On Friday, January 3, 2014 11:01:35 AM UTC-6, Clare wrote:
On Fri, 3 Jan 2014 05:54:16 -0800 (PST), stryped

wrote:



I got a book at Christmas, "Professional Sheet Metal techniques". I have wanted to build a t bucket for some time. It would be cool to do it out of metal so I have been studying.



Anyway, I know what an English wheel is. I have never used one. Are they hard to use? It would be hard to justify the expense just to play with it to see If I could pick up any skill on it.



One thing I read was that the English wheel was not really used much in the United states until the 1980's. What did people do before this? Would person just build a hammerform?



I wondered if a person could weld together a metal "buck" of a T bucket, tach weld sections of sheet metal to it, then heat the metal with a rose bud tip to make the sheet metal "bend" in the proper areas so the metal would lay flat against the buck?



Again just trying to learn from you expert metalworkers.



To build a T-Bucket out of steel I would want a slip-roll former, a

planishing hammer, an english wheel, and a bead roller - as well as a

good tig welder. A rosebud torch for annealing the steel would also be

a requirement - to get rid of the work hardening. A plasma cutter

would make the job a bit easier as well. Make a wooden buck frame and

build the sheet metal around it - kinda like an old Fisher body

This is the problem, I have none of those tools and have never used them except for the torch.