On Sat, 30 Jul 2005 10:33:50 -0700, Eric R Snow
wrote:


This would be an expensive item to have made one off. But you could
save yourself some money by making the two halves yourself and ahving
the thing finished. I bet the thickness of the sheet will be pretty
this to keep wieght down. If so, you can fashion out of a hard wood
like maple a pattern that is a copy of the inside contour. Clapm a
peice of SS to the block and use a another piece of maple to push the
SS sheet so that it formes itself to the block. Do this by hitting the
stick of wood while it rests against the sheet to be formed. Start on
the flat and move down around the edges and if done carefully by not
triying to bend the sheet all at once you shoud be able to form the SS
sheet so that it fits the form tightly. I've done this with copper,
aluminum, silver, and mild steel. Stainless Steel is harder than any
of these materials but depending on how far the metal is deformed you
shoud be able to get to fit the compound curves in the corners. That
is if the corners are indeed rounded.
ERS

I think it might be a lot easier if darts were cut out for the
corners. Then form the metal as Eric suggests, weld and grind the
rounded corners. Much less shrinking required this way.