Sheetmetal dreams.

[C-Bag]

when you get your fence done please share and let me know.

I’m just waiting for an adjustable lever to replace the adjustment bolt I have in mine. Who knows when I’ll need it next. It pulls off pretty easy and probably it’s not bad enough for me to replace. If I do it will be because I’ve used enough to have a clear idea what would be better. It’s really tough for me to not have any deep use experience with even the beader much less the fence. This one is ok for the first try.

 

[C-Bag]

I keep forgetting to ask Ken, have you tried a hockey puck for forming with?

 

[Ken from ontario]

I keep forgetting to ask Ken, have you tried a hockey puck for forming with?

I remember you mentioning it for forming sheet metal but to be honest I have not tried it yet. I've heard some hobbyists use a dished "tuck puck" to form a concave shape or for shrinking metal but I made one from wood .
I should remember picking up a hockey puck next time I see one, couldn't be that hard considering where I live .lol.

 

[C-Bag]

To my mind the tuck puck was to make shrinking tucks with the arbor press instead of a like a stump and a tuck hammer. The tuck puck and corresponding ball head for the arbor press or the old Manley screw press is definitely on the long range to do list. If I’m ever going to try and make body panels ala Wray S. I’m going to need to be able shrink that way instead of the Lancaster type shrinker stretcher. It shrinks bigger deeper areas and along with the EW and planishing does less damage than Lancaster shrinker/stretchers.

That’s the problem, the potential for all these tools is infinite but picking the direction is really defined by the next project. I believe the next machine should be some form of planisher. The fairly quick type is an air hammer planisher. I also LOVE that small handheld planisher made with a palm nailer. But the more complex and more flexible would be a reciprocal type where you could do planishing, shrinking and stretching.

 

[C-Bag]

Thanks to mofoshee he took some detail pics of his Oxtool handheld planisher. it looks like the stuff for hand planishing and a doable DIY.

I would like to invite all you who have participated and liked this thread to post your projects here or in your own thread. I have no iggy’s about hyjacks, contributions comments etc, more the merrier. It might also prove to the masters that there would be more than my one hand clapping if there was a sheetmetal sub.

https://www.hobby-machinist.com/attachments/ox5-jpg.360995/

 

[BWSmith]

I'll get y'all some pics of my bead roller/s. One is the ubiquitous Chinese model. The other isn't finished. It's a 1910 slitter that I'm slowly turning into another roller. It was bought,froze up solid,for a "you suck" price. Has been a slow process. It's a beast though.

But the reason for the post was a failed gauge metal template today. Took some 20g and made a really lame attempt at making it. Just didn't take it seriously enough. Wasted 20 minutes..... got frustrated and just found something else to work on.

I'll make it mucho bettero tomorrow.

 

[C-Bag]

I'll get y'all some pics of my bead roller/s. One is the ubiquitous Chinese model. The other isn't finished. It's a 1910 slitter that I'm slowly turning into another roller. It was bought,froze up solid,for a "you suck" price. Has been a slow process. It's a beast though.

But the reason for the post was a failed gauge metal template today. Took some 20g and made a really lame attempt at making it. Just didn't take it seriously enough. Wasted 20 minutes..... got frustrated and just found something else to work on.

I'll make it mucho bettero tomorrow.

Oooooooo, don’t threaten me with a good time! I’d also like to see some of the other stuff you’ve made.

I’m always having to resist another “you suck” basket case I know is going to be too much fun but a huge time suck. There was one on CL down in LA for basically nothing and it was an all cast iron frame that before they took it apart was a slotter, or some kind of HD reciprocating machine. Who knows if there was enough there to make something out of it. Luckily I just checked and it’s gone.

 

[C-Bag]

I finally got back to my powder coat booth hood. I tackled the slip roll on the 3n1 and as usual it was a learning curve that of course I got a better grasp on about the time I finished. I can see that part of the machine could use some tweaking but I got through it. Still had to do a lot of bumping and messing but it all came together and the big bonus was it fit on my repurposed table saw wing welding table perfectly. The fun thing about this project is I finally got to use so many tools like the big set of cleco’s I’ve been hauling around since ‘83. If you’ve not heard or used them they are the only way to do sheetmetal where rivets are involved. Here is the hood all cleco’d up with the test fit. i still need to make some z pieces for the base on sides to seal and to make the hood so it can slide forward while sitting on top of the booth sides. Right now it’s just sitting on the two bulkhead bases.

 

[jwmay]

This is such serendipity. I was recently offered a 30" 3 in 1 machine on wheels for $275.00. I was making a die for a press brake at work, and a guy said he had just what I needed. I was going to ask you, C-Bag, what your thoughts were on it. I found several threads already on the forum, so I didn't. My only use for now would be brackets, small pans, maybe some small artsy stuff? Anyways I'm still on the fence about it, but I'm enjoying your thread. Finding out my press was good for more than just pushing bearings and straightening bent stuff was a forehead slapping surprise. Anyways... it's neither here nor there, but thanks for broadening my horizons when it comes to metal work.

 

[C-Bag]

Thanks for the kind words jwmay. If you read up on what folks think of the 3n1 you get it has its weakness. And like many Chinese “kits” don’t expect perfection. It looks like HF has discontinued it so the other 30” are going to be 3xor 4x as much. I wonder if the guy would let you use it first? You have to be careful and not try to go outside it’s rated capacity because it will break. It is best suited for doing small thin stuff but modded like mine is it can do 22ga full length. It couldn’t shear that before. And not single one have I seen come with two lever arms and IMHO that key to keeping the 3n1 from breaking.

There is a guy who picked up a Grizzly 30” in an estate sale for $100 but didn’t realize one of the cast iron arms was broken. Grizzly has supposedly upgraded to the “Z” version(whatever that is) and sells them for $1500 and sells parts for it but says that arm is$50 but their new version won’t fit his old version. Supposedly the difference is they don’t have the bushing in the arm anymore and sounds like they did the upgrade I did to mine with some kind of bearing. But their parts books still shows the arm with the bushing.