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I do a little woodworking and am kicking around the idea of making my own branding iron. I've done some casting in the past, but don't really have the facilities to do anything heavy duty. Is it possible to bend some steel with just a bernzo torch and some pliers? Is this heresy to speak of such things in the metalworking thread, or is there an easy way that I could do a little metalworking on a budget?
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Oct 28, 2008 17:24
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SmokeyXIII posted:If you use plain steel thats going to be hot enough to get it red hot for sure. At least for whatever thickness you plan on bending with pliers. I should really get a vise and mount it to my workbench, though, right?
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Oct 28, 2008 20:29
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Hey neat, I used to program a copper to copper brazing robot for HVAC refrigerant headers. We were propylene/oxygen, and it was a beast to get the timing right to get it hot enough to braze but not burn a hole through. We had to scrap anything with a hole in it, as a braze-over would blow out in the 600 psi pressure test. We burst tested some of my assemblies to 2000 psi. Those were the days.
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Oct 14, 2010 16:06
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Ambrose Burnside posted:I wanna make a brand. I've been tossing around how to do it- linotype punch cast and used while still hot, chased by hand in a brass block, paying for some CNC nerds or Shapeways to make it- but I think I've settled on a better way I can do myself. Etching. Transfer the image to a block of metal in an ink that also functions as a resist, touch up any thin/bare patches that aren't supposed to be bare, and etch. The problem with etching is that it'll creep under your "stencil." You need the relief to be about 1/16" deep, which is hard to do with etching, I hear. Any shallower and the heat from the recessed part will radiate and burn the [wood] where it wasn't supposed to. I can take pics if you need me to. I ended up making mine out of 360 Brass with a dremel and cutting disc and 45 minutes. But mine is a straight line and also I am cheap. I heat it on a flat-top hotplate for about 8 minutes, grab it with some pliers, and go to town.
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Jun 21, 2012 15:59
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I would do it in parts and then assemble it. You don't want your Large Blank Space to radiate and scorch, also you won't have to scrap the whole thing when you inevitably screw up your url. Also remember to do everything mirrored, unlike my first time. I have some 1.25"x3/8" brass I could send you to experiment, I had to buy a foot of it and only needed 2 inches. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000H9L9OK/ref=wms_ohs_product I also don't know poo poo, but I've done this with a dremel before with some success.
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Jun 22, 2012 17:24
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Ambrose Burnside posted:It depends on how much money people throw at me I guess!! Aiming low, hopin' high~ Cut Brooklyn video mini-documentary thing: http://vimeo.com/31455885 I'm sure everyone has seen this, but I was surprised by the belt sanders he's using and how he's using them. Man oh man I love this video.
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Aug 1, 2012 20:03
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I have a 10inch by 10foot sheet of 20 gauge sheet metal. I have a ton of wood tools and a 4.5" grinder. I basically need to shear across the short side. Is a cutoff saw my best/cheapest option? I've used one in the past, but only for square stock.
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Aug 21, 2012 03:48
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Brekelefuw posted:In fact, here are more pictures of the inlays/buttons I have been making for my trumpets. Jesus this is awesome. GUYS! I am cutting handsaw blades out of spring steel with an angle grinder. It's not going well. It's hard to stay straight. I've gotten a guy at a sheet metal shop to shear them for me, but he always leaves score marks, and his shear blade has a nick in it that shows up on every blade. I would rather have control of this process. I bought a guide from Harbor Freight to go on my grinder with a cutting wheel, but it's flimsy and it walks. I'm on 21 gauge spring steel, cutting 36" straight lines. I can build a jig to hold the blanks and guide a blade, but I'm having a hard time figuring out what tool I need to be guiding. I have a 48"x6" belt sander that's helped smooth some of these out some, but it's still imperfect. I have a woodworking shop, so not many of my tools really translate here. I need to make about 25 of these cuts.
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Jun 7, 2013 02:19
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Tiger's Eye
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AbsentMindedWelder posted:I would use a tool as show below with a guide that is tall enough off the work piece so you can rest the guard against it as you cut. You're my hero. Air tools hadn't crossed my mind. Here I am looking at some dumbshit zipsaw for $100. We're OK with rotary tools from HF, just not the discs, right?
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Jun 7, 2013 04:29
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Thanks again for the tips,  oil.
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Jun 7, 2013 04:52
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Guys! I want to bend 200+ pieces of 1/4" round steel into this shape. I have a butane torch, a hand bender, and a Harbor Freight benchtop bender. I've also made a jig out of 1/4" plate and 2" pipe and my lovely welder with the idea to heat the rod and "wrap" it around, but I've been getting bad springback. The HF bender is hard to get the 3 bends on the same plane, and the hand bender takes a while, but is easy enough to get the shape. Does anybody have any experience on this? So far I've sunk $100 on the project, would like to make the next $100 actually solve the problem. 
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Oct 24, 2013 02:33
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ductonius posted:A combination of your bench top bender and the jig. Using the bench top bender, start with the top bend and get that exactly the angle/radius you want. Put it on the jig (the two legs should now be exactly tangent to the pipes) and clamp the wire where it touches all three pipes. Bend the legs cold; over bend to get the angle you want. Start with a piece of wire longer than you need and chop the legs off at the end. Goodness it sounds so easy when you say it. I'll make channels for it to fit perfectly in the jig and some hinged arms to bend them straight. Awesome, thanks for showing me what I somehow couldn't see!
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Oct 24, 2013 03:56
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I need to punch a ton of 3/8" holes in 18ga spring steel. I've got a drill press, but I've broken countless bits. I've bought the sheetmetal stepped bits and dulled 10 of those. I've bought a hand puncher, but it isn't strong enough, or maybe I'm not strong enough. I've been making the holes, but the attrition to my tools has been hell. And it takes forever. Is this a job for benchtop punch? How do the dies for that work? Or can I get an arbor press plus something else and make this work? Is there something else?
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Jan 28, 2015 13:35
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Hu Fa Ted posted:This: http://www.americanmachinetools.com/tonnage_punch_hole.htm if I am reading it right says for a 3/8" hole in high carbon steel you need 18 tons to punch a hole. I think that's out of the realm of your average arbor press. You probably wouldn't want to punch holes all day on a machine that was only rated max 18-20 tons so you'll want some headroom I'd think. A die for this is gonna be spendy too: I think if I take it back to 20g and 5/16" hole I'm getting 1.44 tons, which seems sorta do-able. I might have been running my drill too fast, and I've tried every bit I can get my hands on and they just dull immediately. What RPM would you run this thing at? As slow as possible? If doesn't chip all that well, it usually just kind of deforms. Thanks for the help!
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Jan 28, 2015 19:23
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ReelBigLizard posted:For spring steel you want HSSCO (Cobalt alloy) bits, M35-grade is good, M42 is better. Yeah the problem is that they're not in the same spot on every piece. Makes for a tough build. Thanks for the bit tips!
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Jan 28, 2015 22:40
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oxbrain posted:I'd go as slow as your drill press will go. 200-300 rpm would be a good spot. https://www.grizzly.com/products/G7943 This is what I have, working with, but I usually use it for wood, and I set up my garbage ryobi for metal work. I think the Ryobi is set at 600rpm or somtehing, but I know the Grizz gets down super slow. I'll come back with a trip report in a few weeks and we'll see how it went. I'll also back it with some Oak, that's a good call for sure.
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Jan 29, 2015 04:31
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Karia posted:Drilling such thin sheet with a relatively big drill is going to be hard, it'll just bend and if you punch through it won't make a full hole, the bit'll catch the sharp edges and drag your tool down and the part up, potentially throwing it. Not fun. One thing you could try is taping the sheet down to a sacrificial block so that it'll be more rigid and you can actually get a full hole. We use double sided carpet tape, and while I haven't tried it for this application, it should work. Alternatively just clamp it down to a sacrificial block right by your cut. Closing the loop on this drilling into spring steel question. 320rpm with backing board and fresh bit and we were making long spirals like it was butter. Thanks for the tips dudes!
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Mar 11, 2015 02:56
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I'm trying to bend 1/4" 304 Stainless round rod into a half-circle with 3" legs and a 5.5" radius. I built this thing, but I built it to be the exact radius and boy howdy did I get some springback, so the legs ended up 14" apart. Do I build another one with a smaller die radius, or is the springback related to a looseness in the setup? Is there another way to do this that would be better? Anybody know a CNC bending shop that would make 1000 of these? 
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Jul 17, 2015 15:25
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I tested with cold rolled first and that's what gave me the 14" diameter test run. Just picked up some 304 and holy poo poo this springback is out of control. BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD AGAIN. Maybe galv is where i need to be. Or Aluminum.
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Jul 17, 2015 18:59
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Strength shouldn't be an issue, there will be a very slight load, they're mostly decorative. I stupidly thought this was going to be simple.
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Jul 17, 2015 19:13
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It needs to hold it's form pretty well and feel solid like a consumer good. And not rust to hell. Aluminum is absolutely on the table and I just ordered some test pieces from McMaster. Will pick up some tubing too. My gut says to build it with plywood but I do everything in plywood and I think this thing needs to have some clean metal on it.
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Jul 17, 2015 20:28
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| # ¿ May 12, 2024 04:16 |
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The prototype was spraypainted mild steel and sorta worked OK, was just hoping to take a step out of the process. If Aluminum doesn't bend right we'll go back to the first option.
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Jul 17, 2015 21:51
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