I'm interested in the process, on how hubcaps are made. I'm assuming, it takes positive and negative dies, pressed together with a piece of stainless of steel sheetmetal in between. I'm not clear on how that lip is formed at the bottom of the caps. How about turning them like Mooneyes does their spun aluminum caps? (obviously you can't do the Duvall caps like that) Who in the US makes hubcaps anymore? Anybody in the know? Who has done it? Let's talk PS: I'd be interested in recreating some variations of these rare hubcaps below. You get the idea, 40's style for 16" wheels.
From what I've seen from blank to finished part requires several die changes depending on the complexity and many tons of pressure.
That, and stainless doesn't like reverse curves or multiple direction changes. Too hard. in one of my past lives as a sheet metal fabricator, I developed a definite distaste for working stainless. I suppose you could build a dedicated press just for hubcap sized pieces that wouldn't be outrageously expensive. Cutting and POLISHING the tooling to the required level would be costly.
Some hubcaps are made by metal spinning https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_spinning Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Caps like that are often two piece. Inner and outer. The stainless outer skin snaps or is machined to fit a steel inside. The plus side it that you need one inner cap die and you can make several different outters to fit the inner. I would think the inner needs the more complicated bends. The outter is then just a bowl that needs to fit your inner.
Right now I'm just concerned about the outer shell, I can fit pretty much any salad bowl to a wheel with enough spare parts.
Me. ....>>> "Tech Week 2013" on Hamb. link below: Don't get too excited though, as your larger diameter caps need a different process due to total Sq inches of the cap itself.............but never just assume that it cannot be done at home. Keep thinking, that is what worked for me. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/tech-week-hydroforming-sheetmetal-parts.799252/ ..
I once "loaned" a ribbed single flipper cap to a HAMBer for his use to duplicate. Never got my cap back and never heard from him again. Good luck Casny, somebody really needs to make those Duvall swirl caps.
I worked in a junkyard in the '50's. We would peel the chrome plated brass shell off the steel inner body of the poverty caps for the scrap. (Mostly '40's vintage stuff).
I had these spun for this Delahaye I restored for Pebble Beach. The shop is near me in CA, San Fernando Valley. I have a bunch of cast offs from them, full sets. I'll take pics tomorrow and post them. They spin them, and they are amazing.
Dennis Carpenter is re making some of the Ford caps. Maybe contact the Tec dept. there and find some answers that are actually facts related to work being done today. They have been a lot of help to me on odd things in the past. Just an idea. I know the Mood disc caps are spun on a Lath using a wood buck and a long handle with a pad of some kind. I seen a article on it some 20 years ago. The Wizzard
I would love set of these spun up (Lyons?) that are held on by a screw under the stock 32-35 hubcap. I want them in 18 inch but only ever see 16 inch around. Would love to learn the process to spin them up. I know Justin B did some in 16 and Kevin Lee did some too.
Hello, When I was a senior in college, I needed several elective classes to fill up my quota of credits for graduation. One of the electives was a class called “Art Metal.” It was an art major class and we simple folk usually took it because we were told it was the most fun class in school. Boy, was it ever…the most fun class. Yes, I could have taken this class every semester for all of the years and loved every minute of it. We made all sorts of projects from jewelry to bowls, to boxes to wall decorations. One of the girls was doing a simple candy dish out of a piece of aluminum. She made the mold out of wood and clamped it into the lathe. Then with the instructor’s directions, she used a tool that looked like a long, flattened spoon to gently rub the flat aluminum circle into this rounded wooden mold. By the time she was finished, I thought I could make a spun Moon Disc for a wall decoration. It was not going to go on a car, (could be with extra tooling) but on our apartment wooden wall. So, I followed the list of prep items, got everything together and started to cut the larger aluminum disc. My wooden mold was around 12 inches across with a slight convex shape. All I had to do was to spin and shape the flat aluminum onto the wooden shape and I would have a spun aluminum copy of a Moon Disc. PRO VERSION…our version was a smooth wooden convex shape on the left with a small aluminum sheet in front (courtesy of the Douglas Aircraft Surplus Lot in Lakewood.) Jnaki It was not as simple as the candy dish because the shape was not to curve the edge up to create a lip. The wood shape was thinner as the edge of the disk was reached. I destroyed several prototypes and was going to call it a day. But, just to get a grade for a “Spun Project,” I made an acid etched piece of aluminum and spun it onto the same wooden candy dish mold. Then I made a weird lid that was spun to fit the bottom dish lip. Candy covered or open was the finished project. The whole class loved my acid etched bowl as it was full of candy for the rest of the week. So, what happened to my 12 inch spun Moon Disc? It became an 8” Moon Disc because that is what was left of the somewhat concave spinning project and a lathe cut edge. I had two finished miniature moon discs, so later on after college, the two 8 inch discs were mini wall ornaments. They were instrumental in designing two aluminum wheels for a future BMX titanium wheel design. (sorry to say, those little “Moon” discs were one of those… “if you haven’t used them in a year, out it goes…” a strong hint and command from above. So, out they went to the local dump.)
Like others have said, this is not a simple process. I own a tool and die shop in the Austin area, we primarily specialize in plastic injection, but I have built a few dies. You would be looking at a few dies for each style. A preform, form and trim. You might be able to get away from the trim die by using laser cutting for final trim. Each die would cost in the neighborhood of $10k as a WAG. So, it will add up fast and you will have to sell a lot of caps just to break even. The cap with the rib in the center would likely have to be made from brass and chrome plated. As others have said, you will not get stainless to deep draw like that. I was helping my father build dies to reproduce some rare ashtrays used in Model A A-400s when he passed away 10 years ago. We learned a lot about die making in that process. www.detailmold.com Todd
The blanking could also be done on a laser or water jet depending on volumes. The Pullmax would only be feasible for a few pieces, not larger scale production run. For prototypes, there are lots of choices like direct machining or 3D printing. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
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