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rolling sheet metal what tool?

10K views 12 replies 6 participants last post by  timothale 
#1 ·
theres a tool I saw somewhere can't remember where but you can take a flat piece of say 16 gauge sheet metal & roll it through it & it would come out looking like a C like to get one to try to make customs motorcycle fenders.Does aanyone have an idea of what Im talking about?I think I saw it in a Eastwood catalog&then today @ harborfreight I thought I saw one but had the kiddos with me&it was too hard to get what was on my list let alone look@it.I'm buying a English wheel here soon wanna try my hand@ some metal work so figure the tool in question would help.So if you have a idea of what Im talking about any info would be appreciated.Thanks fellas
 
#3 ·
bead roller ?

Lazze has bead roller dies that will do one side of a fender at a time. Ron Covell also has dies . I saw a pict of a machine from the 20's that would make curved rounded edge old car fenders in one pass. join the metal working forums, Metalmeet, allmetal shaping. etc. check out david gardiner from the UK. metal shaping with simple hand tools. a lot of different tools and ways to do the job. Kirkham uses stretch dies to make their Cobra panels. Check out all of Lazze's free Utube video's. he also sells dvd's of the longer instructions.
 
#11 ·
Lazze has bead roller dies that will do one side of a fender at a time. Ron Covell also has dies . I saw a pict of a machine from the 20's that would make curved rounded edge old car fenders in one pass. join the metal working forums, Metalmeet, allmetal shaping. etc. check out david gardiner from the UK. metal shaping with simple hand tools. a lot of different tools and ways to do the job. Kirkham uses stretch dies to make their Cobra panels. Check out all of Lazze's free Utube video's. he also sells dvd's of the longer instructions.
Yep. Lazze's the man. Tipping dies I think they're called. Seems like some simple bushings can make the die shift around so it will be like a lazze machine. Metal church(youtube) also shows a simple way to make tanks. Can't wait to get my feet wet. I was planning on selling my Stang to get these tools but I just got another raise and back full time so I'll get my Bailey bead roller soon. I have to!!! I simply called for a quote and they sent me a hat and catalog so that goes a long way with me.

Anywho, a good thing to check out for fenders is a deep throat shrinker. It's the tool of choice for lazze. Lots of guys out there knock the shrinkers and seem to want to do it the old fashion way, which is very respectable, but as a guy that has neighbors I'd take Lazze's way. When it comes down to making money OR just doing it as a hobby the deep throat shrinker and Lazze's way makes more sense to at least me. No huge machines pissing off neighbors.
 
#6 ·
metal forming

slitting and welding is to be used as the last resort. study up on the metal working forums. And the FREE utube video's . get a tree stump and hollow it out, learn how to stretch the center, learn how to tuck shrink the edges. use the E wheel to smoothe things out. I went to a Covell 2 day metal shaping class. I was amazed how rough the blank looked when he first started forming it. I had always tried to work slowley into the final shape, Covell just really beat into a rough shape quickly with a shot bag and hammer then he ran it thru the E wheel and he smoothed it out. find an old bowling ball to use for a shaping dolly. A set of home made thumb nail dies in a home made power hammer fixed stroke machine can really speed things up for shrinking . you can roll your metal using a piece of pipe,or a welding bottle, clamp between 2 X 4's Etc.
 
#7 ·
You can also make curves shapes "U" using your E wheel with a special attachment.....a racing slick from a go cart...you replace the wheel with the slick and depending how much air is in the tire dectates how much roll you get... I made a very quick,basic roller but the rollers are fixed and you bend the metal over them once you adjust them to the curve you want...I'd love to have an electric slip roller You can even make tapperd funnels like tranny tunnels in seconds...
 

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#8 ·
home made roller

if you go the mytractorforum.com...look at the home made roller that jdcrawler made. Home made sheet metal roller - MyTractorForum.com - The Friendliest Tractor Forum and Best Place for Tractor Information
it has gear and chain drive for ALL THREE rollers. it will take a while to figure out how it works. I hava some rollers from a newspaper printing press, and a lot of old iron in obsolete farm machinery, I won't have to buy many new parts, (I still don't have the mini pulmax machine finished from the old stapler that was used to make boxes for 50 # of potatoes.
 
#10 ·
Here is a link to my "Cheap Ast Sheet Metal Bender on Home Made Tools... I built this for free, basically and it does a good job on the thinner stuff. I have bent shorter sections of 18ga with it but it's all done by hand so there is no "mechanism" to figure out.
Cheap Ast sheet metal bender
 
#12 ·
bead roller

I bought a Harbor freight bead roller 6 or 7 years ago and followed suggestions on Metalmeet, added more angle iron to stiffen it. A $ 50 HF atv winch to power it. then a quick release and hand crank for adjustments. I pulled it apart this year and the shafts were gauled in the Bearing blocks. I drilled - tapped and added grease zerks. that should be done if they are not lubed.I bought an Orange roller from Reids to use for a skate wheel. I got a 22 MM browning hub and pulley from Burdens surplus center, to use for a tipping die. I bought a HF shrinker- stretcher floor model for $ 30. the dies leave teeth marks on the metal. Lazze has tips on how to polish and adjust the shrinker for better operation. Some one on metal meet makes stippled dies that don't leave teeth marks for about $ 100. A marschant shrinker has an adjuster so you can push the pedal all the way to the floor to get just a little bit of consistant shrink. I have been thinking about putting an adjustment screw on the HF shrinker to work the same. A mini pulmax type machine is the best to do shrinking deeper on a panel, using thumbnail dies.
 
#13 ·
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