Unforgiven
solid fixture here in the forum
My boss has let me use the machines after hours as long as the shop is open for the second shift.
This works out great for my bigger projects..but I found myself in a bind last Saturday..
I was waist deep in a mass of bracing on my project car trying to make a template of the kick panel,
when I realized that in order to make the panel....I first had to make a few bends in the new sheet metal.
This was kinda hard to do on a late Saturday night with the only metal bender I had access to was 10 miles
into town at our workplace... which was closed.
This put me dead in the water..not to mention it stopped all creative thinking at that moment.
So...Sunday morning I decided to take a chance on a Harbor Freight 36" metal bender for $250
I think it will be a great asset to my barn...
I also purchased a set of Eastwood metal shrinker and stretcher tools... they just clamp into a vise.
After making a test piece, I decided that I could make a foot operated stand for them...so after seeing some idea's online....I made a stand for them.
Her is the test piece I made...
After shrinking the metal... I decided to stretch the piece the other way...works great! I also did a test on the stretching...I left the piece in ONE spot and wanted to see how far I could stretch 18 gauge metal in the same spot. It took 3 cycles before the metal tore.. This is shown by the red arrow.
I am very excited to have this tool because it will allow me to make the corner pieces down in the door openings. It will work great for the trunck lip seals and front and rear window seal strips too.
This works out great for my bigger projects..but I found myself in a bind last Saturday..
I was waist deep in a mass of bracing on my project car trying to make a template of the kick panel,
when I realized that in order to make the panel....I first had to make a few bends in the new sheet metal.
This was kinda hard to do on a late Saturday night with the only metal bender I had access to was 10 miles
into town at our workplace... which was closed.
This put me dead in the water..not to mention it stopped all creative thinking at that moment.
So...Sunday morning I decided to take a chance on a Harbor Freight 36" metal bender for $250
I think it will be a great asset to my barn...
I also purchased a set of Eastwood metal shrinker and stretcher tools... they just clamp into a vise.
After making a test piece, I decided that I could make a foot operated stand for them...so after seeing some idea's online....I made a stand for them.
Her is the test piece I made...
After shrinking the metal... I decided to stretch the piece the other way...works great! I also did a test on the stretching...I left the piece in ONE spot and wanted to see how far I could stretch 18 gauge metal in the same spot. It took 3 cycles before the metal tore.. This is shown by the red arrow.
I am very excited to have this tool because it will allow me to make the corner pieces down in the door openings. It will work great for the trunck lip seals and front and rear window seal strips too.
Last edited:
