Just thought i`d ask you guys where to buy me a shrink / strech tool . They are pretty expensive here, so if i can get good tools in the US it would save me some money.. Then i heard of another shrink method, slapper something.. Im not sure what it is, or what it really is called. Do you have any tips for me?
Try www.eastwoodco.com They have top quality stuff and i believe they have a fair priced strecher/shrinker set. I think this is my 100th post. Yippie!!!!
These folks have the best price I've found for the shrinker/stretcher combo: http://www.aircraft-tool.com/ Jerry
what are you trying to shrink? the shrinker/stretchers you seem to be asking about are best if you need to form flanges, they won't do anything for shrinking the middle of a body panel. if you have wavy bodywork, one of john kelly's shrinking discs will work.
The Lancaster type shrinker stretchers work good for doing the edge of a panel. If you need to go deeper into a panel,then you can easily make up some tucking forks as shown in this album on Metalshapers.org http://allshops.org/cgi-bin/community/communityalbums.cgi?action=openalbum&albumid=9980203624325
Woodward Fab has a little lower prices, but I am not sure on the quality front. http://www.woodwardfab.com/sheet_metal_working_tools_2.htm
Here are some links to some John Kellys methods for tuck shrinking and using his shrinking disk. I heard that John is either in the middle of or has just moved so he may be a little busy at the moment. He has always been good at returning my emails though. The two purple links, "Tuck shrinking" and "Shrinking disk", are videos done by John Kelly. http://allshops.org/cgi-bin/community/communityalbums.cgi?action=openalbum&albumid=9980191607382 Tuck Shrinking Shrinking Disk www.ghiaspecialties.com There are also some hand tuckers that I have seen people use. They look like a T-handle with the long part of the T being two pieces of rod. The two rods are slipped over the metal that you intend to tuck and the handle is twisted to form the tuck. Search this site for more info. http://allshops.org/ Chris
If you're looking for a Lancaster shrinker / stretcher set , be careful to ask if you're getting BOTH bodies for whatever the price is, sellers advertise "Shinker/Stretcher set" , but what you're getting is one body with the shrinker dies in it, then just the other set of stretcher dies loose. You have to keep changing them in the one body you got. The cheapest (least expensive) sellers are almost as cheap for both complete tools as the gougers get for the one body & 2 jaw sets. They hope people aren't paying attention and because the price is only 50.00 difference end up buying theirs with the one body, which is really about $100.00 overpriced for the set.
Thanks for everything guys!! I am lookig for a lancaster type of shrinker first hand. But all thiese tips and tricks!! This must be the greatest board ever! Sorry if i seem stupid but i got to ask; the "tuck" method is basicly folding the metal, right? And the disc is rotated to get hot by friction? Or have i misunderstood everything? If so its not unusual..
The "tuck" method is not really folding the metal in the sense that the metal isn't folded over itself, it's just folded loosely into a wavey shape. If you watch the video above "Tuck shrinking", you will see how the metal is deformed into a loose folded shape and then it's flattened out again without any of the metal overlapping itself. This action of folding and flattening makes the metal shrink into itself. The disk rotates an creates heat on the high areas of metal. As the metal cools, it shrinks. The disk creates heat through friction. It is highly controllable due to the fact that it only heats the high spots, not the surrounding sheetmetal. Again, watch the video to see John Kelly demonstrate how it's done. The upload of the videos takes a bit of time, be patient. Chris
I tried Tuck Shrinking for the first time last week.NOT as difficult as it looks. It's a matter of forming Tucks,or Ruffles,or Puckers,and then hammering them down flat starting from the middle of the panel and working outwards without stretching the metal. With the proper sized Tucking Fork,you can reach several inches into a panel. And if you form the Tucks on the inside of the panel,you can use a flat anvil to crush them.
hi guys, this is my tucking tool and stand. i copied this design from kerry pinkerton of imperial english wheels. the cool thing about having your tucking tool on a stand is its much easier to control the making of the tuck. Ian`s right about crushing the tuck from the inside on a flat plate being better as you don`t need a ton of different radius` to do your crushing. the key to tuck shrinking is the angle of the tuck (to shallow and the tuck spreads back out giving you no shrink.), the direction of the hammer blows, and patience. tuck shrinking is a lot of work. the best explanation i found was on www.metalmeet.com . do a search on tuck shrinking.
I think i got it, guess ill have to go try it.Ì cant get the videos to work on my computer, it`s as old as the flintstones Dino. But luckyli i have an library nearby. Checking it out later. So many tools, so little time and no money to buy them! But it seems like most of them you can make yourself, so my winter sason tends to be dedicated to find a bigger garage, and fabricating tools.. Maybe i`ll be back with some pics of what i accomplished, if it works .. Thanks again everybody, but havent anybody heard of the slapping file? Maybe it was in one of my wet dreams..
You might want to spend some time on http://www.metalmeet.com those guys helped me out a TON over the past few years with building e-wheels, planishing hammers (if you want to know how to build one for under $50 let me know, it's darned easy, and WORKS!), etc. Very good people, and they are all over the states... the meet we had a few years back in Minneapolis had about 100 people show up from as far away as Seattle, and Kentucky! Good luck and take care, Ben Carlson
Slapping files don't work much. Neither do "shrinking hammers" that twist as you hit them. I'm sure that they worked in someone else's dreams, but not in reality. I've been doing some silversmith work recently, as in raising bowls and cups. It's a lot more work than you would imagine. (And annealed silver moves very, very slowly, as opposed to annealed copper.) One way to speed up the process is to use crimping, which is the same thing as tucking. One of the secrets to raising a cup (which is, after all, metals hrinking) is to use a "raising hammer" which leaves a horizontial blow. This blow doesn't move the metal much side-to-side, and makes trapping tucks easier. --Matt
I would certainly like to know how to build a planishing hammer for under $50... do you have any plans you can share?
Thats just great! Of course i want to know how to make the hammer.. Ive been to my shop now, and to my suprise, the tucking method works! Next time im going overseas i`ll sure be with you metalmeet guys, if you are going to have another gathering.. Just let me know when
low low, the european guys are talking about doing a metalmeet in england . the plans are being hashed out right now. go to metalmeet and i believe its in the catagory of international metalmeets the discusion is going on. gary
Right, those hammers sucks.. Expensive though.. What do you mean by "horisontal" blow, from which view do you see the blow? Again i feel stupid and uneducaited . Please bear with me and the language difficulties.
LOTS of examples of Planishing hammers here: http://allshops.org/cgi-bin/community/communityalbumdirectory.cgi?categoryid=9990104087800 Some high buck,some low buck. You can use a Rivet gun for power,or a cheapo Muffler Cutter. Killer made a nice one and posted it here. Search the HAMB archives for "planishing hammer". Flat upper dies are available from Yardstore.com for less than $20. Here is one I did a couple years ago: I used Delrin for the dies,as an experiment,but wouldn't recommend it. Study all the pictures you can find,and figure out how to make one for less. Any questions,just ask.
hi lowlow, i made a mistake on the discussion about a european metalmeet, the thread to find it is : go to metalmeet, go to forums, go to general sheetmetal shaping discussion, go to novice sheetmetal shapers, go to tinsmith`s tools and that is where the discussion is at. WHEW! here`s a pic of my portable planishing hammer, i have virtually no money in except i bought the good dies. if you have a lathe and a radius guage you can make your own. i`ve never tried the plastic dies, what was the thinking behind the experiment Unkl Ian ? i`m guessing no stretching just smooth planishing ? gary
this one, looks odd??? http://cgi.ebay.com/English-Wheel-P...Z7545758331QQcategoryZ633QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Some of the guys were talking about how wonderful Delrin was for all kinds of things,and I ran out of the proper size of tool steel at the same time.So instead of using mild steel,or 4140,I tried Delrin. Worked fine for a few months,eventually,the lowers mushroomed, and the uppers split.Not a major problem,just wouldn't do it again if I wanted long life.
Imagine a center line down the tuck; the hammer blows will be perpendicular lines (at a 90 degree angle) to that center line. In the above picture, it will turn the circular hammer blows into slim rectangular ones. This means that any movement of the metal will go along the length of the tuck, and will not stretch the tuck back out. Here's a diagram of a rectangular hammer blow, and the direction that the metal moves:
Deuce Rails Youre the best ever! But should i use my thin rectangular hammer, or the circular? When i tried it, i used a heavy circular hammer and welled the metal outwards to get the unwanted tuck to build on the edge of the sheet i was trying out on. But i will try it again, and have the cam with me tomorrow. Thanks again!
A round low crown hammer will work just fine, it's more a matter of proper technique than specialized tools.
Hey, LowLow asked about slapping files and shrinking...... Slapping files do work, though not as fast as some of the other methods of shrinking metal. Their most effective use is on low crowned metal that has been stretched ta hell, by collision damage or piss poor hammer and dolly work in the roughing out phase of sheet metal repair. A shrinking disc will do the same job as a slapping file, leave the metal in much better shape, surface wise, and requires less skill to use properly. A slapper, different from a slapping file in that its shape is crowned, semi- crowned or very crowned depending on the tool selected(all slappers have highly polished surfaces so as not to damage the metal being shaped) can also be used to shrink metal, but its virtue is primarly to shape metal so as not to stretch the metal. Learn to use a slapper and you'll wonder why ya bought all those silly bumping and finishing hammers. The "Tuck" method of shrinking metal is good for shrinking metal much further into the panel than the Lancaster type machines are caplable of, and if performed correctly will leave the metal much smoother than other methods. If necessary, the tuck can be clamped on each side to pervent the metal from escaping, wile pounding the tuck flat.
I have a hammer I made that uses Kraftformer dies I made a set of finger dies for shrinking It's over at my buddy's at the moment I'll go over on Monday and post some photos! As A side note: I got a call one day from a guy that said his Yoder shrinking dies weren't working...... Went over there Biggest Yoder you ever saw! Said ''Show me'' He fired this thing up and pushed a sheet a metal thru it and said ''SEE??'' '' You gotta pull it back and flatten it" told him......some days you can spend all the money. Have the trickist stuff AND just miss one detail Everything I know about bumpin metal someone taught me sometimes they taught me by screwin the whole mess up......but taught none the less Never trust anyone that won't show you atleast one trick........
The Jalopy Journal
