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  #1  
Old 09-13-2019, 06:21 PM
antalog antalog is offline
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Default Smoothing out some ripples

I recently purchased an old delta band saw that was in much need of a restoration. At some point it looks like someone pried open the top wheel covers. Along with that, the top front cover has some odd rippling along the top crown.

Was looking to get some advice on an approach to help smooth this out. Its relatively thick gauge. Maybe 18-16ga? Ill have to double check.







Thanks in advance for any help!
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Old 09-13-2019, 11:52 PM
Mr fixit Mr fixit is offline
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Hi PDX Neighbor,

I see in picture #2 a spoon and a hammer. I would start with those or a dolly the shape of the curve and lightly start smoothing out the creases. those kind of look like tucking marks possibly to create the curve of the cover, so you might want to go slow with the smoothing so that you don't stretch it too much and change the shape a lot.
I'm a beginner too ,so take my suggestion only as that, a suggestion since most of what I've learned I have read about and asked here, not to say there isn't smart folks here, it's more me, maybe not the sharpest tool in the shed and I learn from doing which is still in the early stages.

Good luck and do ask questions. Let us know how it comes out, as we all learn from each others experiences.

TX
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  #3  
Old 09-14-2019, 10:15 AM
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Joe Hartson Joe Hartson is offline
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The marks do appear to be from a shrinker. What you want to do is shrink the high sections first and then smooth the surface out once the highs are removed. Hammering hard on hard will stretch, hammering hard on soft can shrink.

Shape a piece of hard wood, hard plastic, nylon or similar to make a dolly that will fit the inside shape of the cover. It doesn't have to be big, you will move it along as you shrink the high spots.

Start at the outside, open edge and work toward the closed end. Do one high spot, ridge at a time. You don't have to hammer real hard, start by hammering down the outer edge to lock the end and work your way back to the closed end.

Use the SEARCH function on the site and look for tuck shrinking. It will help explain what you need to do.

This will take some trial and error to determine how hard you need to hammer to cause the metal to flow into itself. Once you see the metal flatten out you can go to a steel dolly that has the correct shape to match the inside of the cover and start smoothing with light hammer hits.

Good luck with the project.
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Old 09-14-2019, 04:39 PM
antalog antalog is offline
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Thanks for the input guys!
That does make sense, that they would be shrink / tuck marks. I assume someone in its history bent the hell out of the covers and attempted to shrink the front one back into shape.

Turns out it is 14ga.

Joe, I took your advice a cut a piece of wood into the inside radius and started working the highs back down. I also used the cutoff piece as an outside radius dolly and did some light work going that way.



Started making good progress


And got to about here



I stopped there because I noticed there are some pretty small but deep impressions and Im not sure they best way to pull them out. So this is where Ive stopped.


I should also mention I used a rasp file to smooth the surface a bit.
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Old 09-14-2019, 10:19 PM
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You have made a lot of progress and it is looking very good. Can you feel the bumps on the inside of the panel? If so, you can either hammer on the inside with a curved face hammer against a steel dolly on the outside or hold a steel dolly on the the inside of the panel on top of the bump and hammer on the outside with a flat face hammer. In the second process the dolly will push the bumps up as you tap around and on top of the low sections.

If you can't feel the bumps on the inside it will be very hard to remove the marks, gouges. You might just want to use some filler and sand. This was done at the factory when the machine was built.
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Old 09-16-2019, 04:20 PM
antalog antalog is offline
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Thanks for the info. I tried to do as you suggested with the different hammer/dolly arrangements and I was able to get some of the more deeper impressions a little less deep but I started to get concerned that I was stretching the material more than raising those spots on the outside?
I could be wrong but I was having to work the material pretty hard to start seeing results. Id hate to distort the metal much more cause of some holes I could ultimately fill...

Maybe Ill just stop while Im ahead here? The indents aren't super deep now and Im up for filing off a bit more material even though it is getting thinner.






On another note, I would love to get some insight on the back side piece as well.
The top portion has been pulled back and the top ridge/bead has been pretty well deformed.









I can see bending the panel back into its basic shape and maybe refining that outer most curve but again any suggestions on the best approach here would be very helpful.
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Old 09-16-2019, 07:19 PM
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Travis, I took a look at my Delta and the main thing I see on that back plate is the need to protect the edge bead where it is good, and restoring it where it looks distorted. Otherwise you are doing great. The mounting holes should shrink back to size when they are hammered into the same plane, and they take large washers under the knobs anyway.
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Old 09-16-2019, 07:50 PM
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You need to work on the panel to get the back flat again. Don't worry about how the sides, flange, moves as the panel is flattened. Once it is flat you can clamp the panel to a flat surface and then reshape the outside flange to fit the cover. I think it will be self evident what needs to be done on the flange once the back is flat.
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Old 09-16-2019, 08:31 PM
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Those old Delta saws had a tendency to warp the back cover when the blades were over tightened. I have 3 of them and I have fixed 2 of the three that were not as bad as yours. My backs needed the work and the covers were fine. That 14 gauge will make you earn your supper.
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