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  #21  
Old 01-23-2021, 09:00 PM
mark g mark g is offline
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I was thinking you could also split the halves again on the lateral line that runs from the gill cover to tail so the air hammer could get up inside to shape after the welding (or at least tacking) is done. You could really do some fine tuning that way.
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Last edited by mark g; 01-25-2021 at 09:57 PM.
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  #22  
Old 01-25-2021, 05:52 PM
jcarpenter jcarpenter is offline
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mark g

I almost spent as much on the dies for the air powered hammer as the hammer itself. So I got the standard 3 piece, roughing, soft roughing, shrink for steel, flange for steel, small reverse, 4 piece flat dies, and a large upper. And the #2 and #3 air motors.

I can shrink a bowl but my accuracy for shrink placement isn't very good. I'm learning though. Only had the hammer for a couple of months.

Just read up on snarling irons. Another tech to subdue. Sigh.

Don't understand the geometry of your comment about lateral line from the gill cover to tail. Can you re-explain? Thanks.
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  #23  
Old 01-25-2021, 06:25 PM
Marc Bourget Marc Bourget is offline
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In the interest of "Know thy Subject"



The lateral line on a fish is a part of fish anatomical structure that senses pressure. It usually runs down the mid-line of the fish. Picture a school of fish, all changing direction at same time.
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  #24  
Old 01-25-2021, 06:43 PM
jcarpenter jcarpenter is offline
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Thanks Marc! Not geometry,....... biology!
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  #25  
Old 01-25-2021, 07:24 PM
mark g mark g is offline
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John,
In the images above, I broke up the forms of these creatures along natural lines to add interest to them, but also to give me freedom in how to approach making the form. If you wanted, you might break up your fish form along natural lines to make the fabbing a little easier. Also, you can hide seams under overlapping parts that may reflect color changes of the fish or just your own interpretation of something you see in a fish.





The feathers on the back of this merganser are plug welded in place. They don't conceal a weld line, but they certainly could...
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Last edited by mark g; 01-25-2021 at 09:47 PM.
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  #26  
Old 01-27-2021, 04:37 PM
jcarpenter jcarpenter is offline
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mark g: Thanks for posting the pictures. After I got over how beautiful those pieces are I could see what your are saying about having the form aid the construction.


I feel like a first grader watching a Phd graduation. I have a huge vacuum of skill just at forming and assembling a blob. I am going to go back and make circular bowls and weld pairs of them together. Then in a few weeks (months?) I 'll try asymmetric shapes like a teardrop. Then maybe fish bodies again. A little over my head right now I think.


All I can say is that it is a damn good thing I'm enjoying this.
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  #27  
Old 01-28-2021, 12:07 PM
mark g mark g is offline
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Hi John,

I hope that my postings weren't in any way discouraging or overly confusing. My enthusiasm overshadows my ability to simplify, sometimes.

Here are a few basic things that I've found to be helpful.

The edges of a circular bowl shape will always lay flat on the table if you push down hard enough on the edges. As you push north and south down, east and west will rise up in reaction and vice versa. You may have to over-adjust (bend) a piece enough by hand or over a suitably shaped object to make it stay.

An elliptical bowl will react similarly, but eventually the pointier ends of the ellipse will suspend the bowl off the table. It would take reshaping or trimming off the pointier ends or un-shaping the middle of the bowl to get the edges down to the table again.
Saddle shapes react differently. When you press down on north and south, east and west follow downward.

If you hammer up more shape into a dish than you want, all is not lost; you can hammer it back down by supporting the metal well from underneath, with a softish support flatter than the dish's crown, or maybe an unsolid support like a shot bag, and knocking it down from the top with a flat faced striking tool.

When the metal is pressed between two objects like a hammer and dolly, or two air hammer dies!, the object with the least contact area to the metal tends to affect the greater change, so when you want to knock the metal back down, support it well from underneath and just tap it back down. If you were to use anything other than a flat faced striking tool, you risk inverting the crown or creating other interesting wrinkled effects that might only be useful in a different situation!

If this is helpful, I have more. Good luck, and thanks for your compliment on my work.
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  #28  
Old 01-28-2021, 05:42 PM
jcarpenter jcarpenter is offline
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mark g: Nah, I'm good. Just need to do some (hah! a lot!) basic shaping and welding to get my skills to the point where further advice would be useful. Too easy to let my head be where it wants to be instead of where it needs to be. Appreciate your help.
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  #29  
Old 02-11-2021, 04:23 PM
jcarpenter jcarpenter is offline
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Playing with simple metalshaping. Getting my motor skills up. A couple of MC fenders, some teardrop shapes, and a couple of hemispheres. All steel except for the wide fender. LOL.



Happy Face.jpg
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