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Posted by Stupendous Man on May 26, 2008, 12:44 am
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I intend to learn a new skill and shape aluminum panels to make a motorcycle
fairing. I have seen a skilled pro make them, and have aquirred a beating
bag and have an antique hand-held English wheel.
Anyone experienced with panel beating enough to know if the easier to obtain
3003 Aluminum is as good a choice as 1100 series? Is .060 to thick?
Is an air plannishing hammer a substitite for a Wheel, or something to be
used with it?
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Posted by Bob on May 26, 2008, 2:01 am
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wrote:
>I intend to learn a new skill and shape aluminum panels to make a motorcycle
>fairing. I have seen a skilled pro make them, and have aquirred a beating
>bag and have an antique hand-held English wheel.
>Anyone experienced with panel beating enough to know if the easier to obtain
>3003 Aluminum is as good a choice as 1100 series? Is .060 to thick?
>Is an air plannishing hammer a substitite for a Wheel, or something to be
>used with it?
1. 3003 is better than 1100, forming will work-harden 3003, but 1100
is dead soft and doesn't work-harden as much as any of the alloys.
2. .060 is way too thick, consider .032 - .040 with appropriate
bracing and reinforcement.
3. A wheel can shape and planish, shaping with a hammer designed for
planishing is an exercise in frustration. It's also much easier to
screw up with power....................DAMHIKT
Check out metalshapers.org for lots of helpful info,
and tinmantech.com, Ron Covell's site, and Williams Lowbuck Tools site
for tool info.
Bob
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Posted by Tim Wescott on May 26, 2008, 12:57 pm
Please log in for more thread options On Sun, 25 May 2008 21:44:45 -0700, Stupendous Man wrote:
> I intend to learn a new skill and shape aluminum panels to make a
> motorcycle fairing. I have seen a skilled pro make them, and have
> aquirred a beating bag and have an antique hand-held English wheel.
> Anyone experienced with panel beating enough to know if the easier to
> obtain 3003 Aluminum is as good a choice as 1100 series? Is .060 to
> thick? Is an air plannishing hammer a substitite for a Wheel, or
> something to be used with it?
* Everything I know comes from common sense and from "Ultimate Sheet
Metal Fabrication" by Timothy Remus. I haven't actually done this, so
take what I say with a grain of salt. I suggest you get a copy of the
book - it's published by "Wolfgang Publications, PO Box 10, Scandia, MN,
55073". Powell's Books has it in stock: http://www.powells.com/
partner/30696/biblio/0964135892.
* Ron Covell sells books & videos, and gives classes. He advertises in
the back pages of the more custom- and DIY-oriented rodding magazines. I
think he also sells stand-up English wheels, when you get tired of your
little one.
* I can't imagine using a hand-held English wheel -- those suckers are
_big_, and I think they're big for a reason.
* As "bob" mentioned (probably from experience), power tools can get you
into trouble quick. I'd suggest learning how to do it by hand first,
then turn on the power. In fact, I'd suggest that before you go to an
air planishing hammer you use a hand planishing hammer to get to know the
process.
* 0.063 would be appropriate for really soft aluminum. The book I
mention insists that you want to stick with dead soft aluminum and
aluminum-killed steel -- these will make your work easy (and it's what
I'll start with to learn), but they bend easily and will not be as
durable as harder materials.
* If you use aluminum that work hardens, learn to anneal it. My dad used
to do body work in aluminum and brass, and he would anneal sheet metal by
smoking it up with an acetylene-only flame, then adjusting for a neutral
flame and playing the middle part of the flame (2-3" from the tip) over
the metal until the soot is gone.
--
Tim Wescott
Control systems and communications consulting
http://www.wescottdesign.com
Need to learn how to apply control theory in your embedded system?
"Applied Control Theory for Embedded Systems" by Tim Wescott
Elsevier/Newnes, http://www.wescottdesign.com/actfes/actfes.html
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Posted by David Billington on May 28, 2008, 2:03 pm
Please log in for more thread options Tim Wescott wrote:
> On Sun, 25 May 2008 21:44:45 -0700, Stupendous Man wrote:
>
>
>> I intend to learn a new skill and shape aluminum panels to make a
>> motorcycle fairing. I have seen a skilled pro make them, and have
>> aquirred a beating bag and have an antique hand-held English wheel.
>> Anyone experienced with panel beating enough to know if the easier to
>> obtain 3003 Aluminum is as good a choice as 1100 series? Is .060 to
>> thick? Is an air plannishing hammer a substitite for a Wheel, or
>> something to be used with it?
>>
>
> * Everything I know comes from common sense and from "Ultimate Sheet
> Metal Fabrication" by Timothy Remus. I haven't actually done this, so
> take what I say with a grain of salt. I suggest you get a copy of the
> book - it's published by "Wolfgang Publications, PO Box 10, Scandia, MN,
> 55073". Powell's Books has it in stock: http://www.powells.com/
> partner/30696/biblio/0964135892.
>
> * Ron Covell sells books & videos, and gives classes. He advertises in
> the back pages of the more custom- and DIY-oriented rodding magazines. I
> think he also sells stand-up English wheels, when you get tired of your
> little one.
>
> * I can't imagine using a hand-held English wheel -- those suckers are
> _big_, and I think they're big for a reason.
>
They are sized according to part requirements. Recently in the UK a
couple of small English Wheels came up on ebay that were intended for
making prosthetic limbs. They were maybe 18" long and 6" high, that was
overall, the working opening was smaller.
> * As "bob" mentioned (probably from experience), power tools can get you
> into trouble quick. I'd suggest learning how to do it by hand first,
> then turn on the power. In fact, I'd suggest that before you go to an
> air planishing hammer you use a hand planishing hammer to get to know the
> process.
>
> * 0.063 would be appropriate for really soft aluminum. The book I
> mention insists that you want to stick with dead soft aluminum and
> aluminum-killed steel -- these will make your work easy (and it's what
> I'll start with to learn), but they bend easily and will not be as
> durable as harder materials.
>
> * If you use aluminum that work hardens, learn to anneal it. My dad used
> to do body work in aluminum and brass, and he would anneal sheet metal by
> smoking it up with an acetylene-only flame, then adjusting for a neutral
> flame and playing the middle part of the flame (2-3" from the tip) over
> the metal until the soot is gone.
>
>
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Posted by T.Alan Kraus on May 26, 2008, 1:01 pm
Please log in for more thread options Stupendous Man wrote:
> I intend to learn a new skill and shape aluminum panels to make a
> motorcycle fairing. I have seen a skilled pro make them, and have
> aquirred a beating bag and have an antique hand-held English wheel.
> Anyone experienced with panel beating enough to know if the easier to
> obtain 3003 Aluminum is as good a choice as 1100 series? Is .060 to thick?
> Is an air plannishing hammer a substitite for a Wheel, or something to
> be used with it?
Check out: www.salinasboys.com
Cole Foster is one of the best at it.
cheers
T.Alan
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>fairing. I have seen a skilled pro make them, and have aquirred a beating
>bag and have an antique hand-held English wheel.
>Anyone experienced with panel beating enough to know if the easier to obtain
>3003 Aluminum is as good a choice as 1100 series? Is .060 to thick?
>Is an air plannishing hammer a substitite for a Wheel, or something to be
>used with it?