Metal Shaping for Beginners: Stretching and Shrinking sheet metal

[@grahamjones4888]

I just love to watch a professional at work. Please keep posting these videos. Thanks from the UK.

[@vincef9395]

I like the response in the beginning of this video. People now will understand the time it takes. Thanks for posting the process of making a panel

[@cinderswolf3929]

I could watch the master at work all day !

[@tomthompson7400]

perfect video , just the right speed on the fast parts to show a lot of detail and a lot of development in a short space of time , this really is becoming a definitive set of videos.

[@pedrolambrusco8190]

Hi Wray! I really like watching these videos. I learn a lot and they remind me of the great times that I had at your shop/school. To anyone who enjoys learning from these videos. If you have not yet had a class at Wrays shop, don't put it off any longer. Sign up and you will have a wonderful experience. Pete

[@jackhorner6009]

Another masterclass by the master, keep them coming, thanks Wray

[@johndonne7807]

Amazing talent, just pure art

[@rowycoracing]

Excellent stuff. Thanks for taking the time and effort to post.

[@lesgaal4017]

Luv your videos wray i never miss any allways learning something new all the time . from down under.

[@toolmike100]

What amazes me is how bad some of the panels look at various stages, and suddenly by wheeling them, it's like magic!

[@hansramselaar1897]

Tanks Wray, you’r my teacher!

[@CraigHollabaugh]

Thanks Wray.

[@michaeljlyons3773]

ty for sharing your knowledge

[@MegaBob1977]

very well explained and visible how the work processes have an impact👌🏻👍🏻

[@russelllowe]

Hi Wray, Hi Mark, thanks so much for these videos, really great stuff. I’ve been following since the mini Jaguar fender, and think that out of the best metal shapers online you are the most innovative (area/arrangement, flexible shape patterns, internal shrinking, facilitators and gatherers ... to name a few concepts where you really change the game). This week I tried making my own proto flexible shape pattern over a wire buck the same way you would make a full surface shape pattern using low tack tape and no stretch tape. Following the buck in the direction of least curvature made a kind of ruled surface; which has one advantage in that you are less likely to over develop the shape in the early stages because the proto shape pattern surface is actually less than the desired end result. It worked almost as well as the full surface shape pattern (which is unparalleled in my opinion). It would take more time than using Tyvek, but is another option I thought you might like. Cheers

[@starforged]

A great video for sure. I also have problems with buying sheet metal. I reach out to blacksmith clubs and others to buy more quantities. It seems like there would be a market patronizing smaller orders. Thank you very much for all your help.

[@proshaper]

I do sell single sheets of 3003 aluminum and 19 gauge steel. Are you close to my shop? Charlton, MA 01507

[@motoputz3201]

looking good

[@evanlacey8592]

you have gotten a lot faster on the wheel! thanks again great vid

[@gregpotts4885]

Hi I love your stuff I have watched a lot of your video's and I am keen to build a gathering machine and a shrinking facilitator

[@proshaper]

I have six weeks before my next class, hopefully I will be able to get some plans together .

[@thomaswilliams4773]

Wray thank you so much for showing the process to develop the panels and the different ways to go about shaping metal. Appreciate You taking the time to share your experience and knowledge. You have given me confidence to attempt to shape some panels for my old truck. I'm going to keep working at it and will get some of the tools built you are using. Do you have dimensions for the depth of the hole in the shaper built from 2x10's and covered in the EPDM roofing? It looks like you have several of them in different sizes?

[@plantpoweredhealth9383]

Any videos on making a bonnet skin or roof skin? My 70s Datsun has longer flatter panels ,with centre peak and narrowing lines towards front, be nice to see one being made. Probably need a bead roller I'm thinking for the bonnet lines to form

[@MrExpertwelding]

amazing as usual great info thanks. I would be interested in future lessons

[@BognorYouthU13]

Wray. I love your videos. I’ve watched nearly all of them. Can I just ask a question unrelated to this video though. Let’s say I Tig weld a long weld in a 1mm thick panel. Say 1200mm long. I hammer (with dolly) the weld to stretch the heat shrinking of the welding. Then I spend a couple or three hrs, planishing the surface of the weld to bring it up, and flatten the panel. Now... after making a first pass, the panel is straight ..ish. But there is still the odd slight distortion either high or low. My question is: at that point in the process, is there a way to tell if the undulation/high/distortion or whatever is due to to much hammer stretching, or if it’s still residual shrunk metal from welding? I have trouble sometimes knowing whether to shrink or stretch. Thankyou for making these videos. A wealth of information.

[@proshaper]

Reading the surface is a skill that has to be developed. That said there are a lot of methods to read a surface. The paintless dent repair guys use special lights. I'm thinking of getting one of those lights. My old standby is holding the panel and reading the horizon of the panel as you slowly twist it. You have your sense of touch with your hand, and if you have sweaty hands use a paper towel. Sanding blocks longboard style and I use a six inch diameter Baltic birch 3x8" thick with stickit sandpaper. The body file works petfect too. Lots of ways. If you are high shrink down with one of my shrinking discs. If you are low stretch it up.

[@BognorYouthU13]

@@proshaper Ok. Thanks Wray.

[@cinderswolf3929]

Use a torch shone across the surface to see the shape of the shadow on the wall behind high spots will look like mountains and dents will be in shadow on the panel and a flat spot on the shadow !!

[@bigbird2100]

Great video 👍 Wray could you use the beater bag and a higher crown English wheel to get the last of the development of the radius at the end of the video,thanks for sharing.

[@ronjacobs4154]

Wray, As I was watching you working on the 'shrinking facilitator' and you got the spontaneous gathers I didn't quite pick up the difference in the hammering method you used to get rid of the spontaneous gathers as opposed to hammering down the shrinks. My take on it was that on the shrinks you hammered the point of the gather first, then the sides of the gather, then the peak being careful not to fold it over. On the spontaneous gathers that you did not want you just hammered the peak down? Thanks for your help, I might learn something yet!

[@proshaper]

The spontaneous gathers that appear when stretching in the shrinking facilitator can happen where you want them to and where you don't want them to. When they appear in the spot you want them to be you capture them and crush them into themselves, you will see a hard spine of each gather. The other spontaneous gathers you don't capture and crush them you just flatten them out without creating the spine. The spine is proof of the collision of the metal into itself.

[@crazycaseyscustoms]

Hey Wray! I’ve just found your channel after hearing your name mention by Karl Fisher in one of his videos, and I’ve been doing a deep dive. I’m just curious, when shaping a panel this way, when does work hardening become an issue?

[@johndavey72]

You're having to work hard on this Wray . Think you could have done 10 in aluminium by now ! Still , have to keep the customer happy ! 😨😨 Thanks Wray .

[@proshaper]

I would have had faster results if I had made that Tyvek flexible shape pattern at the beginning. That said I have three hours so far in this panel. With 2 more panels needed to make this complete fender. I stated earlier start to finish for a whole fender is a 30 -50 hour job depending on the tools you use and your skill sets.

[@rustyguts133]

How much pressure can you exert on your wheels and how much can you strech the sheet of steel?

[@cinderswolf3929]

You need to use the energy in that top wheel for some good perhaps attach a generator via a one way clutch to power the coffee maker or charging the camera !

[@frankhorvath817]

Another excellent video! I love watching an artist at work. As you said before, it's workout, but what you do is not something you can brutalize your way though. When Michelangelo was asked how he was able sculpt the David, he replied it was easy. I just see the statue in the marble and I simply remove what I don't need. As I said before, I'm a woodworker so this the second video of yours I'm watching. The concept or shrinking metal always seemed to me to be like the old woodworker's joke, don't worry if you cut it short we'll just put through the board stretcher. I understand the ductile nature of metal, so shrinking metal is rather like kneading the dough back together laterally. This raises the question, as the larger creases are beaten down to many more smaller creases that become apparently confluent, how does this affect the quality of the metal? Although it's mild steel I imagine it becomes work hardened. Does this make it subject micro fracture later?

[@proshaper]

HI Frank, My mantra is "Metal is Clay" just like clay you can do what ever you want with it but you have to follow it's rules. Electrolysis and work hardening are two terms I hear a lot. I see work softening when I work sheet metal, the more I work it the more ductile it becomes. The Italian coachbuilders wrapped aluminum sheet around steel tubes ( 19 mm steel tubing body inner structure) that were probably never even painted and some corrosion did form but the cars are still with us and most were OK. Point is both of those terms are overplayed.

[@rogerlein2216]

Having trouble understanding shrinking or stretching metal if you have a 12 in 12in panel if you want to put a curve in it are you stretching or shrinking. I guess what I wonder is the thickness of metal what is stretched or shrunk

[@proshaper]

Think of the metal as clay. 12"x 12" x 1/8" thick clay. To make a dome you shrink the edges and stretch the the center. The edges get thicker, the center thins out.

[@rogerlein2216]

@@proshaper thank you I have done body work off and on for 40 years pretty much self taught

[@bobweiram6321]

Is there any advantage of using a paper Patton over a paper Powell for building a WWII era panel?

[@proshaper]

I'm not sure what a Patton and Powell are.???

[@Joe.Doucette]

@@proshaper Wray, in case you are serious... he seems to be poking fun at your accent. It is a witty comment but I wonder what his accent is. ;)

[@klaus-peterscheucher6118]

Yeahmanyeah 👍👏

[@cinderswolf3929]

I vote for 3 hour videos and those impatient people can play the video at 2x or 3x speed

[@colleendickey657]

I’m not a psychic or anything but something tells me this guy is from Massachusetts…

[@T3glider]

When I watch the wheeling, the witness marks on the wheels show how little contact area there really is. It makes me wonder whether there is any advantage to using wheels that wide?

[@Handbuilt1]

You got that right Stephen ! Well observed !! A given radius is always gone touch the same amount of area no mater if the top wheel and the lower anvils are 10 feet wide..... and there is no extra support on the wider wheels theory .... UNLESS the lower anvils are DEAD FLAT, but then , one can not wheel with a dead flat anvil

[@tintoycar738]

Wray explained quite a few times that the wider wheel makes it easier to work with since it diminishes the risk of leaving edge marks on the panel (as the wheel edge is further away from the middle contact point). Just watch his other clips.

[@T3glider]

@@tintoycar738 It would seem the opposite is true. In this video and others, Wray explains that the risk with wider wheel is edge bite and we have seen him go to smaller width wheels when working a tighter radius. So why start with such wide wheels if you could only have one English wheel in your shop?

[@proshaper]

I've answered this question about five times already in the comments section. I will answer it in the next video.

[@proshaper]

No experience with wide wheels and anvils I presume....

[@TheInsaneShecklador]

Thanks Wray.