I've been thinking about how to make cones for lakes style headers for a while, and I'm stuck. I think hammering them from 4" stainless pipe will be hard and while I think it's possible, it won't look good with polished dented cones. Making them from sheet, mild or stainless steel is perhaps a better way, but how to roll a cone with a very small inner diameter in the small end? I don't have much in the way of tools of the trade... Any suggestions?
I extended my existing cones with these table legs from a local D.I.Y. store.Cost about £13.00 each.large end is approx 2 1/4 inch diameter.Forming an accurate cone from sheet metal is not the easiest of jobs,unless you have the right equipment.
Essex....what size do you need ? I have a new pair of cones that might work for you. They're mild steel however, SJF
Just buy a piece of stainless pipe the size and thickness you want to use. Then make a pie cut down the entire length of the pipe. Buy a large hand full of hose clamps, tighten the clamps around the pipe collapsing the pipe till the pie cut is closed and weld, grind, and polish.... Done Or just buy a 35-36 drive shaft and cut in half, paint.....done Here is one for sale $150.00 : http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showpost.php?p=4426347&postcount=1
Buying a piece of stainless tubing and doing the slice and clamp thing would probably be the simple way to do it. Check around for suppliers of stainless tubing for industrial use like breweries, dairys and food processing. They should have polished tubing and have nice polished bends available. I used to buy hundreds of feet of that stuff at a time here in the states for an apple/grape juice plant that I worked. If you can find a contractor who does the installations you can probably buy "scrap" pieces pretty reasonable. Meaning new end pieces, and maybe mistakes that you can cut and fit to your needs. <input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden">
I formed the megaphone for mine in a manner very similar to what jrblack30 suggests. The two differences were that I didn't use stainless and I didn't use hose clamps. Instead I used a piece of 3" diameter regular exhaust tubing and a bench vice that had removable pipe jaws. I removed the pipe jaws, padded the pipe with heavy welding gloves and used the vice to squeeze the pipe together. I first cut a wedge out of the pipe by computing the circumference of a 1 5/8" circle so it would match my head pipes, then cut the wedge 36" long. It really works pretty well, but it's easier with two people doing it. Go slow, be careful and use a little body hammer over a pipe mandrel to finish up. I like the idea of the hose clamps, but have never tried that myself.
To hammer cones it is easier to start with a small dia. pipe with sufficient wall thickness to allow the metal to expand as you hammer it over a mandrel, this is a lot of hard work and is very difficult to get right as well as very time consuming, if you did want to go this way consider using the hammer marks as a feature as they would be almost impossible to make disappear. If you want the smooth polished look the cones can be machine formed by a Manrel Bender. The guys to look for are mast and flagpole formers they will have mandrels close to the size and shape you require. Warning they will probably have a minimum order say 40 pieces, you may find yourself selling your excess supply of lake type headers, then again there is probably someone already doing that.
Thanks for all advice and ideas, guys! The tube, pie cut and hose clamps way sounds interesting, I'm going to try that. Of course I made a few searches before posting this, I didn't think I'd be the first one to invent home made lakes headers... The pic in my post is from cone engineering's home page, but the idea is to get it done all by my lonely self, as what's cooler than a cool part is a home made cool part. So, MANYOLCARS, how about that link?
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