Re-shaping alloy mudguard ???

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g5wqian
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Posts: 220
Joined: Wed Nov 18, 2015 7:43 am
Location: wiltshire
Location: near swindon wilts

Re: Re-shaping alloy mudguard ???

Post by g5wqian »

various tools can be used according to what you need to .

piece of flat wood , piece of wood which is dished out , leather sandbag is one of the best tools .

egg shaped wooden mallet in a couple of sizes .

shrinking dolly if required but i use an old large flat file to tap flat on the plate to shrink it and then after rub it down flat with something .

if alloy is hard and you need to anneal it youll need to rub a bar of soap over the alloy area your heating and then heat with blowlamp till soap turns brown and then cool with water to make it soft , only problem with heating it up is that the material might warp or change shape , especially if its being welded .

other tools would be in the form of metal working tools that fit into a swage block , if you were at school back in the 60s or 70s and did metalwork classes etc you might have seen the small swage block they fitted to the wooden benches which held one size of tooling , these are good to get and then the various coppersmith tools to fit them .

you could use a planishing hammer which has one square and one round end which are flat but shaped accordingly to get into corners or curved corners etc , there are also shrinking hammers which have crossed lines like the shrinking dolly has .

many old guys adapted or made their own tools and if you are fortunate to get about at sales or have a large circle of freinds you might find these kinds of tools in all nooks and crannies .

if you have a look at pete williams making an alloy racing tank by hand on youtube , he has a vast knowledge of working by hand and finishing off thin alloy , a superbly skilled man , maybe you could contact him and he might help you out .

hope you get it sorted .
regards
ian
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