Make it from Bondo then make it from metal

[Doug98105]

Originally Posted by RedBeard66

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I did have spring back but that's ok because I took the part the last 5% by hand. I didn't expect the form to do all the work. Is spring back something i need to consider if stamping this part?

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I've machined dozens of dies for parts with shapes not too different from yours. For spring back on mild steel like Ak I suggest scaling your depths about 1.05 to 1.07 for a start.

What I mean by scaling is, if you have a die depth of 1" for instance, multiply that depth by 1.05 to allow for the spring back.

As for stamping, you'll be much better off using the "rubber pad forming" technique with your female die. Google on it for info.

Usually when people talk about stamping that implies two dies, a male and female. I suggest you not do that, it can get very complicated to avoid wrinkling if the part has any amount of compound curves in it. The rubber pad process almost guarantees a wrinkle-free part.

Here's an example of a rubber pad formed piece in copper. No wrinkles, the flat areas are still perfectly flat. Doing this with a set of male/female dies would be fairly complicated to not end up with a wrinkled mess.




Doug

[merlinsautobody]

Blake; You wax the part you want to copy with the carnuba wax then you spray on a coat of PVA and lay up your form with the glass mat as you did before, everything should seperate cleanly unless your copying a very pourus surface then you do need to paint the part. I have done this a lot of times with fiberglass but this is the first time I've seen it used as a form for shaping metal, now I've got a new thing to try out and it looks like it works pretty good thanks again for sharing. My house work is a little behind schedule but I hope to make it up there before then and defanitly in Sept. look forward to meeting you. by the way the PVA is water soluable and cleans up easly if you put the right amount on it will peal off like celophane when its dry.

[metalformrt]

great job, congratulations ....:o

[Donc]

Dam impressive!

[scranm]

nice work !

[Demetrius]

Fantastic!!! Great job!