Sheetmetal dreams.

[C-Bag]

Partly because I’m not “trained” in sheetmetal I’ve just done what I feel led to do. So there were several things I tried that I’ve not seen my hero’s do, but I was kinda stuck, so what the hey? There is a LOT of discussion on the pro sheetmetal forums about dealing with the resultant distortion when you tip and edge and especially when you run a bead in the middle of a panel. When you think about it, you’re effectively shrinking it. So most say you need to use the EW to prestretch where you are going to put the bead.

I just went for it because I tried it on scraps and couldn’t see the difference. But I also noticed the bead doesn’t leave the surface flat. So I remembered the blade I made for forming with the arbor press. I used it on the edges of the beads on both sides and that seemed to take the “oil can” out of the surface. Did it on all three beads and it really helped. The real help was the lowly hockey puck, what a boon! Glad I bought three as I can see I’m going to be using these things for all kinds of stuff! I put one on the arbor press, one on the old Manley screw press and one on the bench. I wish I would have had them when I did this copper forming. I just had a scrap of rubber. The blade on the arbor press is handy because it’s easy to change orientation to get at different parts. I’m going to have to make one for the Manley. I’ve got one of those 2” cheap tailstock chucks coming that I’m going to adapt to the Manley so I can put different size dapping dies in it. I used an 8mm dapping die to make the ends of the beads distinct.

 

[BWSmith]

Nice writing C-Bag,very enjoyable read. Followed with mucho interest.

We have a very nice hodgepodge assortment of sheet metal equipment. Always had an interest,and have been around the trade for a long time. It started getting real serious 15+ years or so ago. One of the major goals was dust collection "parts".

Very nice pro cabinet/furniture shop here but only had "storebought" pieces of DC(dust collection).As the interest grew for custom pieces,so did the tooling. Also was the auto/motorcycle situation,along with old "arn" in the general sense of restoration.

Here's an interesting pic;

H frame press got used as "ballast" for an English wheel. The box under the wheel houses tooling. On the back,vertical part of the E wheel.... is a remote,hyd cylinder that is a tubing expander. This is just it's "parking place".... although it works from there,better to bring it down to bench heights.

It's a 10T porta power that's fitted with "pull" cylinder. To the end of that is an adapted,over the counter (manual) expander assortment from evilbay. It works FANTASTIC. So well,you sorta just go find drops,to throw up on there and expand them.

 

[BWSmith]

Here's another shot. The hand pump is bolted to the top "lid" of the tooling cab. This lid,and the whole expander can be taken out in the garage and under a car if need be.

 

[jwmelvin]

Good choice. You going with a plate type or?

what is your dream sheetmetal project?

I know essentially nothing about bead rollers.

I don’t have a dream project but I could see wanting to make a vent in a car hood. I’m also working toward a pizza oven enclosure, though I planned that as fairly substantial and likely just welded pieces of 14ga stainless. I’m also working toward a coffee roaster that will need some sheet-metal parts.

 

[brino]

Great thread everyone!

Another vote for a sheet-metal work sub forum....

-brino

 

[C-Bag]

Nice writing C-Bag,very enjoyable read. Followed with mucho interest.

We have a very nice hodgepodge assortment of sheet metal equipment. Always had an interest,and have been around the trade for a long time. It started getting real serious 15+ years or so ago. One of the major goals was dust collection "parts".

Very nice pro cabinet/furniture shop here but only had "storebought" pieces of DC(dust collection).As the interest grew for custom pieces,so did the tooling. Also was the auto/motorcycle situation,along with old "arn" in the general sense of restoration.

Here's an interesting pic;

H frame press got used as "ballast" for an English wheel. The box under the wheel houses tooling. On the back,vertical part of the E wheel.... is a remote,hyd cylinder that is a tubing expander. This is just it's "parking place".... although it works from there,better to bring it down to bench heights.

It's a 10T porta power that's fitted with "pull" cylinder. To the end of that is an adapted,over the counter (manual) expander assortment from evilbay. It works FANTASTIC. So well,you sorta just go find drops,to throw up on there and expand them.

View attachment 369344

Thanks BWSmith. Funny how those off the beaten path needs lead you. I would love to see more detail of your expander. I’ve seen portapowers used and wondered about how to use them. Can they all be used in “pull”? That and being able expand tubing and pipe would be handy, especially down in the conduit range.

I got into where I needed a cyclone for my powder coat vac so I decided to make one out of stock HVAC sheetmetal. Powder coat clogs a hepa filter in a heartbeat and if it hot enough turns it solid and being cheap replacing those things was getting expensive. It was all guess and by gosh but works fantastic.

 

[C-Bag]

I know essentially nothing about bead rollers.

I don’t have a dream project but I could see wanting to make a vent in a car hood. I’m also working toward a pizza oven enclosure, though I planned that as fairly substantial and likely just welded pieces of 14ga stainless. I’m also working toward a coffee roaster that will need some sheet-metal parts.

Yeah 14ga is not what I think of as sheetmetal if I understand where you’re going with that my weapon of choice for those kinds of projects was the plasma cutter.

One of my jobs was a sub contractor making and installing conveyor belts and delivery systems for taking oranges out of the main packing house out on a spare loading dock to be regraded and packed. So there was a 20’ change in elevation from where the oranges came from down to the floor. I designed and built several like corkscrew delivery’s all with plasma with the sides being formed with a slip roll. in those type of jobs heavy construction paper is your friend to be able to make patterns to lay out how it will flow. I used a chunk of cardboard to make the pattern for the bulkheads I made.

 

[Janderso]

One of the first bucket list tools that showed up randomly on CL was a Beverly B2 throatless shear

Benmychree is selling me one. I'm looking forward to using it.
They sure make it easy to cut sheet metal

 

[C-Bag]

Benmychree is selling me one. I'm looking forward to using it.
They sure make it easy to cut sheet metal

Cool. They are a double edged sword in that you can cut any shape, but can be a challenge to cut straight and on the guide lines. I had not had much time on it until this project. Good lighting and patience are key because of the angle it cuts at.

 

[Janderso]

Cool. They are a double edged sword in that you can cut any shape, but can be a challenge to cut straight and on the guide lines. I had not had much time on it until this project. Good lighting and patience are key because of the angle it cuts at.

How do you sharpen the curved blades?