i thought this might be useful.i was over a my buddy`s shop today and this is his latest inovation for bending curves without using a shrinker streacher.here is some shots of a panel he did in about 10 minutes.it took longer to change the dies than do the panel.the diamond shape was done at the same time.it seems i can only load 4 pictures at a time so here is the panel ,die pictures to follow.
here is the secret; a hard rubber bottom die which let you turn the panel as you roll the edge.the bend is not sharp and has a nice rolled edge.the die on the machine is home made on a lathe and does the bend. the other die is a regular bead die which i show on the table.the bottom hard rubber die is just the wheel of old hard rubber caster.the browser is only allowing 2 pics at time so hang ***e,more comming
while i`m at it. here is a shot of an air cleaner my buddy made from a old caddy one that had the bottom rusted right off.built for 3 twos on a flathead.
The wheels he has made are ( whether he knows it or not ) are just a copy of the wheels for a ' Jenny ' used for throwing an edge.
one last look at a roadster he built from a rusted out 1929-30 pontiac coupe.the hood orniment was cast by him as a self image and really does look like him.the steering wheel center is hand cast and the center consul(radio) is a headlight.lots of tricks.most of the car was built by hand!
no ;that was a flat piece of metal and that is how it came off the bead roller.you notice the edge is rounded and not sharp like a shrinker does. whole panel was a 15 minute job!
What do you mean the edge is rounded rather than sharp like a shrinker does? A shrinker doesn't bend edges over it shrinks metal are you using the right terms?
i guess what i should have said ;was when you bend a panel on a break and then use a shrinker-streacher; the edge of the bend is 90 degrees (sharp) where as when you use this die to do the same job ;the edge is more rounded.also you can not do a short radius curve like you can on a shrinker-streacher ,but to me it looks like a useful addition to a bead roller. i was thinking that the flowing bead that made the diamond pattern; would make nice panel stiffeners for metal interior pieces that could be left exposed.
Tipping dies and soft rollers? like the stuff in here???? http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=144995&highlight=bead+roll Nice panel btw, but theres not anything new there, sorry.
"latest inovation for bending curves without using a shrinker streacher" There are shrinker marks all over that panel and the machine in the first pic. Why are you stating the newest way not to use one? Are you confused?
it does kinda look like a skateboard wheel. is it? i would think these were too soft, but i know they make them with a wide range of "durometer" ratings. would be a great tech tip. you can buy skate-board wheels pretty cheap. a fella could buy some really hard wheels and contour them for different apps.
the idea of using a skateboard wheel is the softness, allows rolls and contours to be rounded, and wont mark up the surface. also will allow some profiles to overlap without crushing each other.
i guess Ryan should have a feature on tech week;where you have to take a lie detector test before you can post your tech article?some of that egg on your face may be hard to get off.
Skateboard wheels work really well! I have urethane skateboard wheels, one that I have used for years and one spare. Don't recall what durometer they are, but they work great! Nice work! Tim D.
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