Ok , ive been wanting to work with sheet metal by hand. i dont have all that much money, so the fancy machines are out the door. the only machines i wanna use are my arms. i saw some mallets at eastwood ,but they seem pretty pricey .does any one have and tips on wo0rking the metal , and somewhere to get a good price on quality mallets. -Dylan
I got a set of 6 mallets for my Dad for an early fathers day present and he loves them. I got them from Dagger Tools. Price wasn't too bad. Here's a link http://www.daggertools.com/m5_view_item.html
i made my own hammers i mainly work with aluminum so i use wooden hammers most use hickory for the handles...it has a bit of flex to it then something hard for the main head of the hammer drill a hole in the head then taper the end of the hickory with a knife and tap it in there coat with linsead oil so it doesn't dry out and crack you can make any shape you want as for working with steel....its basically the same just use what you can welding bottle lids make good hammers for some things also they make a good dollie for shaping large recesses the cheap $15 sets of hammers from harbor freight and such are actually not too bad good luck with it zach
Check out www.allshops.org this is the new home site for metalshapers.com. Tons of great info there. Good Luck.
Those harbor freight kits really aren't to bad to get started with, also check your local Jr. colleges for cl***es at night. Mark
I bought a set of hammers and dollies from a kid at the shop I used to work at. He'd gone through an Auto Body program, worked in a body shop for 6 months, then came to work for us. Sold me the set for about 1/4 the value. They were brand new, but he had no use for them. As far as sheet metal work goes, I've found that a piece of old railroad iron clamped to the edge of the work bench makes one hell of a break. Doubles as a mini anvil. Somewhat crude, but it gets the job done. Point is, you don't need fancy tools to do good work. Imagination goes a long ways.
The best hammers are homemade because you can make them to fit the job at hand and cheap.You can never have to many. I too have an oxygen cap with pipe handle for really stretching things but, I personally like tinners mallets they are cheap and can be shaped with a sander. If you have a industrial supply or machine shop around you give UMHV (delrin ) a try it's easily shaped, dirt cheap and comes in many sizes. Good luck and have fun. Pool
Many people find the nice looking,and expensive, plastic tear drop mallets from Eastwood to be too light for serious metal shaping.
Metalmeet.com has some unbeleiveable metal guys that post there.A ton of tech articles,you can spend alot of time there.metalshapers at allshops.org like Odd One said is also very good.
Someone mentioned www.allshops.org for Metalshapers.org. Another one would be www.metalmeet.com You could also make a nice mallet out of an old baseball bat. So look around at some of the on-line resources and you should be able to get some good idea's.
Some others I made.Bigger and heavier than the ones from Eastwood. More pics and details in my Custom Hammer album: http://allshops.org/cgi-bin/community/communityalbums.cgi?action=openalbum&albumid=9980173670798 You can also check out our Yahoo Metalshapers Group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/metalshapers/
Hey, Don't shoot the wad on new hammers right outa the door! As pointed out above, welding bottle caps make great blocking hammers. I made a few hammers, tear drop & round from swap meet baseball bats. They are made from old dried hickory, carved and sanded to any shape I need and the handles too, are made from the same bat. The el-cheapo Hong Kong fooie tool stores sell large large nylon and rubber mallets that can be ground to any shape. S****ey Devils C.C.
Just a thought - someone should sell some of these hammers they are making! I get first dibs at the discount for the idea! Josh.
First you have to learn what the metal wants to do. You dont need a lot of tools to get started, but the ones you get need to be good quality. Some of the first metal working tools I bought were 2 Snap On Hammers, and 2 Snap On Dollies. They are still my favorites. Another one I couldn't do without is a good Rawhide Hammer. Oil it up good to make it soft... I got some good use out of a 4X12X12 piece of wood too, intill I broke it in half.
Agree with the home made hammers, and trying to get ones with a bit of weight behind them to help with the forming. BUT, I think that 2 or 3 really good hammers, and dollies (the cl***ic shapes) are necessary to doing good work. The finish on the hammer and dolly's face will be transfered to the metal, so a polished face is needed. The good feel and balance of a well made hammer helps in doing good work, and cuts down on arm fatigue when doing a lot of hammerin'. Fairmont, Martin, Snap-on, and Proto all make good hammers. Good ones won't dent and gouge as easily as the ****ty Chinese stuff, either. A nice planishing hammer helps fine-finish the metal, and a file faced ******* is good for beginners.
agreed.. they are really light! They aren't of much use on steel in my opinion if your trying to make a decent deformation. be sure to check metalmeet.com for some how-to's and such.. alot of those guys are vendors as well..
ive started on one made from a baseball bat i broke a while ago. being a ball player it happens , now i got a use for um !.
Here's some of my homemade junk. On the anvil are some T dollys. I put them in a vise and form, or straighten edges. Made from leftover wheelbarrow (now firewalls)axles The anvil is also a must, but hard to pick up cheap, Hell it's just hard to pick up! Also pictured is my BALLZ(tm) A space saver spare(free) some driveshaft(free) the front pully off my bullet nose (free) and a 3 dollar yard sale bowling ball. It's more for planishing curved panels smooth, than for shapeing, but it works great for working big round fenders The lead hammer came from my grand dad, and the lead dollys I made in a 50 cent yard sale muffin pan. I use the dollys a lot. They have a nice feel when your bumping dents. And for the really cheap, a good sized elm log. I haven't formed anything on it yet, but it feels like it should be about right
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