Northern Tools has one for $189. I was thinking of getting one for yard art
that I wanted to make rounded, like ladybug bodies and geckos. God I hate
those little ****ers since Geico's oversaturation of the airwaves with them,
and his faggotty English accent.

Anyway, anyone use these? Do the air parts last? Is there a cheaper more
reliable mechanical substitute that's easy to use for and old fart? Could
one build one that worked on the gold stamp principle that just uses gravity
mainly?

Steve

On Aug 16, 4:14*pm, "SteveB" wrote:
Northern Tools has one for $189. *I was thinking of getting one for yard art
that I wanted to make rounded, like ladybug bodies and geckos. *God I hate
those little ****ers since Geico's oversaturation of the airwaves with them,
and his faggotty English accent.

Anyway, anyone use these? *Do the air parts last? *Is there a cheaper more
reliable mechanical substitute that's easy to use for and old fart? *Could
one build one that worked on the gold stamp principle that just uses gravity
mainly?

Steve

Harbor Freight has one for $100. And a couple of anvils. The local
Harbor Freight store had a small one for something like $20 or $30 ,
but it is not in the on line catalog. Looked easy to make.

Dan

On Sun, 16 Aug 2009 09:14:35 -0600, the infamous "SteveB"
scrawled the following:

Northern Tools has one for $189. I was thinking of getting one for yard art
that I wanted to make rounded, like ladybug bodies and geckos. God I hate
those little ****ers since Geico's oversaturation of the airwaves with them,
and his faggotty English accent.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=94847
$99 plus $30 for the stand.

I lost the gecko when I tuned out of the TV scene in '07. /neener


Anyway, anyone use these? Do the air parts last? Is there a cheaper more
reliable mechanical substitute that's easy to use for and old fart? Could
one build one that worked on the gold stamp principle that just uses gravity
mainly?

The air hammers are typically on sale for $5, do don't sweat the
reliability of them. Just oil 'em daily and hammer away.

--
If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the
thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power
to revoke at any moment. -- Marcus Aurelius Antoninus

"SteveB" wrote in message
...
Northern Tools has one for $189. I was thinking of getting one for yard
art that I wanted to make rounded, like ladybug bodies and geckos. God I
hate those little ****ers since Geico's oversaturation of the airwaves
with them, and his faggotty English accent.

Anyway, anyone use these? Do the air parts last? Is there a cheaper more
reliable mechanical substitute that's easy to use for and old fart? Could
one build one that worked on the gold stamp principle that just uses
gravity mainly?

Steve



years ago i saw a website where a guy was making two stroke engine expansion
chambers by cutting out the shape in two sheets of sheet metal welding them
together at the edges and and inflating them using a pressure washer. it
seemed like a whole lot easier than working the sheet metal on a planishing
hammer. the parts came out SURPRISINGLY round and well formed.
surprisingly few wrinkles, etc. i couldn't find that webpage but here's a
guy doing the same thing on youtube....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_Z3AIFSd60

there are other "hydroform" videos at youtube.

b.w.

Planishing isn't the same as sinking. Do you have some experience using
a planishing hammer for the actual shaping? My take on planishing
(which I do my hand) is that it's for smoothing out the dents left from
sinking.

Pete Stanaitis

PS I just bought one of the $20 HF models discussed in an earlier
reply. I hadn't even thought of using it as designed; I bought it for
the foot control. Maybe I should give it a shot.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SteveB wrote:
Northern Tools has one for $189. I was thinking of getting one for yard art
that I wanted to make rounded, like ladybug bodies and geckos. God I hate
those little ****ers since Geico's oversaturation of the airwaves with them,
and his faggotty English accent.

Anyway, anyone use these? Do the air parts last? Is there a cheaper more
reliable mechanical substitute that's easy to use for and old fart? Could
one build one that worked on the gold stamp principle that just uses gravity
mainly?

Steve

"William Wixon" wrote:

years ago i saw a website where a guy was making two stroke engine expansion
chambers by cutting out the shape in two sheets of sheet metal welding them
together at the edges and and inflating them using a pressure washer. it
seemed like a whole lot easier than working the sheet metal on a planishing
hammer. the parts came out SURPRISINGLY round and well formed.
surprisingly few wrinkles, etc. i couldn't find that webpage but here's a
guy doing the same thing on youtube....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_Z3AIFSd60


That was worth watching! Thanks.

William Wixon wrote:

years ago i saw a website where a guy was making two stroke engine expansion
chambers by cutting out the shape in two sheets of sheet metal welding them
together at the edges and and inflating them using a pressure washer. it
seemed like a whole lot easier than working the sheet metal on a planishing
hammer. the parts came out SURPRISINGLY round and well formed.
surprisingly few wrinkles, etc. i couldn't find that webpage but here's a
guy doing the same thing on youtube....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_Z3AIFSd60

there are other "hydroform" videos at youtube.

b.w.



Hydroforming. Works VERY well as long as you pay attention to the welds
and get the cuts correct. I use it with gas welded aluminum and TIG'd
steel. The hard part is visualizing the part when drawing that shape on
the template. You have to allow for the three dimensional forms on the
template.

--
Steve W.

"Steve W." wrote in message
...


Hydroforming. Works VERY well as long as you pay attention to the welds
and get the cuts correct. I use it with gas welded aluminum and TIG'd
steel. The hard part is visualizing the part when drawing that shape on
the template. You have to allow for the three dimensional forms on the
template.

--
Steve W.



any pics anywhere of your hydroformed gas welded aluminum items. sounds
interesting, cool.

b.w.

On Aug 16, 9:14*am, "SteveB" wrote:
Northern Tools has one for $189. *I was thinking of getting one for yard art
that I wanted to make rounded, like ladybug bodies and geckos. *God I hate
those little ****ers since Geico's oversaturation of the airwaves with them,
and his faggotty English accent.

Anyway, anyone use these? *Do the air parts last? *Is there a cheaper more
reliable mechanical substitute that's easy to use for and old fart? *Could
one build one that worked on the gold stamp principle that just uses gravity
mainly?

Steve

I've seen both models that HF sells, the benchtop item and the one
that really needs the stand. The anvils could stand more polishing,
but the pneumatic parts are pretty much the standard air hammer/chisel
units they sell for $5-20, depending on the phase of the moon. If you
get the right periodicals, they've been putting 15-20% coupons in them
lately. You can't buy just the foot-operated valve for that price.
Keep them oiled up and they'll last a long time, if they get past the
first use.

Or, you could rig up some die blocks with the 20 ton press and press
your critters out that way. Hardwood would probably work for a
limited run, assuming you don't have too thick a gauge of material and
it's not too stiff.

Stan