EASY FREE DIY SHRINKER TOOL! HOW-TO Make CURVED FLANGES on SHEET METAL

On this episode of Make It Kustom, I BUILD a shrinker tool from scrap metal Follow along to learn how to make your own sheet metal shrinking tool.
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[@jameslangford4748]

For those of us who will never have a plasma cutter and other tools that are beyond us, it is nice to see you getting back to making tools that we can make in a home garage. Thank you

[@fishhuntadventure]

“Beyond us?!” I have a plasma cutter. Pretty easy actually.

[@bradleybuildsit]

With some tools this comment definitely makes sense but plasma cutters can be had for as little as 150 bucks

[@jameslangford4748]

Thankyou but where ? And are they worth the money if they are so cheap ?.@@bradleybuildsit

[@fishhuntadventure]

@@bradleybuildsitexactly. Not frequently used but when it’s handy to use it’s so quick and reasonably precise. I’m not that interested in having one and way not interested in committing the space but I’m toying with the idea of getting a cnc plasma. It can make money without much of my time being invested. The little plasma I bought is awesome.

[@borntodieworldisafuck]

Home shops are often space limited, not budget limited. I wouldn't devote space to a plasma cutter whether it cost $150 or $15. Maybe if it cost $15 I'd toss it under the deck and see how long it lasts, but it's not taking up precious cabinet space.

[@PaulTempesta-id8wr]

I am 70 and have to say for a young guy you are fantastic sir. Much respect!

[@rickkyriakopoulos1103]

Maybe on the pivot point make the bolt hole oblong that way when you come down with the jaws , you won't have to crimp it twice . It should find the thickness of the steel and come in flat ! I think it will work ! This is a great KZbin slot one of my favorites along with half ass kustoms . Thanks you guys. Oh ya I have been looking at your planishing hammer I would love one .

[@wirefeed3419]

Yes, the handle or male part I believe is set to low, if it could raise up the bite would be more flat on the metal flange and would give less push out while crimping.

[@heyartbailey]

Holy crap, this is EXACTLY what I need! I've got a bunch of rusted out radii on my project, and am really glad to tap into my junk metal pile, rather than my wallet. Thanks so much for sharing this with us! You're such an amazing, creative force out here...

[@davepink637]

You just kept 8 folk from 15 yo to 75 yo watching and learning, now gramps got to make one for the children tomorrow . Thanks Mark we all learnt from you, you are the man . From accross the pond

[@christopheralcantara1479]

Man this is by far becoming one my favorite channels. I love the diy tools and the knowledge passed on to us all

[@marcbaker2502]

Love this type / style of instructional video. Your explanation of how to make this tool, the issues it has and how to improve the design ( thus the end result, etc) is what is missing from so many videos on KZbin nowadays.

[@vicferrari9380]

I like the hand made tools. Seeing you hand make a tool like that can open your eyes to using those techniques to create other things.😊

[@kleinbergers33]

That was a cool tool . Was cool watching...Thanks I am 81 yrs young , never too old to learn.

[@RonCovell]

Very cool fixture, Karl - nice and easy to make, too!

[@terrys6871]

Karl, We are very thankful for all that you put into the videos! ❤ Cool tool! Keep them coming!

[@jpthedelawarebeeman6239]

All I can so is wow - amazing how you can think of making tools on the cheap. Thanks for the Video Karl. All you need to do is add a lever to actuate it using your foot and leave your hands free to be able to guide the piece into the shrinker. I can't wait to see your home made stretcher next.

[@Toro-Tor]

After a while I realized I'm sitting very close to the screen - just to see exactly how he is making this tool 😁 THANKS KARL !

[@fitzeesfabrications]

Nice one. Love the simple tools. The bent section of flat bar is key to this. Don't have to be bent like that just a simple right angle. But the bend looks much better.

[@geneschaffer4123]

You live up to your channel name Karl “ Make it Custom” you probably got the coolest Shrinker/ Stretcher handle around!! Inspires the heck out of me!! Thanks man!

[@outlawdee4018]

Your tool making video has saved me so much money. Keep up the great work

[@gonkmeat]

What you just made is called a fluting tool and the ripples are called flutes. Fluting tools are used shaping the ribs in aircraft wings and in shrinking metal vent pipe used in Plbg, Htg & AC applications. I made a set years ago using a pair of vice grips and an old screwdriver shank. Cut 3 equal length sections from the round shank and weld one on a jaw and weld the other two on the opposing jaw leaving a small gap between those two. Water pump pliers will also work if you have a good grip. Keep up the good work.

[@brianglass4824]

My thought was to lengthen the distance to the pivot point so you come down a little flatter on the steel. I think it would be less prone to pushing the steel away from the crimp as you use. I love how enthusiastic you are about all these processes and tools you are making. Watching you visualize what is going on and your ability to translate that in your videos is a really great skill and I really appreciate your sharing them. I have learned so much about metal working watching you. Making me want to invest in some tools and steel! !!

[@tscustomstation]

Yep exactly what I am thinking gonna try it out maybe raise the pivot so it pulls the metal in as it crimps

[@1320freek]

Dude, I absolutely love videos like this!!! Please keep them going! Can’t wait for the next video, the stretcher. Thanks for doing these. Always enjoy your videos.

[@murdoc6501]

A-and another great video! Letting us in on the thought process behind the design and creation is absolutely engaging/compelling stuff. Love how you and Elio just spitball, brainstorm, and add a little art into the mix. Go Karl and Elio and Japhands, keep moving forward and can't wait to see what's next!

[@MakeItKustom]

Thanks so much man the next video is an even easier tool for stretching!

[@iancameron198]

Nice but you need to cut the flat stock and weld a round stock with a bicycle grip on it as a handle

[@jroubos6650]

What an interesting video. I am always surprised at what you make from materials you have in your workshop. I definitely plan on making this tool. I understand that you are also going to make a stretching tool? I like to be surprised.

[@Lwimmermastermetalart]

G R 8 Video kid! Hey I’m 74 years old so almost everyone’s a kid to me 😂. Your channel is fast becoming one of my favorites ! I’m impressed. Have any stickers with your logo? Starting a new cabinet in the shop and need to start getting kool ones. 🤙🏻

[@92xl]

I love it Karl....today were going to make a simple tool....next thing you know the lathe is fired up, the welder is out and we are repurposing Model A shifters.....LMAO!!

[@donbell8187]

My wife watched your videos on the Zephyr chop to and said "He is at one with the hammer!"

[@CSWmanofsteel]

I’m 61 yrs old and a welder/ Machinest blacksmith and grew up with the older SKOOL metal workers and I stumbled across your channel when your cab over built came up in my algorithm, you do great work by the way, I’m thankful that you’re one of the few that still use your head and creativity to make things you need instead of just buying the stuff that’s manufactured elsewhere and doesn’t last. What you’re doing with fabricating your tools for your shop is how it all started years ago unfortunately today’s metal workers ( if you can call them that) have drifted from the craft’s original foundation. At 61 I STILL fabricate a lot of stuff that helps me do what I need to do especially dies and metal working tools that no one sells and completing a customer’s project that blows their minds is a great satisfaction for me and I see it in you also s so THANK YOU for carrying on the craft and inspiration to the next generation 💯🤙🏼🇺🇸 ALOHA FROM HAWAII 🌺

[@kirkoglesby6175]

I think like you said, Karl. You can refine the tool and an make it as polished as you like. Nice mini bike chain guard you dolled out there. It works a charm. I'm definitely going to look at my scraps tomorrow.

[@glennmiller9031]

I really like your homemade tool videos. You come up with some pretty good stuff. The power hammer was awesome.

[@MakeItKustom]

Thanks Glenn I really enjoy the process

[@user-xo3wb7yu9e]

A great job and beeing creativ can save you a lot of money. I think the result speaks for itself

[@DirtySideGetsDown]

I am totally going to build one of these now. Can't wait to see the stretcher next!! I love seeing cheap ways to mimic expensive tools.

[@MakeItKustom]

Hell ya man ! 👊👊👊

[@petermeier4953]

That stretcher is already sitting on your workbench. Some call it a hammer. You're welcome!

[@DirtySideGetsDown]

@@petermeier4953 I'd love seeing you stretch a flat flange with a hammer. Seriously, if there is a way I am open to learning.

[@petermeier4953]

​@@DirtySideGetsDown One of the first lessons in my training to become a mechanic was to curve a strip of 2mm sheetmetal into an S-shape that should fit a given template. We did the stretching with the peen (just looked up the noun) of a standard-hammer.

[@joescully566]

I think that is a great idea gents, looking forward to the stretcher tomorrow, Jor

[@uti_s1471]

This is why you are so great Karl, super at explaining, showing us how, and brainstorming kind of while working! Showing us that pretty much a lot can be done with somewhat cheap tools and with some creativity. Love these hands-on, everyone-can-do videos without too much use of fancy tools.👍

[@squirrelsworkshop]

This looks promising... and the price is just right!

[@CharlesStevens-vi7ky]

Trev’s blog has a good video on upsetting and heat shrinking, it’s applicable as when you’re tucking the crimps that is exactly what you are doing. If you actually check the curved flange with a micrometer you will find it is thicker than the original sheet stock. As a blacksmith I use this on a macro scale, wile your working on a micro scale

[@BesseCustomFabrication]

Simple tools like a grinder and a drill...(and a lathe). Haha! We saw that. Thanks for the great content!

[@PeterWhite-ee9nf]

Looks real simple but by far surpasses the slower shrinking with a fork. The trick with clamping across the shrink certainly save a lot of back and forth to gain a decent bend. I will be using a lot of what you teach as I restore a '35 Rover 14 Sport Sedan. Thanks for the videos.

[@aaronbuildsa]

As soon as you said "put it on a tube" I thought of Mankandy @GarageFab and his one-receiver-tube-to-rule-them-all tool rack/floor box.. I love these videos though, they are almost a look into "how did we do all this stuff before power tools" in the early days of coachbuilding and metalworking. Also props to Elio for the close up of the hammer strikes - its mezmerising watching the imprint of the polished hammer face erase the marks on the metal in real time like that! ❤

[@CompToyZ]

I think we can make on with an air hammer, like a plenishing hammer. Make the bottom die a 2 piece hinged bottom outside with hard rubber underneath holding it up. So when the hammer hits it'll move the jaws towards each other. I could be way off but I'm going to try drawing it up lol

[@Parkhill57]

Off topic, but I love your steel table. I had one like it that I bought from GM when they closed their plant. They had about 100 of them and they sold all in 30 minutes. Alas, I sold mine when I closed my shop in 2013. Seeing yours makes me wish I kept it. Have a great year!

[@wrenchpony9735]

More super cool content Karl! I think there is a benefit of making your own tools. That being as you make the tool and have to adjust it to get good results, you are also learning how sheetmetal works. It lends itself to knowing what process you will need to make your mental image into physical steel. Keep up the awesomeness man!

[@prancstaman]

I'm so goona make one!! Thank you. Been wanting one for years and never had the money to buy one. I made a steel plate roller out of 1/4 inch thick angle iron and 2 steering wheels with a suicide 8 ball on one of the wheels. I used it to band a set of rims. To build badass stuff you need badass tools.

[@0097205]

Well now I have to go make one of these myself.

[@user-iy6de7qi1r]

I've got to say, Karl, I've really enjoyed all your videos and learned a lot of new ideas. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink it.....less you salt his oats!

[@williamherring5441]

Karl: Make your boomerang holder you improvised to hold the work piece with a pivot/hinge to make it adjustable. Then weld nuts on some tabs to make clamps for the ends of the boomerang. Since I travelled in to the future, would your stretcher be used to smooth a work piece out? Or maybe a correct combination of wheels in your bead roller? A receiver hitch process for several of your tools would make your shop very modular for clamping tools at convenient positions and aid storage. MK from Garage Fab did a similar concept. v/r wh

[@jimnelson7740]

What you're making is a giant fluting tool. Several years ago, I made a a pair of fluting pliers to make radii in aluminum corners.

[@Bill-wz6tw]

I dig it I have seen guys shrink aluminum for aircraft ribs using nothing but a couple or hardwood or plywood former blocks and a round Phillips screw driver shaft to knock the tufts or creases into the edges then they hammer them out in the fixture while the metal is clamped between the two forming blocks. Surprisingly complex shapes made with very little in the way of advanced tooling of course you can also hydroform those same ribs using a press and rubber between a die form but that takes more of an initial set up and a lot more tooling costs but it all depends on how many of the parts you plan on making

[@lestergreen7262]

The brainstorming prior to beginning the build and explanation of your thinking is priceless. Thanks for sharing your talents.

[@samsalado5957]

I love these types of videos. Tools are so expensive and to be able to get satisfactory results cheap from something you made is even better. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us. Between yourself and Fitzee am able to to make things I never would’ve tried before. I’d rather make something than buy it and everything I’ve learned from you guys has made it so much easier

[@Alllivesmatter24]

Can’t forget Halfass customs. He’s a diy’r and does things on the fly

[@drompimccoy9501]

Top job, love you getting carried away and doing „overkill“ on the handle

[@karensavarese5684]

Great thinking. Make the jaw legs longer, for clamping, and you could also vary there relationship, changing the shape of the tuck. I do shrinking/streching, and have never owned a comm. machine. Izzy,,,

[@martinperry3327]

Hey Karl, great video. The modification I would add to this would be a foot treadle peddle, it would free up both hands, which would enhance control over the part as you tuck. Marty, ‘Brisveagas’ Australia.

[@ramzz2560]

Yooooo it was a pleasure meeting you at sosa’s shop in Vegas. My brother and I picked you up to take a picture. 🍻

[@MakeItKustom]

Hahah great meeting you guys too lol 💪

[@beaverc2884]

For me this is the perfect tool, before shifter handle 😊. It's something I wouldn't use very often but when I do this kind of work it would be perfect to have. I really like the space saving size. I am making one. 🙂🙂🙂

[@malcolmyoung7866]

Me too!

[@MakeItKustom]

Awesome stoked you guys are making them

[@Randy_51_]

Love it!

[@danielkeeton6761]

I am definitely going to make one of these shrinkers to help shape my lower cab corners on my 50 GMC truck!

[@HogshooterHotrods]

Awesome tool build and edits are on point thanks for making this for us!!

[@bruceaskin9645]

Love making my own tools, and in many cases its the only way I can afford to have them . Thank you Carl.

[@BrianSmart1959]

I really could have used this on some projects. I was thinking right off that you just need to make the angle iron longer so it can stick out from the bench to give you more clearance. And like you said, rounding off the corners would help too. Very cool.

[@terje6810]

AGAIN AND AGAIN Karl, that was a super video... AGAIN !👍

[@creepycrawler43]

I love this kinda stuff!!

[@markbunyan3078]

Great video, please keep the tool ideas coming!

[@laurensmith1828]

You the man ! Thanks for the tips

[@glenmiller3783]

Another great video Karl

[@ClipsnChipz]

Thanks for making this vid!!!

[@daleking8529]

Really enjoy the tool videos so mix them in with the videos on your car and truck projects!! Take care.

[@Mopar46]

Might have to make me one of them gadgets, to finish off the corners of the floor, in my channeled Dodge pickup cab. Thanks fellas, for the heads up.

[@snoopu2601]

Showing how to make hand tool's is a plus. That really helps with us people trying to make stuff on a budget. At the same time can be proud of making something with your own two hands.

[@rowycoracing]

Nice! Thanks for showing that idea.

[@Macbetula-yl8wq]

Right on 👍 that works well

[@johnfields7936]

Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us Karl! Your videos are fantastic!

[@rickmarquart3277]

I love learning new ways! Thanks!

[@williamhanna5224]

Excellent!

[@JohnnyJalopyArt]

this ep was super RAd!!!!!! thanks man!

[@tonyroman1569]

always enjoy your content keep it coming.

[@worknman78]

Very cool tool! Love the knowledge and seeing part of your thought process!

[@MLFranklin]

Cool tool!

[@robertbennett9243]

What a cool idea/tool.

[@sierraecho884]

Nice, love your videos.

[@dougwernham5209]

Thanks for the video Karl.

[@tomcoryell]

That round dolly is handy.

[@edwardsterritt4598]

very cool a must make thanks

[@janetcoursey6756]

Awesome tool! Thanks for making great tools from scrap. Love your videos!

[@gregholley7579]

Loved this. Will definitely be making one for myself.

[@YouDakineAh]

Glad I found your channel. This is amazing!!

[@shanevonharten3100]

Definitely a useful addition

[@stevefrieswyk8583]

Cool build

[@raymondw7875]

I will definitely be giving this a try!

[@randyfleet9968]

Excellent video!

[@markmoore6982]

YES! More videos like please!

[@Handbuilt1]

Very smart !

[@familieerichsen7900]

Great Video!

[@waynepeterson8518]

Very cool!

[@friedmansfabrication]

Awesome tool thank you for sharing

[@billlanoue3044]

That’s just awesome,definitely going to build one

[@tlc0425]

Love your diy tools! You’re very inspiring for us little guys!

[@blackbuttecruizr]

Hey Karl! Great tips!!!

[@latemcire8387]

Homemade tools are dope. Hope to see you make more

[@TheTubeTube2]

Another brilliant, inexpensive success! Thank you 🙏

[@ohiohammerandleversme6875]

Super cool do it yourself, awesome !!!

[@GibClark]

👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 yes, more. And yep gonna build one

[@MrAussieCrasher]

Brilliant I’m defo going to make one of these .

[@kellykomorowski7615]

Made it today Loved it Thanks

[@willschluneger709]

Awesome Making this and the Stretcher tomorrow!