How To Form And Shape Sheet Metal

Cut it bend it shrink it and stretch it.

How to form and shape sheet metal. With a combination of these manipulations you can create anything from flat sheet and you. After all there are only four things you can do to metal. Mark a bend line and place the sheet metal on the edge of your bench. A sheet metal disc is rotated at high speeds while rollers press the sheet against a tool called a mandrel to form the shape of the desired part.

Next put your wooden or metal form blocks in the vice and clamp your sheet of metal between the forms. How to form and shape sheet metal for competition custom and restoration use by ron fournier paperback 30 00 in stock. Hydraulic die forming is somewhat similar to masonite die forming. Examples include cookware hubcaps satellite dishes rocket nose cones and musical instruments.

Create curves in the steel by using a hammer and form or a mechanical roller machine if you have one. Spun metal parts have a rotationally symmetric hollow shape such as a cylinder cone or hemisphere. Finally bend the sheet up by hand to the angle desired. Some of the more interesting combinations use a soft top die and a hard bottom one.

Numerous forming and folding dies are available for bead rollers. If you want a sharp 90 bend tap along the crease with a mallet. If your sheet metal is long ask a friend to stabilize the part hanging out from the form blocks so it doesn t affect the bend. Clamp the wood on top of the metal to the workbench.

Rolling the sheet back and forth by hand curves and thins the metal as you guide it into the shape you want. Next place the wood parallel and slightly behind the bending line. Hand operated bead rollers like this one form beads and ribs into sheet metal. Hydraulic die forming is quicker and lends itself more to duplicating formed art or other production.

In both sheet metal is sunk or pressed into a die.