The Fine Art of Metal Shaping Continued
The Fine Art of Metal Shaping Continued
by Bob Whittier
from Experimenter Magazine, April 1999
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Anyone who has messed around with airplanes has, from time to time, wondered how such intricately curved
things as engine cowlings, wheel pants and wing root fairings might have been formed out of flat sheet
aluminum. Common sense says that the graceful compound curves to be seen in them could hardly have been
achieved by a sheet metal shop doing heating and ventilating ductwork.
The wheel pants often installed on volume-produced light planes are made by fastening together right and left halves made of aluminum formed to shape by matching dies installed in a type of machine called a drop press. Engine nose cowlings are also formed in such machines. A fixed die is attached to its base plate, and a matching one to a weight that slides up and down in guide tracks. When this die is allowed to drop, its weight whams the sheet aluminum into the desired shape. For the benefit of readers who want to learn more about drop presses and dies, the best coverage of the subject we know is Chapter X (10) in Aircraft Sheet Metal Work by C. A. LeMaster, published in 1944 by American Technical Society, Chicago.
See Torches available from TM Technologies |
Well, last month we introduced you to Kent White of northern California and his wizardry at hand-forming sheet aluminum. We also described the specialized tools he and others in this field use.
Present-day methods of forming sheet metal into intricate shapes are the result of centuries of experience. In museums we can see handsome metal objects that were made hundreds and even thousands of years ago. Consider, for example, the fine swords and intricate suits of armor used by ancient warriors. Such things were made using hand tools and looking at them gives us great respect for the people of long ago. By the time aviation arrived on the scene, metalworking techniques were well advanced.
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