Hello from Wisconsin

[Stout]

Hi everyone, my name is Ken. I enjoy working on vintage bikes and just general fabrication. I am joining this site to find some help with flow forming (and just general fabrication info). I recently purchased a 4x rivet gun and have been trying to form .080 5052. I can form it with a hammer but the rivet gun seems to do nothing. Maybe the metal is too thick... I haven't bought the tools from Tinmann tech yet; trying to avoid paying $130 for something I can turn up in the lathe.

Anyway, thanks for the site, I hope to learn a lot!

[HEATNBEAT]

Hi and welcome Ken!

[Steve_Greenway]

Ken, I'm no expert on flow forming, but your material seems both pretty thick and pretty hard. Maybe try a little 3003 0.050 and anneal it first. Not sure what you are making, so this may not be strong enough, but at least you'll know if your problem is the tools or the material.

[Stout]

Thanks for the advice Steve. I don't have a lot of options in my area for getting material so 5052 was all that was available. I believe I can anneal 5052 can't I? I was going to try today but I need a new gauge for my torch, so it'll have to wait a couple days.

Thanks again,
Ken

[Steve_Greenway]

Ken, I have not shaped 5052 so I cannot speak from experience. I've welded 5052, but nothing where I had to anneal. According to TinManTech it can be annealed. http://www.tinmantech.com/html/alumi..._continued.php

Not sure I can be much more help on this topic.

[Kerry Pinkerton]

It can be annealed with the traditional soot and burn the soot off approach. However, it will work harden quickly and require re-annealing frequently if you are doing much shape.

I'm surprised that you cannot get 3003 where you are. To my knowledge it should be available most anywhere. Huntsville, Al is not exactly a mecca of metal suppliers but I can get 3003 from at least 3 sources. It's not usually in stock but I can get it in a day or so.

What are you making that you need .080 for? I have Kent's flow forming tools. I'm not terribly impressed with them. One ruptured and turned liquid while working .063 3003. I've had considerable luck using UHMW for dies in a 4X rivet gun by cutting off a chisel and drilling a hole into the UHMW then shaping whatever shape you want in the UHMW. VERY durable and tough stuff.

[David Gardiner]

Hello Ken, welcome to the site!. I have made tools in the same way a Kerry discribed for forming steel, but I made them from mild steel, works fine. You can use steel tools on aluminium.

David

[Stout]

Awesome! glad someone else has luck with doing this; that gives me some hope. I'm making aluminum side panniers for my XR650L Honda. I wanted to give some shape to the front of them instead of just square boxes like you can get anywhere. I'm only trying to form the very front, probably 1 and a half inches deep that I will weld to the sides.

I probably could' have asked them to order 3003 for me, but I've had trouble ordering stuff from them before. The only local metal company makes products for farms, like gates and feeder wagons. So when you ask them to order anything thin or that could bend they believe it'll never show up to their door without being bent beyond recognition. I guess next time I'll just make a trip to Green Bay or Milwaukee...

Thanks again for the advice!

[HMCFab9]

Hi, from Brillion, Wisconsin.
Where are you getting your steel supplies from? Have you talked to Schuette south of Manitowoc? I usually get my stuff from SI in DePere.

[Torhino]

I also made my own tools but used a little different method. I bought a bunch of air chisels at a tool sale. I then cut off the tips and welded some cheap sockets onto the end of them that were slightly smaller in diameter than the replaceable soft face hammers inserts from NAPA. I then chucked up the hammer faces in my trusty Shop Smith and turned them down until they fit in the sockets. Then I put the chisel in my air chisel and seated the hammer face in the socket.

It looks ghetto but works great for what I do.