I have two lengths of angle iron with a few bolts down that i use as a brake, and just knock it over with a hammer to the right angle. But my fabrication does all seem to have a 'rustic' feel.
i am thinking of a full hinging one as i dont want any hammer marks on some of the panels i am looking at doing.....plus i have some box section to make....
If I still had access to the machine shop I would be designing and folding all your metal for you mate. It's rare I get the chance to get anything these days even for myself.
All the best with it though bud, it's a fair bit of work you be got there.
I have two lengths of angle iron with a few bolts down that i use as a brake, and just knock it over with a hammer to the right angle. But my fabrication does all seem to have a 'rustic' feel.
If I still had access to the machine shop I would be designing and folding all your metal for you mate. It's rare I get the chance to get anything these days even for myself.
All the best with it though bud, it's a fair bit of work you be got there.
this is mine, home made by a guy I bought a beetle off.
it's around 3' long and very very heavy duty. I've mounted it to a steel bench I had and use it all the time. As well as bending 90 degrees, I use the top edge as a form to hammer on.
2 things to consider, idealy it needs to be able to bend beyond 90 so that you can get a true right angle, and the longer you make it, the thicker the webs need to be or in the middle they will bend and you will only get a sharp bend at the edges and the middle will be radiused
I've got one of the cheapo 600mm folders & it works great!
Also got a home made 1m one I bought on eBay & it's just as good
I bought a shrinker / stretcher from frost & that's worth it's weight in gold, one of those tools that when you need it you'll wonder how you managed without!
If you go onto rods n sods garage section & follow the thread for the 37 pick up you'd be amazed at what you can do with a sheet of steel
Cheers
Kev
Oh and don't underestimate what you can do with a set of flanging pliers! I use a large pair made for metalwork for long runs and a smaller pair of "glass pliers" for everything else, then planish the edge against a square block to neaten it up.
I also use a pair of mole grips with a short piece of round bar welded across the top jaw. This gives a rounded radius.
The real beauty of this method is that you can do curved folds really neatly.
And you get to hammer things.
I like hammering
im gonna be buying a lot more gear soon,just gotta hide it from the wife:lol:
I love how he makes his own spot weld drill, and explains and shows how to do it...and I gotta find me some of that zintec metal sheet he uses too....
an utterly excellent thread,probably one of the best ive read,along with Molers build thread on here...
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Volkszone Forum
7.1M posts
80.6K members
Since 2003
A forum community dedicated to aircooled Volkswagen owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about performance, restorations, modifications, classifieds, troubleshooting, maintenance, and more!