Synopses & Reviews
Sheet Metal Fabrication Basics is designed to provide how-to help for fabricators working at home and in small shops. Whether the goal is a hand-made air dam of a one-off air cleaner cover, the project can be done without expensive power tools. With help from fabricators like Rob Roehl, tin-man for bike-builders Donnie Smith, the book documents the creation of numerous simple shapes, made mostly with hammer and dolly, hand-operated shrinker-stretcher, and various mallets. Some objects are made from more than one piece, thus the book also includes a section on welding both aluminum and steel.
Synopsis
"Sheet Metal Fabrication Basics" gives the reader the knowledge needed to shape metal without the need for expensive power tools. The reader needs only a simple shop equipped with the most basic of tools. If the first Ferrarris were built using only wooden mallets and hollowed out tree stumps, nearly any sheet metal project can be fabricated with only hammers, bags of shot, dollys and, yes, the occasional hollowed out tree stump.
Master craftsmen like Rob Roehl from the shop of Donnie Smith discuss the types of steel and aluminum that are best suited to motorcycle projects, how to plan and layout a project, and how to stretch and shrink sheet metal without a power hammer and without a Pullmax.
The key is planning, then shaping primarily by stretching. Eventually the various panels must be joined through careful welding. And though many professionals use TIG equipment, there's no reason you can't weld both steel and aluminum through gas welding, as demonstrated in the book.
Start to finish projects include the creation of an air cleaner cover, a seat pan, and a complete fender. The book covers a wide range of techniques, from hand stretching with a hammer and a bag of shot, to shrinking with a small hand operated shrinker-stretcher, use of a hammer and dolly, and the use of an English wheel, both to shape metal and to smooth out the lumps and bumps left by typical hammer work.
You can learn to fabricate sheet metal. All you need is the raw material, the sincere desire to learn, and a copy of "Sheet Metal Fabrication Basics" from Wolfgang Publications. More than 350 color photos spread over 144 pages show the beginner and intermediate sheet metal worker how to create simple shapes in his or her own small shop without expensive power tools.
Synopsis
A how-to guide for fabricators working at home and in small shops, this book documents the creation of numerous simple shapes, made mostly with hammer and dolly, hand-operated shrinker-stretcher, and various mallets.
About the Author
Best known for motorcycle titles like How to Build a Chopper and How to Build a Cheap Chopper, how-to-author Tim Remus is also the author of custom painting books like Advanced Airbrush Art and fabrication titles like Ultimate Sheet Metal Fabrication. Today the former auto mechanic runs a small publishing company, Wolfgang Publications, located in Stillwater, Minnesota. Some of his personal projects include a recently finished 250-tire Softail and an old Henry J hot rod he says may never be finished.