Every once in a while I need to find some piece of sheet metal for a project and suddenly there's none to be found anywhere except for one supplier on the far side of the moon. (Shipping is a killer.)
Here's a trick to make your own that doesn't require an entire press brake shop or specialty dies with a six-figure price tag.
I wanted a heat shield for my M2 Benelli but nothing on the market looked good. Well naturally-- I'll just stamp out my own.
Taking my inspiration from an M60; I had a shop laser cut two rows of slots in a piece of 18ga mild steel (1018 hot rolled if you're keeping track).
Next was to cut some short pieces of welding rod and lay them out. (Glued in place with 3M 700 Spray Contact Adhesive keeps them from rolling around.)
Now here's where clever comes in; a 3/8" thick piece of ultra high molecular weight nylon makes a dandy bottom die. Soft enough to give a little, yet stiff enough to push back and shove the sheet metal around all the bumps and shapes you want pressed into your work piece.
Basically you're embossing the sheet metal.
Here's how everything stacks up:
1/2" steel plate on hydraulic press bed. UHMW on top of that. The resilient UHMW sheet saves having to have a bottom die that's fitted to the top punch.
Next, your work piece on top of the UHMW. Remember that you're pressing your shape(s) down into the sheet metal/UHMW so you're looking at the inside surface.
Last, on top of the work piece; another piece of 1/2" steel plate bigger than your work piece. That's to iron out any "tulipping" and make your work piece flat.
The bigger the hydraulic press you use, the crisper the embossing. My heat shield was done on a 20 ton press.
18ga may sound kinda light but I guarantee you; once all the bumps, ridges and rolls are in-- that sucker is stiff. Spring tension holds it on, even when firing.
Trimmed up and Parkerized does make it look "Factory".
Here's a trick to make your own that doesn't require an entire press brake shop or specialty dies with a six-figure price tag.
I wanted a heat shield for my M2 Benelli but nothing on the market looked good. Well naturally-- I'll just stamp out my own.
Taking my inspiration from an M60; I had a shop laser cut two rows of slots in a piece of 18ga mild steel (1018 hot rolled if you're keeping track).
Next was to cut some short pieces of welding rod and lay them out. (Glued in place with 3M 700 Spray Contact Adhesive keeps them from rolling around.)
Now here's where clever comes in; a 3/8" thick piece of ultra high molecular weight nylon makes a dandy bottom die. Soft enough to give a little, yet stiff enough to push back and shove the sheet metal around all the bumps and shapes you want pressed into your work piece.
Basically you're embossing the sheet metal.
Here's how everything stacks up:
1/2" steel plate on hydraulic press bed. UHMW on top of that. The resilient UHMW sheet saves having to have a bottom die that's fitted to the top punch.
Next, your work piece on top of the UHMW. Remember that you're pressing your shape(s) down into the sheet metal/UHMW so you're looking at the inside surface.
Last, on top of the work piece; another piece of 1/2" steel plate bigger than your work piece. That's to iron out any "tulipping" and make your work piece flat.
The bigger the hydraulic press you use, the crisper the embossing. My heat shield was done on a 20 ton press.
18ga may sound kinda light but I guarantee you; once all the bumps, ridges and rolls are in-- that sucker is stiff. Spring tension holds it on, even when firing.
Trimmed up and Parkerized does make it look "Factory".
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