During the planning stages of our father/son project ,we decided we wanted the aviation 'look' with flared holes & rivets etc ,but without the exspence of purchasing high dollar tools for the job. This is how we done the job,which I stress ,anyone can do this,just practice & take ya time. The first step is purchase a good hole saw set, the avantages of using this method is that you have a wider choice of different sizes you can work with...... The TOOL . I used a small length of bar stock ,approx 6mm wide ,where the arrow is I drilled a small hole to the depth of the flare you need,then just cut with a hacksawdown the middle to the hole,Simple ! I place a kink in the tool as to make it easy to use in some situations. Try to drill the holes ,held nice & firm in a vise on a drill press,use slow speed,plus cutting oil Once hole is cut , place tool over the edge and simply just work around the hole,taking small 'bites' at a time, once you master this you can achieve the fininsh flare in two pass's
If you find that the flare needs a tidy up ,simple just run a drill attached mini flapper disc around the flare ,this works real good,as you can see from the pic ,its worn to the shape of the flare. Heres what can be done with this simple low cost method.
Also , if you are like me ,and your folder is sometimes to short to fold a lip etc , just use that simple tool I showed in the above pics. Just run it along the edge ,and use a hammer & dolly either to tidy it up at 90degrees or hammer flat.......
Not sure to be honest,just what I have lying around, Ive tried many different gauges , just need more effort with a heavy gauge ,but the end result is the same.
Nice! Bonus Tip: To keep a hole saw from walking and ruining a perfectly straight line of holes; 1) use the hole saw to cut a bunch of pucks out of a piece of plywood 2) use a straight-edge to align all of the pucks on the panel you want to cut 3) screw the pucks to the sheet metal 4) cut all the holes with the hole saw piloting on the pucks Brian
Interesting! I've never had problem with holesaws walking, atleast when I care. Just make sure you've got a good pilot hole and you should be fine! Kuztom, Nice work and thanks for sharing!
Now that's my idea of a tech tip...fantastic. I just wish I would have know that before I drilled 18 holes in my seat backs & 20 in my truck bed rails. I'm still going to try it on some scrap. Maybe the next project. How many practice holes did you bevel before you did it on a finished piece? Your work looks very high quality.
sorry, O/T, but, did you know from which car those tailights comes ? I have a pair of the same, but any idea of the ID...thanks
Honest , no practice holes just got in it ,its that easy ,there was no going back .Take ya time ,dont rush it and you will be Ok , Let me know how you get on. Kuztom
I use a similar tool that I built to flare large radius stuff. Here's a really nice set of radiused punches. They are expensive, but do a great job. http://www.irvansmith.com/scart/hole-punchflare-p-436.html Kevin Ooltewah Speed Shop
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