JHOLLAND1
Titanium
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2005
- Location
- western washington state
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lubegun hydroforming
- Thread starter JHOLLAND1
- Start date
- Replies 16
- Views 3,695
Ries
Diamond
- Joined
- Mar 15, 2004
- Location
- Edison Washington USA
its cute- but you can knock out that dome in about five minutes, max, with a wooden mallet and a shot bag, and an english wheel, from steel, or aluminum, with no machining, no bolts, no tooling, and no guitar.
And if you needed hundreds, there are better ways than a vise and a grease gun.
some people just like to make things more complicated, so they feel better about themselves- its natural, I do it myself.
And if you needed hundreds, there are better ways than a vise and a grease gun.
some people just like to make things more complicated, so they feel better about themselves- its natural, I do it myself.
Ries
Diamond
- Joined
- Mar 15, 2004
- Location
- Edison Washington USA
I know a guy in Florida who is doing that too- stainless steel drum heads, about 24" diameter, with a pressure washer. Much bigger, and thicker, and more force required than that itty bitty headlight reflector.
For one little 3" dome, though, this seems like overkill.
Yabutt, restoration people do these sorts of things.
A friend of mine built a copy (I think the only copy) of a
airplane, the "Heath Baby Bullet".
And for the hubcaps, he hand carved wood patterns, and used the rubber blank
technique in a standard 20 ton shop press to make the couple he needed.
They do look nice.
Frank R
Stainless
- Joined
- Dec 18, 2009
- Location
- Dearborn, Michigan
Could he have done that with metal spinning instead?
Spyderedge
Titanium
- Joined
- Aug 28, 2013
- Location
- NY
Reminds me of a method called explosive forming where you use expanding gasses from an explosive charge to force a piece of sheet metal into a female die or form.
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Mike C.
Diamond
- Joined
- Nov 25, 2004
- Location
- Birmingham, AL
"Reminds me of a method called explosive forming where you use expanding gasses from an explosive charge to force a piece of sheet metal into a female die or form. "
That's how complex forms for the A-12s and SR-71s were formed out of titanium, but instead of gasses, it was done with shock waves underwater in a big tank.
That's how complex forms for the A-12s and SR-71s were formed out of titanium, but instead of gasses, it was done with shock waves underwater in a big tank.
There's a company downstate that bonds sheets of dis-similar metals that way,
they do it in a mine.
Scottl
Diamond
- Joined
- Nov 3, 2013
- Location
- Eastern Massachusetts, USA
You seem to have missed the point, which was to do it without a costly and space consuming english wheel. For a one-off in a garage workshop this is a very practical method, requiring only a lathe, drill press and grease gun. Since most of the grease can be reused it is also practical for small quantities of multiples.
Ries
Diamond
- Joined
- Mar 15, 2004
- Location
- Edison Washington USA
but the english wheel is already in the back room.
sorry, but I buy tools, and then I use them.
In my experience, its guys who live on checks in the mail that spend 2 days making a part like this, with a perfectly machined jig that will be useless for anything else, and then spend more time taking posed pictures and writing scripts, to make a part for a "toy".
I know some "resoration guys"- that is, the ones who do it for a living. They have tools that cost 20 to 40 times what a measly english wheel does-
Priced a Yoder hammer or an Eckold lately?
The real restoration guys use those.
anyway, a dome like this can easily be made with a shotbag, a leather faced slapper, and a very simple round stake. In about the time he drills one quarter of the holes on one side.
All cheap tools. An english wheel is nice, but not needed.
to me, the point is this guy makes something needlessly complicated, to impress himself.
woo-hoo.
Scottl
Diamond
- Joined
- Nov 3, 2013
- Location
- Eastern Massachusetts, USA
Correction: You buy tools , and then you use them to earn a living. I didn't see anything in that video to suggest that he was doing this for commercial purposes.
It is in fact a very clever way to use what you already have, and my first impression is that the tooling was made from what appeared to be a salvaged conflat flange and blank off. When these get damaged to where they no longer can seal properly they become scrap. It looks as though he drilled additional bolt holes between the existing ones and added a grease passage to the plate. Hardly "2 days" worth of work. Even the shotbag, slapper, and stake cost money to buy or time to make. While it may not suit your needs it is an interesting technique and thanks to JHOLLAND1 for sharing it. IMO it never hurts to learn additional techniques that we THINK we may never need.
Twice in a row you have decided to psychoanalyze and denigrate a guy you never met based on a brief video. What does that say about your psyche?
trevj
Titanium
- Joined
- May 17, 2005
- Location
- Interior British Columbia
I actually know the fellow in the video, I can say with some authority that he is not too worried about whether someone can do this faster/better/cheaper.
He is not restoring anything, he is making a half scale, fully operational Harley. Well, three, actually.
In reality, some folks would find reason to bitch if 50 dollar bills were falling from the sky.
Now, if the poster CAN actually make a smooth, stainless steel dome like that in less time than it took Clarence to drill the holes, well, I'd like to see the video, honestly.
Oh yeah. He has a decent little English Wheel. I have seen that too. But that wasn't the point of the video, was it?
Cheers
Trev
He is not restoring anything, he is making a half scale, fully operational Harley. Well, three, actually.
In reality, some folks would find reason to bitch if 50 dollar bills were falling from the sky.
Now, if the poster CAN actually make a smooth, stainless steel dome like that in less time than it took Clarence to drill the holes, well, I'd like to see the video, honestly.
Oh yeah. He has a decent little English Wheel. I have seen that too. But that wasn't the point of the video, was it?
Cheers
Trev
hobbyman
Hot Rolled
- Joined
- Oct 30, 2011
- Location
- Canada, BC
I saw a Rolls Royce film about making hollow compressor vanes. Just as it got interesting the narrator mentioned that operations were proprietary. It involved a furnace and inflating a tube but that was all that was revealed :'((
adammil1
Titanium
- Joined
- Mar 12, 2001
- Location
- New Haven, CT
Ries,
Could you please post a video on how to do that? I too stumbled on this video a while back and I thought wow that is cool! I need to make the reflector for a headlight on my model steam locomotive and had no idea how I would do it till I saw this video. Now I am thinking I see pipe flanges and pipe ends showing up in the scrap bin at work from time to time, usually with some pipe piece still on them. It looks like all I need to do is grab one when it appears, a quick trip on the lathe and maybe 1-2hrs later I will have my reflector. Do you think it is possible to come up to speed with wooden mallet or any other way faster? All I need is one of these pieces and I don't do much sheet metal work like this otherwise. Also another cool video I stumbled on that was linked to that one was as follows, HYDRO FORMING Copper coils using water - YouTube. Simple enough too, as the siphon tube I tried to "wind" didn't come out looking nearly as nice as his did.
I saw a video of a woman sculptor who uses compressed air to form volumetric shapes. She starts with two pieces of sheet laid on top of each other and welds around the edges but also includes a tube or pipe. The whole deal goes in the forge or furnace and when it is red hot, she applies the compressed air and blows them up like balloons. Neat stuff.
Ries
Diamond
- Joined
- Mar 15, 2004
- Location
- Edison Washington USA
Here is vid of the guy I learned from- the late great Ron Fournier. In it, he does hammer forming with shot bag, and uses slappers.
Metalshaping Hand Tools | Build Custom Parts | Using A Slapper - YouTube
I have used the same techniques to work stainless- its a bit more work, but on a tiny dome, pretty quick. I did a pair of giant cowboy boot toes from 1/8" stainless- had to do that partially hot, and it took longer- but 20 gage stainless is totally in the realm of hand hammering.
I have done some of the inflating technique- the best known practitioner is blacksmith Elizabeth Brim, who I am proud to say is a friend of mine. It would be harder to form a precisely shaped dome this way, but could probably be done. Here she is doing it.
Elizabeth Brim Steel Inflation Demo - YouTube
Metalshaping Hand Tools | Build Custom Parts | Using A Slapper - YouTube
I have used the same techniques to work stainless- its a bit more work, but on a tiny dome, pretty quick. I did a pair of giant cowboy boot toes from 1/8" stainless- had to do that partially hot, and it took longer- but 20 gage stainless is totally in the realm of hand hammering.
I have done some of the inflating technique- the best known practitioner is blacksmith Elizabeth Brim, who I am proud to say is a friend of mine. It would be harder to form a precisely shaped dome this way, but could probably be done. Here she is doing it.
Elizabeth Brim Steel Inflation Demo - YouTube
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