Avatar @lyse

For a very first attempt, I'm extremely happy how this tray turned out: https://lyse.isobeef.org/tmp/blechschachtel/ The photos look rougher than in person. The 0.5mm aluminium sheet was 300x200mm to begin with. Now, the accidental outside dimensions are 210x110mm. It took me about an hour to make. Tomorrow, I gotta build a simple folder, so I don't have to hammer it anymore, but can simply bend it a little at a time.

vor ≈1 Monat | #yhoftja |
Antworten zu #yhoftja von @lyse
Avatar @movq | #yhoftja

@lyse Not bad. 🤔 So this started out as a flat sheet and then you cut and folded it, like paper (more or less)?

vor ≈1 Monat | #3evsefa |
Avatar @lyse | #yhoftja

@bender @movq Thank you! Not sure what I end up putting in there, but I'm sure I will find some tools to go in. :-)

Yes, this was a flat piece of sheet metal. It went together like a cardboard box, just much slower and with timbers clamped down to get a straight folding line. I don't have a sheet metal brake, so I just carefully hammered the piece bit by bit. Like in this video by the Sheet Metal Dude: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYgEfWEMXk0

vor ≈1 Monat | #fujswzq |
Antworten zu #roziizq von @prologic
Avatar @alexonit | #yhoftja

@lyse Beautiful handwork, how did you seal the corners? I don't see and hole or anything.

BTW, That Sheet Metal Dude is something else himself, skilled enough to teach others, can work properly with self-imposed contraints, care about safety and is humble enough to be wiling to learn from others, a true craftman worthy of respect.

vor ≈1 Monat | #guskv5a |
Antworten zu #guskv5a von @alexonit
Avatar @lyse | #guskv5a

Thank you, @alexonit! It's not sealed at all. If you were pouring in a liquid, it would run out on all four corners. It's just folded over and carefully hammered shut as best as possible. 03 is a bit blurred, but you can see the tab from the right (the short side) tucking in on the left (the long side). The hem on top clamps it in place fairly decently.

I decided against blind rivets, because they leave ugly looking and sharp backsides, which can also interfer with the contents of the box. However, they would be an easy solution to make the corners more rigid and prevent any movement from the short sides.

Unfortunately, I can't weld or solder, so that's not an option. It would be the by far best solution. I wanna learn it one day, though.

Yes, Ken is a really great dude. He's the reason I gave this a shot in the first place. :-)

vor ≈1 Monat | #jgp3kpq |
Avatar @alexonit | #guskv5a

@lyse I can suggest you a trick to do a "cold" welding.

Using a copper wire or a similarly malleable material, pass it through a drilled hole, hammer it on one end until flat, then do the same on the other side.

It does the same job of a rivet but it's flatter and look nicer on both sides, it's of course weaker but still strong enough for small objects.

It's sometimes used to reduce risk of deformities due to heat in hand-crafted jewelry and to reduce costs of small tools.

vor ≈1 Monat | #ttnduqa |
Antworten zu #ttnduqa von @alexonit
Avatar @lyse | #ttnduqa

Thanks, @alexonit! Yeah, this classic rivet is a good, yet laborous alternative. I don't mind the work, I just don't have any copper at hand. I might give this some more thought, though.

vor ≈1 Monat | #4chevsq |
Avatar @alexonit | #ttnduqa

@lyse I think you should be able to find some even in general stores in the hardware section.

vor ≈1 Monat | #3torkva |
Antworten zu #3torkva von @alexonit
Avatar @lyse | #3torkva

@alexonit I just checked my local hardware store next town and 4mm brass rod is the closest I find.

vor ≈1 Monat | #aorrjza |
Antworten zu #aorrjza von @lyse
Avatar @lyse | #aorrjza

Okay, they are also offering 2.8x25mm copper nails. Which I actually do have a single one here. :-)

My hardware collection also includes a few brass-like looking screws that I could repurpose into rivets. But I reckon I have to upgrade my burner first. I'm not a metal worker by any means, so I could be totally wrong, but I imagine that some heat is necessary to loosen the work-hardening effect when beating on them. I will do some experiments on Saturday and report back.

vor ≈1 Monat | #7ahwhrq |
Antworten zu #7ahwhrq von @lyse
Avatar @lyse | #7ahwhrq

I experimented with a 2.4x7mm aluminium rivet I had on hand. As expected, it was quite a bit long. Using my pliers wrench, I was able to crush it down by quite some bit. I should have taken a photo right after the hand riveter for comparison. Now, it's much smoother and the chance of cutting my hand open is reduced by quite a bit. But breaking the burr with a few file strokes is still necessary. I should get 2.4x4mm rivets and try with them. I reckon they would be more suited for my 0.5mm sheet metal.

With the pliers wrench again, I was able to also crush down the chopped off 3mm copper nail and form a second head. That was surprisingly easy. Now, I need to figure out how to efficiently make a head on the remaining copper nail shaft, so that I can use this again.

Both are rock solid, there's absolutely no movement at all between the two sheet metal cutoffs.

https://lyse.isobeef.org/tmp/nietenexperiment/

vor ≈1 Monat | #ao7sema |
Avatar @alexonit | #7ahwhrq

@lyse Great job!

I suggested it because I did it in the past, but never used it on bigger works.

In my case I did it exclusively on really small projects and used a thin rubber head hammer to prevent deforming the metal.

vor ≈1 Monat | #72pp3ya |
Antworten zu #72pp3ya von @alexonit
Avatar @lyse | #72pp3ya

@alexonit Thanks mate! Ah cool, now I'm curious, what did you make? :-)

You used the rubber hammer to fold the metal, not to set the rivets, right? :-? I glued cork on my wooden mallet some time ago. This worked quite good for bending. But rubber might be even better as it is a tad softer. I will try this next time, I think I have one deep down in a drawer somewhere.

vor ≈1 Monat | #7ui6miq |
Avatar @alexonit | #72pp3ya

@lyse In my case it was a silver necklace, a hummingbird with a wing connected with the cold welding I mentioned using thin brass wires.

It made it in a goldsmithing class (I went to a private craftmanship high-school) so no phones allowed (no photos of it) and no "take home" of the works.

Here's a rough sketch of it drawn by memory, the dots in the wing is where it connects to the body.

Hummingbird necklace sketch

The technique is basically the same as i described, but the scale is much smaller, the whole piece was about 5-6 cm on the largest side.

The rivet was made by drilling a hole through the parts, than with a short and thicker drill you widen the hole on the surface to let the rivet settle flatter on the piece, then with a rubber hammer you hit it to flatten the head until it's snug on the hole, lock them together by doing the same on the other side.

Note that widening the hole with a thicker drill head won't make a difference with bigger holes, mine had holes of about 1-2 mm of diameter maximum.

Here's a sketch of what is going on for clarity.

Cold welding cross-section
vor ≈29 Tagen | #m2qo2bq |
Antworten zu #m2qo2bq von @alexonit
Avatar @lyse | #m2qo2bq

@alexonit Hell yeah, that looks great! :-) What a pity you're not having any photos, though. I love that you went to a craftsmanship school and learned some amazing skills. The older I get, the more I admire all sorts of crafts. That's also why I started building physical stuff myself in my spare time.

This sketch is well done, so you countersunk the holes to make room for the heads. Makes absolutely sense. Mille grazie! <3

vor ≈27 Tagen | #hca4knq |
Antworten zu #dfisuwa von @movq