ART OF STAINED GLASS
CAME BENDER



Round Frames
The very best way to make a professional-looking round frame is to use a came-bender. Nothing else approximates the perfect circularity of the zinc; lead will always have small imperfections in the circumference, owing to small imperfections in fabrication and the soft, pliable nature of the material. Favoring lead, especially with H came manually folder into "A" came, is a very traditional, antique look that complements some glass painting quite attractively, and where the imperfections are part of the style.

However, if your project is in a more comtemporary vein, and destined to be displayed in a contemporary home, a zinc frame is indicated.

Came benders are specific to brands of came. For instance, Chicago Metallic has a came bender for its own came, that is not compatible with came from Cascade Metals - and vice versa. Check which manufacturer supplies your local supplier, or if you manufacture a lot of panels, buy the came in bulk, so you'll always be sure of a match.

Your came bender will have grooves for U-came, and grooves for H-came. In practice, U-came is the most frequent configuration to be bent, though there are people that can make doors full of bent zinc came curlicues, that make use of the H-came groove.

Although your new bender will come with instructions, they are quite simple to use, and the video below is shown so you know what you're in for.




Leading a Project With a Round Frame
The pattern in this example can be downloaded from HERE.

We are accustomed to leading project with straight edges, with the U-came abutting a wood jig. This is not possible with a round frame.

Once the came has been bent successfully to the proper curvature (this may require more than one pass through the bender to get right), it is cut in three equal sections. This is easy to measure on this pattern, because the motif is based on a threefold radial symmetry. All segments should be placed around the pattern, making sure that all three pieces together really do fit the pattern.



After the first segment is placed against the leading nails, pieces are assembled, from outside towards inside, roughly into a pie wedge, as much as the pattern and its shapes will allow.

The second segment is placed, and a second pie wedge is assembled..



The last pie wedge is assembled from inside out, unlike the other two. The third zinc came segment is the last one to be added. This is a delicate step as many glass pieces must have their edges aligned into the zinc groove, and the last segment should have its extremities very close to those of the neighboring segments.



Solder, putty and enjoy!