Sheet metal projects

File: image.jpg (717KB, 1200x1600px) Image search: [Google]

717KB, 1200x1600px

>>1218653
My dad lives in Alabama and is a big deer hunter, so I came up with this design, something simple but that he should like

File: image.jpg (752KB, 1536x2048px) Image search: [Google]

752KB, 1536x2048px

First thing was cutting some aluminum down to size and putting the design on it. Had to tweak it some, but it came out pretty good

File: image.jpg (735KB, 1536x2048px) Image search: [Google]

735KB, 1536x2048px

I used the floor shears to trim the outside edges, the inside was going to be trickier. I ended up finding some auto shears to easily cut the bulk of it out, but anywhere with detail I had to chain drill then snip off with the hand shears

File: image.jpg (857KB, 1536x2048px) Image search: [Google]

857KB, 1536x2048px

The chain drilling was a pain in the ass, no easy way to do it so I just ended up kneeling on top of it most of the time

File: image.jpg (726KB, 1536x2048px) Image search: [Google]

726KB, 1536x2048px

The worst part about this whole thing was the endless filing. I used a belt sander to bring the edges down anywhere it would reach, and occasionally a dremel, but the majority of it was good old fashioned filing. Also difficult was trying to maneuver the piece in the vice to where I could actually file all the curves of the antlers

File: image.jpg (589KB, 1536x2048px) Image search: [Google]

589KB, 1536x2048px

It was a freeing moment when I finally finished filing the last corner. After that I put it in the sand blaster to clean up any rough marks and to give the metal a clean uniform look. At this point I'm pretty impressed with how well it turned out

File: image.jpg (570KB, 1536x2048px) Image search: [Google]

570KB, 1536x2048px

I'd originally planned on leaving it like that, but didn't take into account how flimsy this would be, so I decided to mount it on another piece of metal. This part was pretty easy, just measured 4 inches out from the edges and cut a new sheet, and painted it to give it good contrast. I really didn't feel like having to buck rivets on this thing, so I just used cherrymax. While putting it on I made the error of trying to work my way in from the perimeter, rather from the bottom up so there's a couple areas where the upper piece doesn't lay flat. I also learned that cherrymax rivets are damn near impossible to drill out so I just left it at is. All in all it took about 12 hours and I'm happy with the way it turned out. Any other sheet metal guys out there done some pet projects?

Why don't you just lasercut this

File: 1461461194877.png (1MB, 960x778px) Image search: [Google]

1MB, 960x778px

>>1218673
That looks like it turned out really well. You have access to pneumatic tooling, could you have a 3" cutoff wheel tool? That would have made the job quicker by taking large cuts with ease. And do you have access to a die grinder or other air tooling like an angle grinder? Just a couple thoughts.

This is made out of aluminum? You could have used a small plasma cutter and did rough trim cut extremely quickly as well, so long as you had one available.. Just some thoughts.

I do some sheet metal work, mostly I do specialty welding on exotic materials like titanium and cobalt and weird tig welding. Otherwise whatever walks through the door nad pays the bills. My upcoming jobs include building a pier for local barge, I've got a dump truck body to repair, there's some blueprints for custom aluminum headers in my office, and I've got to make like 40 post caps for the street lights at a local steinhafels outfit. Out of anything to steal why would you steal a cap that holds the wiring for a light post. I tried to attach a picture of a simple steel table I welded and painted blue for an electronic lathe but it's larger than 4 mb. I don't take many pictures, thinking I should change that. pic not related

>>1218653
What is it? I'm guessing a target?

>>1218653
lel I gotst access to a cnc plasma cutter, I could burn that out in like 2 minutes. Steel, stainless, brass or aluminum what ever you want. I can do up to like 3" thick if you pre drill the pierce point.

File: c3fa8dba44ee8f4e787bd61abe5e78de.jpg (494KB, 900x591px) Image search: [Google]

494KB, 900x591px

>>1219120

can you engrave handgun slides down maybe 2mm?