aluminium arches

[harrym2]

I have some aluminium arches that i will be puting on my car but they will need shaping . what is the best way to do this ?

i dont wont them to look like a golf ball when finished .

 

[piman]

Hello Harry,

a wheeling machine is the tool, see here for an example:- http://www.justinbaker.co.uk/ otherwise it is a lot of skilled hammer work.

Alec

 

[hotrodder]

Yep, wheeling machine is probably ideal but they ain't the easiest things to use well without quite a bit of practice. I always think of an English wheel as a means of speeding up production- it won't do anything you can't do with a hammer and dollies but it will let you make smooth panels (or scrap!) more quickly.

Shapewise wheelarches almost certainly won't lend themselves to hammerforming but it's a relatively easy way to produce matching parts in aluminium

 

[harrym2]

thanks for the replys . idont know how much an English wheel is but i do know
i cannot afford . i have posted a few pictures so you can see what i am trying to do . my farther inlaw has started this for me . the arches are ment to go on a mk2 escort and they are not a bad fit to start with

 

[piman]

Hello Harry,

well Italian coachbuilders use to rough out their panels with a hollowed out log, hammer and dolly and then filler to smooth them out. I guess that will be your best bet then?

Alec

 

[malcolm]

Which part of those arches do you want to re-shape? Hammer and dolley are good for fine details, and bits of wood and soft hammers will work for more dramatic changes. Thing to watch is aluminium does work harden and will split if you hit it too many times. Heat up with a good blow torch every now and again would prevent that.

 

[Paul.]

Little tip for annealing Aluminium if you have an oxy acetylene torch, light the torch without turning on the oxygen and play the yellow flame over the part to be annealed to coat it in soot, then turn the oxygen on to give a neutral flame and play it over the metal to burn off the soot, dont get too close or you'll melt the material,

 

[harrym2]

the part that am trying to re-shape is the top part . but and tring to keep a good sharp line and keep it from geting to meny ripples . as some point they will be painted

 

[hotrodder]

You may find a slapping hammer better for planishing those forest arches- the larger contact area will help with regards to unintentional stretching/hammer marring. You could also cut out a former from MDF or (preferably) hardwood.

To get ripples out of the flange hammer onto a block of wood rather than a dolly- sets up a situation where it's easier for the metal to shrink (absorbing the ripples) rather than stretch as is usually the case with metal hammer and dolly

If you do any annealing i'd keep it as localised as you can to keep as much dent resistance as possible- quenching once the soot is burned off the area you want to anneal will help limit the area that's softened

 

[harrym2]

thanks for all the help with this one . went over to my parents tonight and spoke to my dad about this one. and he is going to make me the wheel arch out of wood so that way i will have a mold that i can work with . thanks for all the help

 

[eddie49]

Another method to gauge the correct temperature for annealing is to rub a wetted bar of hand soap on the aluminium, then heat until the soap turns dark brown or black.