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  #1  
Old 04-16-2022, 11:14 AM
Romantic Comedy Car Crash Romantic Comedy Car Crash is offline
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Default Shaping a toolbox topper

Hey there

This is my first real shaping project. I'm making a small cabinet type deal to sit on my toolbox. I've designed it with with some tough curves for faster learning. I don't have much tooling, and as far as knowledge goes I just have what I've learned from the DVDs. My materials are two 18g CRS quarterpanels from a G/S I was fortunate to get from my last job. My end goal is a high quality product I can use as a resume so I can do this for a living.


Tools: https://www.allmetalshaping.com/show...24&postcount=2
Back panel: https://www.allmetalshaping.com/show...25&postcount=3
Roof: https://www.allmetalshaping.com/show...26&postcount=4

Building the buck

1.jpg2.jpg3.jpg4.jpg5.jpg6.jpg
It's a standard MDF form I'm just using as a template, no hammering. Since I'm making more of an art piece than a precision part, and I'm under a time constraint, I made it with a low precision, just to keep me in the ballpark of the shape I want.
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Last edited by Romantic Comedy Car Crash; 04-16-2022 at 12:20 PM.
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  #2  
Old 04-16-2022, 11:29 AM
Romantic Comedy Car Crash Romantic Comedy Car Crash is offline
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Default Tools

Here are some of the tools I've made throughout the process:

Here's my bending jig, I stick the panel between the two 1/2 rods. They're mild and bend easily but it will work until I can get something better.
jig.jpg
I have a few pieces of bar and square stock I got for cheap and I'm glad I did, they've been invaluable for making jigs to hold things this way and that. On the back you can see a sandbag I made out of a purse according to Jere's video. I wasn't able to quickly find lead shot so I used fine white concrete sand instead. It works, but like he says, I don't know how it's supposed to work either.

One of the first things I wanted to make was a post dolly. To do this, I decided I would cut one of my premium maddox dollies in half and get two.
post1.jpg

It turned out to be much harder than expected, and after wrecking two bimetal blades I opted for the cutoff wheel instead.
post2.jpgpost3.jpg

Now it was time to weld it up. I tapered some square stock to a point and put the biggest tip I have on my midget. I could tell I wasn't getting enough heat, but when I was done it looked almost good enough to use:

post4.jpg

But the hammer shows all, it was just too thick to weld with my current equipment

post5.jpg



On another note, this grinder has an interesting design feature that really sets it apart from the competition: The air vents are positioned just right so that your palm completely covers one or the other. With gloves it must be close to an airtight seal, I'm not sure how long it can last this way.
questionable.jpg

Here's my first stump. I don't know the pedigree, the pile in my backyard wasn't labeled. I like it for supporting dollies but it's too wet to carve shapes into. On top is a smaller sandbag I made out of an old glove. The bits of MDF under it are shims to keep it level, it was cut at quite an angle.
stump.jpg

This is my first tucking fork. It's made from mild 1/4 rod, and held up for about 3 tucks before the forks turned into the grand canyon.
fork.jpg

Here's my second attempt, made after I watched Jere's other video. I used two harbor freight cold chisels. I drilled a hole straight through for the handle, so it would all be one piece and hopefully stronger that way. It's held up well, but eventually I will need to make one with a tighter gap.
fork2.jpg
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Last edited by Romantic Comedy Car Crash; 04-16-2022 at 12:18 PM.
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  #3  
Old 04-16-2022, 11:43 AM
Romantic Comedy Car Crash Romantic Comedy Car Crash is offline
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Default Forming the back panel

The first panel I made was the back. I picked it because it's just some bends and simple shrinking along one edge.

These are the reclaimed panels I'm working with:

panel1.jpg

After stripping off the paint, I had to take the bit of shape out so I was starting with a flat piece

panel2.jpg

Once it was flat, I just stuck the whole thing against the buck and marked where it had to bend.

panel3.jpg

I didn't make a paper template first because I thought it would be faster if I just started. This was a mistake. Having a straight top edge would have made the shrinking much easier and faster.

panel4.jpg

I didn't really know what I was doing with the tucks yet, and I got some nice cracking as a result. Eventually I got it fitting, but I'll have some cleanup to do. I left the trimming of the top edge for until the roof is made.
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Old 04-16-2022, 12:12 PM
Romantic Comedy Car Crash Romantic Comedy Car Crash is offline
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Default Forming the roof

Next I started on the roof piece. It has two troughs that come in from the front and taper to flat at the back.

First I made bends to put the troughs in, then I started shrinking down around the back edge:

roof1.jpg

Next I started pushing the tapered ends of the troughs away from the edge of the panel with a combination of shrinking and careful hammering

roof2.jpg

With what I had learned on the back panel, this went pretty smoothly. I hadn't made a paper template for this piece either, and there was a significant overhang towards the front where the buck slopes down. My plan was now to simply bend the whole thing down along the curve. This proved easier said than done.

roof3.jpg

I marked out some triangles along the troughs like so. The idea was to stretch in the blue areas and shrink in the red areas. This would theoretically make it do what I wanted, but after beating and heating for awhile it wasn't taking much shape at all

roof4.jpg

At this point I changed my strategy. I needed more shrinking power, so I tried to apply the tuck idea:

roof5.jpg
roof6.jpg

I hammered these divets from the backside with the idea I would hammer them out from the other side, and it would be just like a tuck but in the middle of the panel. This worked on a test piece I made but after putting these in the panel wasn't bending at all.

So I went to the other trough and put a bunch of them in, but with about the same result: no discernable movement.

roof7.jpg
roof8.jpg

I think these look really cool but they weren't moving the metal, so I stopped to make a new plan.

I decided that while it was possible to do, it was beyond my capabilities at the moment. Instead of lots of shaping, little welding, I pivoted to little shaping, lots of welding. I'm going to cut the panel where it crosses over the top crown of the buck and make the front separately.
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  #5  
Old 04-16-2022, 01:21 PM
Romantic Comedy Car Crash Romantic Comedy Car Crash is offline
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Default Sides

I've decided to make the front in 5 parts- Two sides, two reverses, one crowned panel in the middle, this time actually making templates.

The two sides went well, being simple shrinking and smoothing.
I think the middle panel won't be much trouble either, but the panels in between are tricky

front.jpgfront2.jpg

I didn't give myself much excess on this part and it's been difficult to get right where it needs to be, but it's now starting to get somewhere

reverse.jpg

Someone at my last job gave me their old files, and I made a slapper out of one of them but while trying to stretch faster I hit it too hard and snapped it

file.jpg

But now I get to make a new one and make it better than the last one. I'm going to put the bend farther in and change the profile of the contact to have a little bit of a radius

file2.jpg
Attached Images
File Type: jpg shrink.jpg (122.2 KB, 3 views)
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  #6  
Old 04-16-2022, 01:33 PM
Jaroslav Jaroslav is offline
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Rocco. Looks like you have good motivation. I had good machines and I can combine technological procedures. Good for my start.
Some findings.
1. Learn paper templates.
2. The plate must always be soft.
3. There are always more paths and none is absolute.
4. You will become a master when you make the same thing in the opposite shape.
5. Don't cooperate with idiots.
Good luck.


https://www.allmetalshaping.com/showthread.php?t=18846
https://www.allmetalshaping.com/show...t=19333&page=2
This is only was made in EW without the use of heat.
https://www.allmetalshaping.com/showthread.php?t=17904
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  #7  
Old 04-17-2022, 10:50 AM
cliffrod cliffrod is offline
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Rocco, think about what you first stated at the beginning of the thread. You're wanting resume material. Then, go back and review what you've posted from the perspective of someone who would be hiring you.. Would you be impressed enough to hire you? What would your advice be?

It looks much like what I see from aspiring carvers & sculptors who come to me for advice. They want to do the exciting end result more than anything, not the seemingly boring beginning and middle parts of the job. I advise them to slow down and learn to do each of those boring steps well first. Many times, this will enable them to do a better job at the next step, which in the end produces a more deliberate result. Good documentation of these "invisible" tasks provide excellent portfolio credentials. Even if you're not an expert, employers like to hire people who demonstrate solid basic skills because the patience and accurate dilligence to develop those basic skills is key to developing expert skills & not wasting said employer's money along the way.

The takeaway is to consider making a very good (not an "ok because it doesn't matter") buck. Then slowly go through the subsequent steps. Weld up complex shapes from properly divided pieces of less complicated shapes. Keep going, just learn to not rush to do the fun results. That boring stuff that doesn't matter really does.

fwiw- I'm still much better at making scrap metal than nicely shaped metal. But I think my bucks and preliminary work has helped my metal shaping very much.

Keep us posted.
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  #8  
Old 04-17-2022, 04:06 PM
Romantic Comedy Car Crash Romantic Comedy Car Crash is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jaroslav View Post
Learn paper templates.
Yeah, there's no time to be saved skipping this step, but I had to try. It's patterns from here on out.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jaroslav View Post
You will become a master when you make the same thing in the opposite shape.
What do you mean by this? Like a mirror or inside out?
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  #9  
Old 04-17-2022, 04:37 PM
Jaroslav Jaroslav is offline
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Rocco. Left and right side. As long as you do things to effect you do beautiful things. The problem starts with things to the exact size. The bigger problem is to do the same thing the other way around. But good news. You can use the paper template you used for the first side.
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Old 04-17-2022, 04:51 PM
Romantic Comedy Car Crash Romantic Comedy Car Crash is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cliffrod View Post
You're wanting resume material. Then, go back and review what you've posted from the perspective of someone who would be hiring you.. Would you be impressed enough to hire you? What would your advice be?
If I was judging, I'd have plenty of thoughts. If the person wasn't finished, I'd hold them until I have the whole picture.

Quote:
Originally Posted by cliffrod View Post
They want to do the exciting end result more than anything, not the seemingly boring beginning and middle parts of the job.

Even if you're not an expert, employers like to hire people who demonstrate solid basic skills

Good documentation of these "invisible" tasks provide excellent portfolio credentials.
If I found myself rushing through steps out of boredom, I would stop and consider whether doing this the rest of my life is a good idea. The truth is I'm having some of the best fun of my life, forming is like the best puzzle game ever made. I recognize I need a good foundation first, that's why I'm failing fast making as many mistakes as possible now, instead of walking into a shop and making a complete ass of myself. This way I might be half an ass instead.

I have a growing honesty folder of pictures of things I've done wrong, the idea being I can go through and share how I've learned from them. Or maybe when they see it I'll be asked to leave

Quote:
Originally Posted by cliffrod View Post
a very good (not an "ok because it doesn't matter") buck
You scared me when I read this! I went back and checked my posts, because if I had wrote that I would have said a very silly thing. But I couldn't find that sentence so I'm not sure why you put it in quotes. If that's how you interpreted "I made it with a low precision" maybe I need to go back and change the wording. If I thought a buck didn't matter I wouldn't have made one.

I custom made the buck to be appropriate for my use case. It's meant to keep the different parts in proportion to eachother, that's all. It's not made for aesthetics or extreme reproduction precision, it's just meant to hold some curves where I want them in space.
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