Warbird Information Exchange

This is for a Corsair project, an FG-1D belonging to the Warbird Heritage Foundation.

Yeah, I still use an array of hammers and slappers as well.

_________________
"There are old pilots and bold pilots but few old, bold pilots."

Here is another small part needed for the project, just a leading edge reinforcement rib on the upper inlet opening. It is a fairly tight radius, less than 1 3/4", .025" "0"



So, I made a form block, again from PVC plate and shimmed two pieces with aluminum sheet to get the correct thickness. By the way, I radius all my tools using a common router with carbide round over bits. Works great even on aluminum. I then made my blank over length in order to fasten it too the form on each end.



I then formed each side using a rawhide mallet. Once formed, I could remove from the block and trim to proper length.







These will require heat treating before installation.

_________________
"There are old pilots and bold pilots but few old, bold pilots."

Very nice work Scott! I'm surprised you were able to bend the flanges on the small radius part using 2024-0 without getting puckers. I'm assuming you didn't have to aneal the part midway through forming? You obviously have a deft hand! Based on my experience it also also takes a lot more time to make decent jigs than it does to actually form the parts if you want the quality of the finished part to be good.

I'm still searching for a good set of shoulder fairings for you to use as an example to duplicate. Trouble is, they're few and far between for our bird and those that have them don't want to let them out of their sight!

John

I saw the guys at http://vulturesrowaviation.com/videos.html do this also. Is that where you got the idea? Amazing what you can learn on the Internet.

The great Interweb is a wonderful platform to share knowledge. Bear in mind that metal shaping is universal and covers many disciplines, autos, armor, aviation. They all share the common thread, metal can only be cut, bent, stretched, or shrunk. This can be done with hammers and dished tree stumps or poly heads on rivet guns. If you research the metal shaping discipline, the available knowledge is astounding. Remember, watching a video and doing the same are two distinctly differently actions.

_________________
"There are old pilots and bold pilots but few old, bold pilots."

Wow! Great stuff.

_________________
Taylor Stevenson

To stcurry7, here is an example from an earlier time in my metal working career that was done in mild steel and all with hammers and tree stump forms. And yes, I was wearing a full kilt, regimental style. The same principals apply.

_________________
"There are old pilots and bold pilots but few old, bold pilots."

Scott,

What shrinker / stretchers are you using? I have the ones from Eastwood (good ones) that I have used to form the 18/20ga steel on my 57 Chevy. I am very curious about your tools as I am going to get into more and more metalworking soon. I really need to lathe out one of those delrin flow heads for my pneumatic gun though.

I am very frugal and have learned over the years to do much with the basics and not go nuts buying more than I need. The small shrinker/stretchers are all about the same. I bought and reworked a Harbor Freight stand with foot controls for ease of working the part. You have much better control hold the part in both hands and applying the effort with your foot. Practice will help you develop a feel as to how deep a bite you take on the work piece. Also search Lazze metal shaping and watch his fre videos. He has one on how to blueprint your shrinke/ stretcher pair.

Don't turn the flow forming rivet set, go to the first page of this thread, I posted the link to ebay where the guy sells the for $12. They come flat face and you can radius from there.

A word of advice, don't buy more tool than you need for what you do. If I had the budget, I could easily buy the most expensive of everything but remember, the tools are there only to assist you. You are the craftsman to achieve your goal with your hands and the understanding of the metal.

_________________
"There are old pilots and bold pilots but few old, bold pilots."

That is probably the most straightforward and concise heat strengthening technique I have seen yet. Thanks!

Edit: I just ordered that tool you linked to but got it from Amazon (same price) from the same people. I also ordered the brass one as well.

Best advice ever for metalworking! I need to pass along to you some contact info for a friend of mine who is an absolute steel artist. You two could probably build a B-17 from scratch in a 3-day weekend.

So this is a different project but a relatively easy way to approach making boxes. In this case, electrical junction boxes for another warbird. I find that it is easier to make a bottom, or end cap that has the corner radius formed in order that I can use two dimensional flat forms to complete the box. By the way, I used this same technique to make breather tanks for race cars using tubing with the formed end caps.

So, you can use MDF, PVC, aluminum or a material of your choice to make the form. Remember that a simple Craftsman router or woodworking router of your choice is all you need to put the desired radius on your form block. I use the round over carbide bits that have a guide bearing on them. Once your block is cut to the proper size allowing for the material thickness to give the finished outside dimension needed for the box, use the router to put the radius on the form. Also remember that the clamp block must be sized to the beginning of the radius of the form. If it is too small, you can distort the piece and lose the radius you are after. If you can use locating pins, that will help. If you cannot. it just takes a little more to make sure the blank is in proper position before starting to roll the edges.

Here are the sides of the box after forming and trimming. I always leave stock, in most cases 1/4" over the size of the form block works well. After forming, I use a pair of dividers (could use a height gauge) to scribe a finish line to give me a square and straight edge to fit the sides to. The radius should wind up at 90 degrees to the face of the piece so that the rest of the sides can be two dimensional bends.



Here is the rest of the box, formed in the brake so that the two sides, when welded, bring the radius to the corners.





Next, a gross level of tack welding to locate the pieces properly. See how the radius formed in the side now gives the radius for the box.





Note that the extra material was an engineering f**k up, better safe that sorry... After you are happy with the fit of the seams and this IS the most critical part of having a good weld seam, I add tacks on about a 1" center pattern. If you have long seams to weld, the longer the seam the more the tacks needed. Otherwise, the heat distorts the piece and your joint goes to crap. (Nothing worse than when your joint goes to ...awe never mind) A trick to use to get a good looking weld is after tacking, knock down the tack welds with a Vixen or other file so that when you over weld the tack, you don't get a double lump of filler material. Then weld.



I then finish the welds off with a Vixen, then 220 disc and final with Scotchbrite and WD-40 to give the satin finish. These get painted in the end but other applications could be anodized or polished.







I hope this helps with your projects.

_________________
"There are old pilots and bold pilots but few old, bold pilots."

That was some serious metalworking porrnn! Especially your dime stacking.

I've really been enjoying this thread. Thanks for posting.

In response to the title... ...yes lots of us are interested.

Andy Scott

You do amazing work!

_________________
Andrew King
Air Museum Director with no Museum to Direct
Open to Suggestions