Shrinking And Stretching Sheet Metal

The process is hands on and the work of a skilled operator.

Shrinking and stretching sheet metal.

The basic principle of shrinking and stretching relies on squeezing the metal together or pulling it apart to stretch. These are a bit more precise and avoid using a torch flame to heat and shrink the metal. It s strong and flexible. You can also put multiple tuck shrinks in a panel to quickly rough in the shape of a panel and then hammer each.

When your body panels were made a flat sheet of steel was placed onto a die in a powerful hydraulic press. Shrinker stretcher set 2 body 2 jaws shrinker stretcher combo 1 body 2 jaws metal shrinker only 1 body 1 jaw. For this type of next step jones metal products applies a technology to formed parts that is available in house with the power nibbler. You have to adjust your mind to the concept that when you hammer on sheet metal with a steel hammer onto a steel dolly or anvil that you will expand or increase the surface area by thinning the metal.

With the shrinker stretcher you don t need to cut and weld in order to create curves in sections simply shrink or stretch the metal into smooth even curvatures in a fraction of the time. The nibbler works with a planishing hammer and 2 sets of tools one for shrinking a part the other for stretching. The sorcery of tuck shrinking sheet metal posted. A lot of people think sheetmetal work is the hot rodding equivalent of rocket science.

You can shrink steel or you can stretch steel. And forget about shrinking metal. April 5 2016 by. Alternatively there are shrinking discs on the market that are attached to an angle grinder that use friction to create the heat.

See all 28 photos. Shrinker stretchers accomplish this with a pair of ribbed. In mechanical engineering or medieval chemistry. Flattened out you have effectively shrunk the metal and it is forever in that position until you manipulate it again by stretching or shrinking further.

You also have to grasp the fact that you can reduce the area of sheet metal by thickening it. With this method you firmly hold an object. These two qualities are what make it so workable when it comes to forming or repairing a body panel on your car or truck.