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Thread: working with sheet metal

  1. #11
    Rankenphile
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    Default Re: working with sheet metal

    Great guide, Slug. It's great to see these how-to guides starting to pop up. I'll make sure to include this one in the Features.

    I've been working on a painting guide for a few months, but lack of space to properly paint and low temperatures have kept me from finishing it for the time being. Hopefully I'll have a chance to get it up soon, but it doesn't look like I'll get a chance until the end of summer. *shrug*

  2. #12
    Woodworking unicycling bodybuilder tybrenis's Avatar
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    Default Re: working with sheet metal

    Lol Rankenphile, I would love to publish it once done! I am currently fixing up a few of these guides as well as writing some on polycarbonate, acrylics, airbrushing, and routing. Once done, the collection will be great.
    Typo:
    Quote Originally Posted by DaveW View Post
    Jon has altered his cock to compensate.

  3. #13
    Life is like an analogy...
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    Default Re: working with sheet metal

    beading is the name of today's game. im going to talk about it, and a few tools that would come in handy for it.

    first off, the tools that you may want to use:

    bead roller- this is a specialized tool that is made specifically to put beads in metal. its basically two rollers that you crank to roll a bead, simple as that. i dont really have a lot of experience with bead rollers because i like doing beads by hand, and when i was learning, everyone else was being pansies and sticking to easy non power tool stuff (bead rolling is slightly easier than most things and less stressful too). so if you have a bead roller, use it. if not, dont worry.

    regular old hammer- yes, you can actually use a regular old hammer for beading, but you wont be hitting the metal with it, because that would be stupid.

    "chisel"- i say chisel but what i mean is anything with a wedge shape. it could be a piece of hardwood or a cold chisel, or plastic. dont actually use a wood chisel because you'll ruin it.

    so lets get to how you bead things.

    if you use a bead roller, you can probably figure most of it out on your own. i would assume that if you actually own a bead roller that you have already figured it out. in case you have no clue though, its not too hard. just sketch out a line that you would like to have raised or indented into the metal, clamp down the rollers along the line (you can pick reference points for yourself because this isnt as exacting as other things ive talked about), and then you just need to take your time and roll along the metal and keep everything lined up properly. pretty soon, you'll have a bead no problem.

    if you like to do things by hand, get out your hammer and "chisel", and bring out your soft hammering surface again. once again, you'll want to draw lines where you want the bead to go, but from that point, similarities to the bead roller method end. now what you want to do is line up your chisel so its on the line you drew out, and pound the metal down to a point where you think it looks good. just go along your line in that fashion until you get to the end. it really shouldnt be too hard, and the only hassle you may have is that it may turn out a bit lumpy, but it can be fixed with a few extra (careful) taps with the chisel, and it can be avoided altogether once you've had enough practice at it.

    so thats beading in a nutshell. simple enough, right?

    in other news, i think ill announce here that ive managed to get a hold of some sheet aluminum. 1mm thick, 50" long and about 30" wide, and it was only $18 canadian. so i start work on my zanzibar mod tomorrow, and my worklog should be opening up in a few days. ill be showing off some metalwork because im making my own case-shaped skeleton to start with. a more visual way for some of you to learn. ill also provide ample explanation with the pictures.

    thats what's happening in the near future. ill also do a speel about cutting sheet metal either tomorrow night or the night after. keep your eyes peeled for my worklog, ill make it interesting.


    Quote Originally Posted by Slug Toy
    im pretty sure i was your car, but i was into mah music and didnt think too much of it

  4. #14
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    Default Re: working with sheet metal

    Another trick to doing beads is to bend the metal at a 90 degree angle and then place a piece of wire in the angle and pound the metal around it. Its best to use a cross pien or a tack hammer.

    Roper & whitney is a good company to get some of these tools from. I have a couple of punches from them.
    Centaur Forge has good supplies for black smithing and
    Rio Grande is an excellent supplier for smaller metal working tools and supplies.

    I spent 3 years in college doing hollow ware and spent a year apprenticing with 2 armorers who build working copies of medieval armor (one of them became an armorer for Colonial Williamsburg. I've also Forge welded a couple of damascus knife blades.

    Metal smithing is a huge field and for most modders the requirements are pretty small. They need a things to cut (straight and curved), things to bend (sharp and soft angles) and things to fasten (rivets, bolts, solder, weld) These skills all fall under the heading of "Metal Fabrication" like air duct work. Most modders don't have a lot of money or room so comming up with inexpensive solutions is desirable. For instance you can make a nice bending brake from some angle irons, hinges and a couple clamps. Its cheap and doesn't take up a lot of room.

    I think the English Wheel and the Power Hammer are serious overkill for case modding. Considering that a Kuhn Air hammer runs from $9,000 - $20,000 US and is really designed for hot forging barstock. While a Fournier English Wheel can cost $5,800 US and weights nearly a ton. These tools along with the molds, stakes and anvils are more for forging and free form work which requires a lot more skill, money and room to do properly.

    Lets not scare off the would-be metal workers before they've begun.

  5. #15
    Rankenphile
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    Default Re: working with sheet metal

    Here's a question for those of us who may not know some of the terminology - what exactly is a bead, and in what applications would we want to put one in a piece of sheet metal?

  6. #16
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    Default Re: working with sheet metal

    A bead is a rolled edge. Similar to the rim of a can lid. it adds stifness to a flat sheet and can help give the illusion that the metal is much thicker.

    I have a raidmax 268FS open in front of me right now.
    Its similar to This 268WSP If you look carefully at the drive racks you will see what looks like a thick steel rod on edges of the vertical plate. Those are actually hollow rolled edges of the plate to stiffen up the rack - this is a type of bead. The same thing can be acomplished by making a right angle using a bending brake - it just won't look as finished. A bead can also be a corrugation in the middle of a panel (like the "X" that was stamped on old Jerry gas cans)

  7. #17
    Rankenphile
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    Default Re: working with sheet metal

    Excellent explanation. Thank you.

  8. #18
    Life is like an analogy...
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    Default Re: working with sheet metal

    ok its time for another addition. but frist i want to say its good to see the thread finally coming to life with some other peoples' ideas and questions. keep it rolling.

    i said that i would have a segment about cutting up either yesterday or the day before, so im a bit late. i hurt my back at work on wednesday so bear with me here, i was bed ridden yesterday. needless to say, my worklog is postponed a bit. but on to cutting.

    more tool ideas:

    dremel- you've all probably heard of this one. it is to us what a hammer is to a carpenter, or what scissors are to a barber. its a must-have tool for cutting and many other tasks. as a side note that is related, you should have the proper ends for the dremel. you need cutting wheels to cut things (they look kind of like sandpaper disks) and a carbide bit of any sort is handy to have too.

    angle grinder- this is usually seen in automotive shops, and is used to sand metal most of the time. it will also cut metal perfectly fine.

    jigsaw- you see this more in woodwork, but it can cut metal too. you just need the right kind of blades (metal blades).

    band saw- if you're lucky enough to have one of these in your shop, it will cut non ferrous metals no problem. it too was originally meant for woodwork though.

    table saw- same deal with this as the band saw. if you have one, you're lucky. its meant for woodwork, but you can cut metal. two warnings though. do NOT cut thin metal on this. do NOT cut anything other than aluminum. you should only use it to cut 1/4" thick (or thicker) aluminum. if you cut thin sheet metal, the saw will grab it and shoot it back at you and cause all kinds of hell. if you use anything other than aluminum, there is a good chance it will be too dense and will gum everything up and maybe cause the blade to shatter from heat. generally i would not suggest using this tool unless you have been using it for years.

    now, in terms of actual methods for cutting, i actually havent come up with explanations that suit. these tools (except the table saw) are the types of things that you really dont need training for. i figured out how to use them by trial and error and error and error... and then a success. im hoping that many of you either know how to use the tools i mentioned, or are smart enough to improvise. if this isnt the case though, or if you are prone to accidents, you may want to sit it out before you hurt yourself.

    one thing i will say about cutting is that it wont be pretty when you're just starting out. you will have jagged edges and you'll probably slip a few times. practice makes perfect. dont worry about ugly things though, they can be fixed with your carbide dremel bit. you can try to avoid screwing up your good metal by cutting outside the lines a bit, so you will screwed up metal that you wont be needing. other than that, i dont really know what to say about cutting. oh ya, take your time as always.

    thats it, im out of things to say right now. the next segment is fastening (cevinzol reminded me). until then, dont hurt your back.


    Quote Originally Posted by Slug Toy
    im pretty sure i was your car, but i was into mah music and didnt think too much of it

  9. #19
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    Default Re: working with sheet metal

    Sorry to hear about you back Slug. I now how it feels. I strained my lower back years ago and couldn't move for days. When your back is injured you hurt from head to toe.
    maybe cause the blade to shatter from heat
    An important thing to remember about metal cutting is that it can really heat up the cutting tool. Steel blades and bits are tempered (Rockwell Scale). That means they are heated till red hot then quickly cooled (quenched) to harden them. Hardend steel is very brittle but good for holding a cutting edge like blades, drill bits and files. To remove the brittleness the steel is then tempered. That is it is heated to a specific temperature and then allowed to cool. In the old days the color that the steel reached as it was heating determined the temper. Now days its all temperature controlled.

    The thing is if you heat up a tool (through friction) you can remove the tools temper and it wont cut as well. If you see the tip of you brill bit start to turn straw colored, then blueish or start to smoke then you're taking the temper out and might as well get a new bit.

    A good thing to have on hand is a lubricant. Jewlers use stuff called "bur life" on their flex shaft bits, which is mostly wax. This stuff also helps keep aluminum from gumming up the bits. For saw blades and brill bits you can use a little oil.

  10. #20
    Life is like an analogy...
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    Default Re: working with sheet metal

    ok, its time to FASTEN your seatbelts, or armchairbelts, or couchbelts. whatever you're sitting on, just strap yourself in. its time to talk about more sheet metal crap.

    fastening is a mildly interesting aspect of sheet metal work that i honestly dont have 100% experience in. i say this because i dont have access to a welder. i stick with rivets and folds to keep my metal together. no soldering though, thats just a pain.

    so ill first cover new tools as i always do.

    drill/drillpress- i never mentioned this lowly tool yet, but it really is a lifesaver sometimes. this will be for the purpose of drilling holes so they can be tapped for screws or bolts, or so that rivets can be put in place.

    tapper thing-a-majig- i really dont remember what its called, maybe someone can help me out here. its a little tool that you twist in after you drill a hole, and it makes threads so you can then put in screws or bolts.

    pop rivetter- very handy for putting rivets in sheet metal. a handheld tool that you squeeze to rivet things together. not much else to it.

    so now ill cover rivetting, and screwing/bolting.

    riveting is probably the easier of the two. all you need to do is line up the pieces of metal you want to fasten and drill a hole where you want to fasten them. then once you've drilled the hole, you can pop rivet it together there isnt too much to figure out, and not much can go wrong either.

    now, putting in screws and bolts is a little more involved. once again, you line up the pieces and drill the holes, but this time you might want to clamp the pieces together so you can tap them easier. once the holes are drilled, get out your tapping thing-a-majig and something to lubricate. soap or cooking oil will work, but there are special oils for tapping that probably work better. so now you've got your tapping thing, your drilled and clamped metal, and your lube. put some lube on the tapping thing, and on the hole, and then start twisting the tapping thing into the hole. it should bite in and start working with a little fiddling and a few tries (this kind of stuff likes to go crooked a lot). it will probably be tough because you're trying to twist something into a hole that is too big to fit. its always tough when i do it. so then once you've tapped your metal, clean everything off and you're done! just screw or bolt it together.

    im not going to cover welding mostly because ive forgotten a lot of it since i havent welded for about a year. also, its one of those things where if you have a welder, you'll know how to do it, and if you dont have a welder, you might as well forget about it and just rivet your metal or have it welded by someone else. dont go out and buy a welder for the sake of a computer case. it takes a while to learn that stuff, and in my experience it involves a few electrocutions and burns that really arent worth it. at the same rate, if you DO have a welder to fool around with, and you know what you're doing, go for it.

    perhaps someone else can add a bit about welding in here if they have the time and knowledge. it might not be necessary for the reasons i just put forth though. up to you guys.

    so im running out of things to talk about here. my back is getting to the point where i can resume work on my case (and worklog, hooray) so ill probably have my mind on other things as well. if you guys can think of anything else, put it in here, or ask me to think about it. other than that, im going to slowly muddle around with my mod and random metal work ideas to be posted.


    Quote Originally Posted by Slug Toy
    im pretty sure i was your car, but i was into mah music and didnt think too much of it

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