sheet lengths/widths so you’d be compromising if you shortened them a tad. The mafell rails are longer (10ft joined) so you I could afford to loose some off the end.

As for cutting the rail, I don’t really have anything I’d trust to cut it square.

If you’ve got a mitre saw with enough cutting width some of the finer finish blades will cut aluminium as well

Shouting at it a lot and swearing..
That’s what my stepdad spent most of his time doing in his workshop when I was a kid

Use an adjustable spanner with some thin bits of wood padding the jaws so you don’t bruise the aluminium. Gentle tweaking should sort it, even the damaged outside vertical section may be do-able if you have a spanner with narrow enough jaws.

I had to bend a long piece of aluminium extrusion to fix the awning rail on my old caravan. After a good read around I annealed it using a blowtorch and managed it ok.

You probly won’t need to do that though I reckon.