Projects Overkill Shrinker-Stretcher stand

Heres one of the stipling it was a little harsh so i knocked it down with some sand paper. Its done with tungsten somehow






I believe the jaws and anvils are are hardened while the locator things they slide on are mild steel
I can take em apart if ya want more pics?
Dave Hitch

 

Looks like the surface was hit with a needle descaler.

I imagine these dies are tool steel?

 

Definately not done with a needle scaler done electically with tungsten it seems to have chunks of tungsten impregnated into the jaws. Oh it's tool Steel but it's not that hard. I think really hardstuff is like Rockwell 50 that ca hardly be cut this is not that hard by all the dings in the sides of the jaws ect that work alot better than the Lancaster style dies. I need to sens my Lancasters to have change to this style.
Dave Hitch

 

Elpolacko..................I think that finish is a "plasma spray" type finish, and then it is "knocked down flat"

We use this process to build up worn surfaces in the airplane 'bidness.................It grips well, yet does not get too agressive on the metal finish.......

 

#1 shrinker/stretcher is dutifully running. Still needs a bit of tweaking to make it perfect. So far sofa king good! If you look carefully, you can see the bodies for #2 and #3 of my robot army horde.







I will post about this job when we are done.

 

Oh and I'm already off and running on my hybrid helve/planisher hammer.

 

O.K. I dig it, but it needs a name, and I mean a good one.

 

I was thinking of calling it a PFS Hammer.

Polish Finger Smasher

or

UFTR

Upper Front Tooth Remover

 

How about "Lawrence" ? Lame but it's a good solid name!

 

wow that came out tops! what program did you use to draw it up? I have a cnc plasma at work I can use at my free will. I try to draw things in autocad but it seems to be soo time consuming I haven't figured out 3d modeling.

 

I mentioned the software in the first post, www.alibre.com and for post processing I use www.turbonest.com

Both had a bit of a learning curve. The solid modeling was the toughest but I can slog through it pretty quick now. Still learning tricks though.

 

Felt like bringing this up again.

I finally got some time to spend on the machines. I made some updates from the first one. I changed out the solid body arm for a two plate deal so I could run a HEIM joint instead of a clevis at the arm attachment. I also lightened up the pull rods and added double springs for a more positive return.





And I managed to get a few hours on the Helve before the Open House.

 

I'm liking them!!!!....................Hell for stout!

 

cool, nice job.

 

Poor man's version...Great work as always and very interested in your helve design.
Pat

 

ok ok ok.. i know you possibly have a reason but.. if you took all the time for the stand.. and it's a HELL of a nice stand... why didn't you just build your own shrinker-stretcher?
you have everything to do so and your work is tops in quality.. so... why wast time with their's?

 

That helve hammer looks like it has potential, i remember your design for it in another post and have been wondering when we'd see it.
I like your new stretcher stands, killers....can i have your old junker stand that you tossed out to make the new ones?

 

Those look killer. Just because it is functional does not mean it needs to be ugly & the eastwood stand was.

Hell of an improvement.

Ever figure out whether it would be worthwhile for you to make & sell them? Even an assemble it yourself version?

 

you may try adding a clevis instead of an arm that goes where the handle did- works much better

 

In my experience sometimes you time is worth more than reinventing the wheel. The shrinker stretcher part looks fine. He only needed the stand. Time is money.

Way to go Steve, looking good man.

 

This is just nice to see a different spin. Like the action and the alot of the pre-thought you put into the design. Looks like a tool I need in my garage.
Thanks for posting it.

 

Beautiful design and workmanship!!!! ...........inspires the rest of us to "try harder" and that's a GOOD thing ..............

Ray

 

Kinda like the Hammer scene in Pink Floyd's The Wall. Cool shit Steve!

 

Pretty simple answer, time and investment.

I am slowly converting my shop from a production fabrication shop to a custom fabrication shop. I never did any big sheetmetal jobs because I was busy building crossmember kits and frames for the classic truck community. Sheetmetal forming was always a hobby so I never invested much time or money into the tools.

I got proficient at hand shaping and now that my work is revolving around building whole cars I need to be faster at forming the sheetmetal. Functionally there is nothing wrong with the Eastwood machines, the stands just suck. I do intend on upgrading the dies in these machines as I go but for now they work and I can put more effort into my Helve and maybe a few more tools.

 

You really want that old pile of poo? Cost more to ship it than it's worth.

I am itching to do the Helve. I had an odd computer crash a few months back and lost about half of my pictures and drawings. So I am having to redesign everything that isn't pictured. Just gives me a chance to put some more improvements on it !

I have been asked about them and I have to sell them kind of high priced until I decide to go full on production. Right now I'm quoting $600.00 each without the shrink head for the locals. It literally takes a few days to build each one with all the machining and welding that goes into just one.

Not sure what you mean, I do have clevises on them?

 

Great work nice design

 

Subscribed. I was staring at our eastwood shrinker/strethcer wondering the same thing. Sure as shit if I bolt it down I'll need to move it, or(since I only have a 2.5 car garage) it'll be too close to the wall, etc... Thanks for posting the pics of your handy work. Those stands look awesome. If you don't mind me asking, did you consider modifying the original stand? Or is it simpler for you(I assume you have all the materials on hand) to just build new ones? Thanks in advance for your time.

 

Beautiful!!
Goddamn, now that's a fucking stand.

 

Wes assembled the unit within minutes of the UPS truck dropping it off. Right away we found that the pull rod was about 3" too short to actually work and the pedal height even if the pull rod was long enough made us feel like we were in high school doing hurdles!

Such a creaky POS.

Earlier this year when I shed my partner I decided to start improving my tools. It's been slow going with no working capital to buy stuff so I do what I always do, build my own. Plus, I think it helps improve my shop image a ton to potential and existing customers to see I care about my tools and therefore their cars and trucks.

Not that I'm knocking on the Harbor Freight and Eastwood stuff, but when you walk into a pro shop you kind of expect to see pro level tools.