Technical I want to “pour” a hammer form, how ? What?

Kirksite was first mentioned in post 19

 

It's already been mentioned, but if you make an epoxy/concrete female form, & can seal things up, hydraulic water pressure should work well to form parts, esp since you want multiples. & at least that part should be cheap. IIRC, Detroit Speed used that method to form a whole lot of parts - complex & not. Think there're a few vids on youtube? Otherwise, a similar epoxy/concrete mix that is used to pour homemade lathes/countertops/sculptures/etc should work.
Hope you post on this - it's interesting. .
Also, somewhere I came across a "tech" article, where a guy used a male/female press/form w/the raised-letter areas made out of hardened bondo(script for an early-style tailgate panel). Used a good sized garage-press, & after lots of clamping, pressed in small segments till the whole thing was finished. At least the pic in the mag of the finished tailgate looked good. Sounds improbable, but I can kinda see it working, maybe.
Marcus...

 

like a cold call.

 

Not intentionally .......But seriously I'm always interested in seeing better ways to make parts, so I hope it works well for your parts.

 

This is really interesting stuff.

 

Have you considered an industrial epoxy grout? Look for one used for heavy machinery , turbines, industrial engines and compressors , just make sure you use a very good release agent or your part will be forever married to the grout. These grouts are very tough.

 

When I was working on airplanes and needed to make a pannel mold; I think the material we used was Kirksite, like lead but melted at a very low temperature. It's been 60 years since I've thought of that job and I don't know how to spell Kirksite just guessing.

 

I used just a bagged concrete, the whole bag and pressed the contour into it. let it dry over the weekend. it didn't last but a few blows when it started to come apart.

 

I would look at Polymer Polyester Concrete (PCC), such as Kwikbond. The compressive strength is over 4000 psi. We spec’d it on a project and it is quite durable. Haven’t cast anything with it so you’d have to experiment.

 

I’m kinda striking out here.

 

Non shrink grout. AKA machinery grout. https://www.usspec.com/media/filer_...9e15-c0b136bb656c/guide_to_us_spec_grouts.pdf

 

Would a male and female hardwood buck work ??

Lay your sheet metal on one or the other and sandwhich the sheet metal between them

Lower a car or something on the top buck ??

I have set up some lathes and mills using a special grout but it would still chip on the edges

Ricky.

 

Tried it. Chipped broke and cracked.

 

31Vicky did you ever find something that will work?

 

The truth is the only way to produce "lots and lots" of identical steel parts like quarter panels is with a set of drop hammer dies. To make the situation even worse, if the panel has lots of loft, reversals of shape, such as the transition from fender opening to wheel-well, or "stylelines" like the band that changes width as it goes from door opening to tail panel, that part cannot be made on one set of dies but requires a series of dies to form and refine the various details.

 

Foundry at work used to use ZAMAC for some drop hammer dies. Lead-Zinc- and few other ingredients https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zamak Not to high a melting point but hard, if you broke a piece of it it looked like cast iron. . Also ZERABIN [I think] used to fill pipes for bending may work to a certain extent.

 

Kind of, a few things.
There’s A 2 part epoxy, mix with sand for volume and I can’t break it. But it’s hard to set up a pour, sets in 3 minutes and 3-4” gets hot enough to start a fire. Toughest shit I’ve ever seen, but sticky as hell, burns up mold releasing stuff. 30 ton press and nothing.
A low temp thermo plastic that’s incredibly resilient. Shore D hardness equals a hard hat.
It’s hard but flimsy if that makes any sense, the shape and detail is great but needs some stiff backing
I’m going to try a 16lb density foam. Just showed up the other day. Saw a video of it and the guy whacked it pretty good with a BF ball peen H and could dent it or break it.

 

What is the name of the 2 part epoxy you are using?