My harbor freight, basic part stamper

I thought I would share this since it came out decent and was done with no fancy tools. It is limited in what you can accomplish, but for small, simple shapes it should work fine. I used a similar method to build a '51 Willys CJ tub before. I love tools, but can't afford some of the metal shaping ones. Maybe this will help others in my situation.

I used 3/4" medium density fiberboard (MDF) from Home Depot to make my form. My radius corners are pretty tight. It would have been even easier if the radius was larger. I also used my HF 20 ton press and some cheap HF body hammers.

Once I had everything cut and marked, I pressed it a few times, concentrating on the radiused corners. After that I kept the part in the form and used the hammers to shrink the tuck/folds.

I would imagine that you could glue multiple layers of MDF together to get a deeper stamp. This part took about 2 hours to do.

Good luck
Phil


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Wow. That could be used for many parts...

 

Time for Tech Week? Great entry!

 

Good job.. Looks like it worked great...

 

Fantastic! Hmmmm, I can use a custom radiator fan shroud.

 

Wow! People like you make me feel, well, stupid and unimaginative. Always blown away by those who take simple tools. combine them with creative ideas, and make things!

 

That is a very nice job of building a form die. If I can make a suggestion, you can add a ring with
the cut out of your center shape and clamp it to your bottom form.
If you use enough clamping pressure to control the sheet metal
It will "draw" with a flat flange. It will save you some time hammering
It flat again. That is what a draw ring does in a form die. controlling
the material. Again that is a great job ! Scott

 

Good to know. Thanks!

BTW this was 18 ga sheet metal.

 

Creative thinking outside the box,simple tools and a good part that is pleasing to the eye and does the job....you can't ask for more! HRP

 

Very nice work. This is the kind of thing I like to see on the HAMB,rather than a bunch of whining and bitching about every little thing.

 

Excellent! Another use for my HF 12 ton press! Thanks!

 

Cool. Did you take any extra material of the inner form to account for the sheet metal?
Or did the thickness of the blade offer enough clearance.

 

Dang I had no idea you could do something like that with MDF an a press. I'm going to have to try that, Thanks for sharing.

 

Stuff like this is why I like the hamb. Specialized jobs done with ordinary means..love it.

 

the jigsaw blade width was all that i removed.

 

I have to say that this isn't going to work for every scenario. In my case I only had two corners with compound curves. If all four corners needed to be formed into curves, I would have had a harder time.

alwaystiredlong 's suggestion would probably help. By clamping the metal in an MDF sandwich I would have probably been able to accomplish more.

If you don't have a press, you could probably use a hammer to accomplish some level of stamping. I did the jeep tub without a press:

http://www.thecj2apage.com/forums/m...-my-own-tub_topic21822_post191760.html#191760

 

Think its time to get my router out and start stamping some stuff. Never thought of doing that but now I got a million ideas. Thanks for the post.


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Just goes to show that it's not so much the quality of the tool but the person using the tool. Great job.

 

Very cool. Thanks for sharing


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Nice job !!! Now if you could copy an original 32 floor plate you would be rich!!

 

that's cool..As you show the form die really only needs to be good enough to use once.

What gauge material are you working with?

 

18 ga

 

So let me get this straight= you used form to press a shape into the metal, but what would be better would be to make a form of the outside of the shape(like a negative) and use this to press down the metal around the shape that you want, is that right?

It's late, I'm tired so I dont't think well and if I don't ask now...

Thanks for the response and your original post!

 

Either way would work, I guess.

 

Well done. I salute your ingenuity.

 

Another use for my part stamper!



In this case I clamped a piece of 1/8" plate on top of the wood to avoid all the hammering. This was suggested above. I forgot to take a photo of the clamped metal sandwich in the press. Hopefully it's self explanatory. If not let me know.


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I'd like to see a pic of it in action. If you make another part, please document it. Thanks in advance!

 

I have to do the other side. Hopefully I will remember this time.

The most difficult part is fitting/positioning the whole mess into the press.

 

That's an excellent way to get different shapes into metal. I've made cowl steer blisters (out of aluminum) using a hammer form, and it works great. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=763640 Not to hijack this great thread, but to hopefully share info. Thanks for posting this idea. Stu

 

Here's a photo of me testing on a blank piece if sheet metal.




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