Page 70 - Issue 45
P. 70

Notice how
             Sheet Metal Roller:                          the bare steel   Planishing hammer” or “English wheel”:
                                                          transmission
                 » Used to cleanly roll/radius sheet metal.   tunnel (Cone)     » Used to rapidly stretch and shape
               They slowly “stretch” the metal around     is completely   compound curves much faster & more
                                                        smooth other than
               round roller tubes.                      the beadrolls- this   accurately than a hammer & sandbag.
                                                         was done with
                                                          a sheet metal
                 » Rolling Cones: Cones are often used for   roller. While the     » The size/shape (radius) of the shaping anvil
                                                          black painted
               transmission tunnels and other odd shaped   transmission   used is the most important aspect of using
               fl oor pans, custom exhaust, etc. This can   tunnel (Cone)   either of these tools.
                                                         was done using
               be a diffi cult process, but with a sheet   a sheet metal
               metal roller, a short piece of angle iron and   break and doing     » The second most important is the direction
                                                         slow incremental
               a vise grip it can be done on your own. I    bends.        that the material is fed into the machine-
               recommend doing research on laying out a                   experiment and you will see what I mean.
               cone, and then watching a YouTube video
               on the actual rolling process- that’s how I learned.     » The time savings here is huge, but make sure
                                                                    you have a good pair of ear muffs and a decent air
             A more backyard way to do it is bending in increments   compressor for a planishing hammer.
             on a break (with tighter/closer bends on the smaller   Planishing hammer pictured page 71.
             radius side). I have also done similar process by bending
             my material over a piece of 8” PVC or
                                                                                                       Notice the
             appropriate sized round material.                                                         “stretching” of
                                                                                                       the material that
                                                                                                       is occurring in
             Shrinker/Stretcher:                                                                       this photo, which
                                                                                                       is forming a slight
               » A manual jaw type unit that                                                           curve in the 90*
               actually grabs and stretches and/or                                                     steel angle.
               shrinks the material. These are most
               often used on fl anges and parts that
               need a nice uniform curve where
               bends have already been formed.


             70     RAT ROD MAGAZINE ISSUE FORTY-FIVE



         68x71tinman.indd   70                                                                                 8/1/17   9:37 PM
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