When using tubes like the JB-Weld, don't open the cap: unfold the other end, snip a tiny corner and squeeze the product out, then crimp the end up again with pliers and refold. This is a far more airtight method, especially for highly volatile products like shoe glue.
My grandfather was a world class sheet metal expert. Worked for a company back in the day called Metal Door & Trim. He taught himself trig after quitting school young to work and help support his family, and could calculate things like making a curved metal door for a curved room. In his later years, his car was rusting out around his headlight, so formed a replacement for the area out of thin sheet metal which came out perfect, but not strong enough to hold up to even moderate pressure, he created a cavity inside for a layer of concrete to give it backing strength. We used to joke if he ever hit another car it would cut through it like butter!
Ok I'm calling it 'Alumium' from now on. also: "I hate this tool, let's give it a try!" earned you a lifelong sub. That thing is basically a caltrop maker
If you are going to get into riveting, and doing a lot of it, save your hand, invest in a powered rivet gun. Pneumatic, electric, whatever you choose, a powered rivet gun will keep you from having to spend all that rivet gun money on painkillers and wrist braces.
Another tip for beguinner riveters: you don't need a rivet squeezer to put solid rivets, you can do it old school with a small ballpen hammer and a hand-held anvil. It _(edit: the squeezer)_ just makes it *so much* easier.
...and don't forget the hearing protection. My first day working with an electric rivet gun ended with me being unable to hear my wife that night. I made damn sure I supplied my own earplugs for the rest of that job.
I am a pre you tube self taught metal maker since elementary school. I just sent this video to my new apprentice. 40 minutes with you would take months to cover in the normal course of things. Great work, balanced, honest. You earned a sub
My friend, Jonni Good from Ultimate Paper Machi, forwarded you video to me. I used to work in a small steel fabrication shop. I was a laser operator, and I would look the things that I was throwing away. What can I make with this??? Later on, I bought a small CNC plasma cutter and a welder. I made and sold some metal art. Some things were dog silhouettes on a rod, and other things were multiple parts and 3D to make a flower. My sales friend and I started the business, but COVID shut me down. The sheet metal scraps from work saved me a lot of money. I sure miss making things with my CNC. I made a lot of custom programs. Your work is a little different than mine. Thanks for the video. I love watching people create things.
The ratio for a caulk gun is the thrust factor that will be applied to the tube plunger from the force of you squeezing the handle. You apply 10 lbs of force, and it will apply 80 lbs to the plunger.
I was less than 10 seconds into the video before I had to comment on it. No plumber has ever looked at someone else's plumbing and said that guy knows how to plum. I just about spit out my coffee. No mechanic has ever looked at someone else's mechanic work and said that guy knows what he's doing it's so funny and I don't know why it is but it's so true.
It's because you don't see the good work just the bad one because the good doesn't generally fail but is also close to stock you you may not even notice you only notice the bad work
Meh. I am a remodeler. We compliment each other all the time. Or wreck each other alike. Lol I tiled the NoWear BMX Park bathrooms, volunteered. Got a lot of great feedback... And still got shit on, too. People get jealous or something when someone gets to do something fun and they don't..?
Several tradesmen have said the new houses my partner and I were building were like a big piece of furniture. We are each, joiners. Joinery is doors, cupboards, and other fitted furniture. Following that great earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand eleven years back, the thirty duplexes, we built, were structurally sound.
Regarding hole saws, my job as an industrial electrical engineer (since the mid 1970s) meant I had to use them on a regular basis. I never found one type that really pleased me - thin replaceable blade ones used to burn out the teeth and thicker bladed ones (e.g.Sandvik etc.) were darned expensive (and still burned out teeth!) Recently though, after decades of going through all sorts of arrangements, I found the ABRACS brand. With one arbor, you can fit many hole size cobalt blades (virtually without tools) and I've cut even 2 inch holes in steel I beams` without any tooth damage. Worth the investment, and you don't have to buy all the sizes at once, although they do make sets with multiple sized blades, arbor and pilot drill all in a handy case. I'm not sponsored - just very impressed!
For metal i like to use Greenlee type punches (slug busters) but I know there are still many places where a hole saw is needed. It depends what I'm doing as to which one I use but I have a set that is for metal only that work well but only go to 2" conduit size. Diablo makes a great set for wood that are deeper than standard and cut really well
Really well done - THANKS! As a longtime metal fabricator, I must say this is the best video on the covered topics of binding sheet metal EVER! In less than 40 minutes, too!
Im a automotive sheet metal worker and coach builder I can't say I disagreed with any of your statements and I watched the whole thing and learnt some things myself
The first nibbler I bought (to mod a computer case for my nephew) was a hand tool. The window in the computer case was incomplete when I bought my second nibbler. It was an attatchment for a hand drill. Like your pneumatic version, it threw the bites all over the place. Cleaning them up reminded me to wear gloves when dealing with metal. This also caused me to tape a shop vac hose to the drill to collect those bites. The ability to cut straight lines, then curves, and turn tight corners, all without changing tools, convinced me the nibbler was a brilliant invention.
Agreed! I've helped a friend of mine build a few pieces of Plate-mail (just for show) out of thin steel sheets and without his nibbler some of the work would've just been very inconvenient and even more time-consuming.
Nibblers and routers - two tools that in the hands of an amateur they produce make a mess, but in the hands of someone skilled they produce works of art. No other tool can do what the nibbler does, if it did there wouldn't be a nibbler. 25:55 he is just biased and my guess is it's based on his early experience with them just like you. Unlike him you figured it out though 😉
I'm pretty certain that, in all my time on RUclips, I've never learned so much from one video. Brilliant content, brilliantly produced, brilliantly edited, and brilliantly entertaining., Brilliant :)
😳🤔 Well, that was 38 minutes I thoroughly enjoyed, thank you! 👍👍👍 I was in the military years ago and used to spend a lot of time after work visiting our aircraft machine shop, which had what appeared to me was an unlimited supply of scrap stainless, brass, copper, aluminum and titanium in the various waste bins. These were often "pocket-size" 😂😂😂 making them perfect size for my RC model building project's where I made car frames, spoilers, rear wings, headers/tuned exhaust pipes for the small two-stroke nitro engines... pretty much everything I could manufacture on my own and save money or make them for friends. Seeing you build these signs by hand brings back a lot of fond memories! :-)
Wesley Treat, for Mayor of all internet woodworkers/crafts ppl. Earnest, smart, no condescension, and a well of useful info and real no bullshit commentary on tools and techniques, not to mention entertaining. You have made me more confident in simply just beginning so many times.
For your holes, you can get any spade bit and grind the sides to whatever shape you want. You can make some interesting patterns in wood using the same technique.
A trick if you use an air nibbler. Get a small drink bottle with the neck opening the same size or slightly smaller than the nibbler head. force it on maybe with a little heat till it stays. This will catch almost all of chips.
Great video, just subbed! For deburring, my go-to is a convolute wheel mounted on a pedestal grinder. Some people call them ScotchBrite wheels or Beartex wheels, but there are several brands, widths, diameters, hardnesses, and grit types to suit your application. I use my 1"w x 6"d wheel for deburring sheet metal, machinings, structural metals, sharpening knives, polishing hammer faces and bucking bar faces, and many other uses. With a full sheetmetal shop, weld shop, and fabrication shop, that wheel gets used more than any other tool. They're not cheap, but if you get the right one for what you're doing, it will last a long time. They work better and much faster than any method I've found.
This is cool. I've been an aircraft structure mechanic for 25 years and always wondered how to translate what I do into something other than aircraft maintenance. That looks like a fun project.
I can back up your claim even further. About twenty years ago I took some empty squirt brand soda cans, an exacto blade, scissors, super glue and coins and drill bits for forming, a little rubber cement for temporary holds, basic C-clamps, etc and made an airplane using yellow cans for most of the fuselage, red ones for the propeller and tail season and silver canopy, nose cone and landing gear. It had wheels that rolled, and the propeller spun and looked both fake and realistic at the same time. Nothing but alumium cans and super glue. So difficult that it was a challenge, yet easy and safe enough for a teenager to do.
Aloha Wesley, and one more thing….at Home Depot or Lowes….in the soldering section or welding, they sell these rods(labeled for different metals)for like brazing or “welding” with a torch. They sell those rods for alumium lol, too but they sell out fast. Try a small piece and bash it with a hammer to test the strength….simple to use, try it out Braddah!? Mahalo nui….
something worth mentioning is that after you have run your material through the roller turn it around and run it through again to remove the flat spot that was left on the first pass. thanks for the video. good stuff.
Totally on board with you on this, many people over look working with alumium (that's so much easier to type), when making products they want to sell. I fell into it by accident, never looked back, before that, chaning a fuse was about as hands on as I got with anything. If you have a bench grinder, get a fibre wheel for it for deburring, it does it in a fraction of a time. As for the CNC on alu, if you want to take decent cuts in it, get DLC coated bits, single flutes, they cut clean, fast and no lubricant required. I have numerous vids on my channel about this, I cut up to 3mm thick in single pass with these daily. They'll certainly do the 1-2mm no problen and fast! i cut 2mm alu 24k RPM, 1500mm per minute cut speed, with a 3mm (1/8th) bit 90% of the time. Thats on 1050, 5000, 6000 series alloys! A lot of 1050, that's my go to and that;s the one they tell you, you can't machine - I have videos on that too!
Genius teaching video! I've got a few projects lined up for our motorhome that require this sort of tool work; your info has come along at exactly the right time. 👏 👏 👏
The trick that 99% of internet experts (and too many real experts, too) fail to mention: Cutting sheet metal with a jigsaw is *noisy.* Not a big deal, but you better plan accordingly. (Example: If you're not working in a dedicated workshop like Wesley but in your own home, warn your spouse before cutting, and try not to do it during times when there is something they want to watch on TV.)
A good horizontal bandsaw was the first big investment in my shop, and I still use it all the time. Definitely worth the extra cost to get a swivel head style, in my opinion, it makes changing the angle sooo much easier.
On your paddle bits, use a dye grinder and cut back the middles of the flat spots on each side. Form a cutting bure on the outer edge, then sharpen it. Be careful not to overheat the bit while grinding. If you do accidentally overheat and lose the temper in the metal, you can retemper it with your propane torch and your kitchen oven. There are many videos that teach how to temper metal. I enjoyed the video. It was very informitive and well produced. Thank you very much. J.D. Body Art and Signs (Old Barguy)
Nice! I've been welding (and a welding supervisor, and a weld engineer, of sorts) since the 1980's. I was trained in school (half of the welders reading this are already thinking I know nothing, now), have a stack of qualification certs bigger than I can measure with a 300mm rule (pissing more of them off), and I am not a great welder. If it meets requirements, that is what matters. Your welds are fine. With all of this, I just riveted my new shed together. Faster, easier, did the job. Fit, tack with a Cleco, drill the rest, lay in sealer, reassemble, and rivet. Fast. Easy. Sufficient, and will never leak. Used the hydraulic shear, break, and Beverly at work for the flat sections, used an air hand shear for the galvalum siding, and an air nibbler for a couple penetrations. Greenlee chassis punches for other penetrations. I did do the edges with a flap style scotchbrite disk on a grinder and a hand file. With that, I learned a few more things to try next time. (and from the comments, as well) Thanks
This is a superb video, thanks for making it! My dad was an aircraft airframe designer so I grew up with this stuff, I use it for making valve amplifiers from aluminium and copper. The pop rivets are also available in a version for aircraft and ducting where there is no hole in the middle. Thanks for the tip on threaed inserts, I didn't know they existed outside of electrically spot welded types. Oh and the 'Knockout Punches' - yeah, i bought a set in 2003 and it took several days of searching to find out what they where called - they are like antipasta, try finding that in the supermarket!
I haven't tried them yet, but the spade bit photos on the Harbor Freight site show that they also have the cutting spurs... Cheap enough to find out how well they work.
@@LittlePrince395 Yes, but they also have a twist to them, which makes them nice and aggressive in wood, but maybe too aggressive in aluminum. That's the reason I didn't suggest Bosch.
I enjoyed the video. In the steel yard we would crank up the stick welder and drag a new rod across the aluminum sheet and it would perforate a line to break off for recycling. Crude but quick
I use a paint scraper for de-burring metal or making a small chamfers. You need to grind a new rake and I usually flatten out the profile a bit too. Works on plastic, wood long grain, mild steel, aluminum, copper, just about anything softer than the blade hardness. Change the rake to the hardness of the material. Reduce rake if you get chatter. I adjust the rake so that it pulls clean long shavings. Sharpen till you run out of material. One blade lasts me a year. Also you can make this in any shape you need for the job. It takes a little getting use to but once you get the hang of it, I haven't found better. I also sharpen the rake freehand as you can shape the profile edge for the job.
I've been told that spot welding aluminum is not possible. But I saw a guy on line do it by putting a scrap of stainless steel on both sides. Spot welding is also known as resistance welding because it uses the metals resistance to electricity to heat the joint. (And aluminum has good conductivity but stainless does not.)
It depends on the aluminum alloy and the temper. Unlike plain carbon steel (which can be welded by almost any method) aluminum is much more dependent on the composition, thermal treatment and welding method. Some alloys like 2024 may only be fairly weldable by spot welding in an annealed condition, and any other combination is not reccomended. The main problem with "unweldable" aluminum is that those alloys degrade and become less resistant and more prone to corrosion. 1100, 6061 and 5052 alloys are in general weldable by most methods. I'm talking from what I can recall, ASM Metals Handbook and manufacturers datasheets will give you more reliable information and are readily available.
I recently acquired an 1835 'pillar and scroll' clock missing the minute hand, Like you, I'll try any thing once and digging around in my tools I found a nibbler, much like yours. It made quick work of roughing out a delicate and ornate design.
Good video! You missed one that's rarely used: Clinch riveting. One round punch forms two sheets together into a mushroom and locks the parts with the undercut forming in slightly. It's not used much because it kinda stinks. It doesn't hold very well and protrudes from the surface on one side and forms a pocket that's hard to paint or keep clean on the other. Forget I mentioned it.
I am a sign maker that cuts 063 aluminum all day long. Spiral up metal single flute bit with 60 to 70 Inches per min. 20000 spindle speed. Light oil or misting fluid. But the key is a vacuum table. Stick it down so it can’t move at all and you will be an aluminum cutting pro…
@@WesleyTreat Another option is what a lot of woodworkers use: cut close to the line with a jigsaw/etc., then use a pattern bit in your router--with the pattern stuck on the sheet to guide it--to trim to final size. You'll get a perfectly smooth cut and surface with just two passes.
@@WesleyTreat I do the same all day every day and use a single flute endmill with no coolant because I use a sheet of mdf as a spoil board. It honestly works great. If your spindle isn’t rigid, go slower than 60ipm, and make sure your tool stick out is short, and the endmill you use has a short flute. I cut 1/16in typically and use tools with a 1/4in flute length on a vacuum in a single pass. Also, my greatest purchase ever was a bench top buffing machine with a scotchbrite exl deburring wheel. The wheels are expensive, but last for a good time, and you will never want to touch sandpaper or files again.
I worked in a fabrication shop and we didn't have a bending machine we all did it vices and vice grips. Those screw rivets are so handy, they've so many uses and while you'd tap something if it needed to secure, they're really good for thin, light, fast work.
All your videos are excellent, informative and nicely paced. This one is no exception and is absolutely a must-watch for many makers. You do not assume we know anything and you take the time to explain things simply. Experts (like yourself) sometimes get a superiority complex, you have not fallen victim to that! Thank you!!❤
I worked for years at an aerospace company and saw your techniques plus a bunch more. I worked in the machine shop but the sheet metal guys were just across the aisle drilling, bucking and riveting. I still have a bucket of Clecos and some pliers in my garage. I remember they had some fixtures they would put a whole sheet of metal on and then rout out the whole sheet with a big template guiding them. Another place I worked we would cut big slabs of inches thick Alumium on a Craftsman table saw. We used a lot of WD40 to keep from binding up the blade.
Aah, we all have one - the bin of disused/unwise purchases that gather dust in a corner. Funny how, no matter how crowded the workshop gets, we never throw them away. That just guarantees that, two weeks after they go to the dump, you will have a job that can only be solved by that particular piece of cr&p, no matter how bad it performs.
One thing to note, if you are bending aluminum go with a 3000 or 5000 series alloy as they are softer and bend easily. 6061 alloy will tend to crack and break when bending as it is a harder alloy.
It's just a bigger pain in the butt to work with period. I had a fab job that required it. 3/16 plate. I had to score every break, it still split, and God help you if you over break it! It's stiff and it didn't give you nothing lol. Also, it welds like crap. I'll take 4043 any day
6061 can be bought dead soft or anything in between, it all depends on the temper ( T6 ) is usually referred to a aircraft grade and is quite hard if you use lower T numbers it will be softer.
@@chucksmalfus9623 I bend 2024-T3 all the time without cracking. The margin on the brake must be set for the correct radius and maybe a piece of softer 6061-T6 can be pre-bent and used for a radius in the brake. I've been building aircraft parts for 40 years and rarely ruin a piece of hard aluminum. I have used O condition and heat treated afterwards, but that's not usually necessary.
I have 2 Shopsmiths setup for my metal work. I love the shopsmith because its a variable speed so I can put metal cutting specific blades on it and lower the RPM to match the blade speed requirements for cutting steel. I have one setup as a table saw and the other setup for a sander. The nice part is being able to re-configure the setup for a drill or a router table. I've done a lot with a hand router and a wood pattern with a flush bit and its not for the faint of heart you just have to go slow and plan on bending or breaking a few bits. I did that up until I finally got a plasma cutter.
As a welder and plumber, I have complimented many welders and plumbers. I have also held my tongue many times when a weld looked OK but far beneath my standard or the plumbing wasn't done the way I would do it. But there is a lot of crap out there, welds that looks like bird shit, insufficient penetration, too much heat, plumbing that has inappropriate materials, poor routing, rubbing that might create a leak inside a wall years later, etc. I usually let people know when their welding or plumbing is garbage. Any way, I haven't seen you weld or plumb but if the reaction you get is so bad, you might have some Dunning-Kruger effect going on. Professionalism should include a certain amount of pride in craftsmanship that will make you strive to produce a product that will impress a professional. When I look at something I have made, the things that stand out to me are the details that didn't work out exactly as I planned or the one spot where my welds aren't as pretty as I like. A consumer that isn't a welder or plumber would almost certainly never notice the details that stick out like a sore thumb to me (because I know they are there). Another professional will notice those spots if I point it out or they examine it carefully but I have really fucked up if the first thing a pro says is "what happened here" referring to one of my less than perfect spots. Back to your video, hole saws can be great if you know what you are doing. I like a nice secure arbor to reduce chatter and walking. If you look at the saw material, it's like a bandsaw blade with the teeth pushed in and out in alternating fashion. If they cut a hole a bit bigger than you like, you can grind off a little of the outward bent teeth and sometimes that makes the hole saw cut smoother too. If you have a reasonable budget and need to do stuff like fishmouth thin wall tubes, look at rotary broaches (I think they are also called annular cutters). The cut quality is unmatched but you need a milling machine or a tube notcher to hold everything rigid during the cut. When drilling a hole for a rivet or self tapper, I would lay it out and use an automatic center punch to give your drill something to follow. I would also look at center drills and maybe extended length center drills. They are much more rigid with their large shank and I think the tip is a little better at following a center punch than a standard 118° drill tip. With all that said, I have done my fair share of sheet metal work and while I might have used slightly different tools, the only real.critique I can give is that the nose of the rocket is a focal point and you could have rolled one long piece to the radius of the rocket side, then bent it in your finger brake to create the point of the nose. That would be more symmetrical, less rivets. An average customer might never notice that but as a fabricator, that's the detail that sticks out, not because it looks bad or isn't a fine way to do it, it just makes me ask why. A reasonable answer would be "I didn't have a long enough piece of aluminum" or "I like rivets more than I like symmetry" but a lot of the time I hear stuff like "I didn't think of doing it that way" and I don't like to hear that from an artist or craftsman because that seems like a lack of creativity and the job of turning raw materials in to a quality product should use every bit of creativity you've got.
Creativity is honed by experience. Experience is paid for with mistakes or given by a teacher. Good thought about the rocket nose treatment. Metal cutting hole saws can be run in reverse to cut aluminum without grabbing. The angles are aggressive for steel and may be too steep for aluminum. A drop of peanut oil on the blade will improve cutting. 40 years ago I installed a number of coolant applicators on swing saws at UTC in Coldwater, MI. The big takeaway from that was the special coolant they were selling at $25.00/gallon was just peanut oil. It stops aluminum from smearing on the cutting edge.
@@OldSneelock thanks for the peanut oil trick. You probably know ths but a great lube for cutting acrylic and other plastics is kerosene. It's especially useful on clear plastics because it leaves the surface almost polished instead of cloudy.
I use different kinds of paint. Outdoor latex with a spray gun, Rust-Oleum, Montana Gold. They all have their place. Whatever you're comfortable with. I may do a video on painting and weathering at some point.
@WesleyTreat yes please. I don't have room to craft large things at home, but really enjoy watching your processes & hearing from a reasonable human who has a similar sense of humor is always a good way to learn.
Thank you this and every other video you have made, it's been incredibly valuable for my growth as a maker. I made my first 14' illuminated sheet metal marquee sign last year and it was incredibly satisfying, especially spraying it with the weathering fluid you suggested. One thing I've been doing with my aluminum project enclosures is flow drilling, it lets you make a tapped hole in thin material and saves on rivet nuts. I appreciate you!
I randomly came across this video, I’m a WELDER (not exactly a DILDO) with over 40 years experience and I will tell you that I’m very good at what I do but I’m also the first one to compliment another person for the quality of their work, although having a large ego is part of being a top notch welder I still believe that there is always someone better than you!
Rotabroach is a great aluminum hole cutting tool. They come in a few different sets. Small to large. They are a little expensive compared to hole saws but under $200 will get you set up with most of what you will need. And if you only use them on aluminum they stay sharp forever. But can be sharpened be a machinist.
I just learned a lot today. Did not know that there are so many different bending tools and metal cutting tools. The v-cutter is one of the most interesting one. So, yes, it is possible to bind metal without welding. My brother-in-law was a master welder until a massive tornado caused a major injury. Now he does other projects.
Very informative video. This is one where the YT algorithm gave me a subject I didn't know I needed to learn. All great recommendations and lots of work by the creator to provide links for the things I can't live without. I've already ordered the spring drill bit stops. I don't do much metal work but but I am really good at blowing out things behind holes I drill.
Seeing you use the clicos, took me back to my airframe mechanic days we used them all the time, such a handy little clamp. I've never seen them used outside of the aircraft industry. Thanks for the memory.
Hi Wesley. Great video, brother. As for end mills that will cut your aluminum in a single pass… I used 3/16” and 1/4” single flute end mills by Onsrud. This was at a large sign company that constantly kept the CNC running. The end mills lasted forever months and never seemed to dull. I only replaced them if they broke, which admittedly, would happen every couple of months. But yeah… single pass on 5052 aluminum, mostly .063 and .090 thickness… no problem at all.
I used those big metal shears (yellow handle, straight cut) to make aero mods for my cars out of galvanized sheet steel flashing, flat and l-shaped aluminum bars, pop rivets, and slotted hex washer head sheet metal screws. Used pliers, screwdriver, and hammer to fold over the edges to keep them nice and safe. Purely for fuel efficiency. Got 4.25% improvement in mpg at 55mph out of my 05 Accord from a subset of the mods.
All good information! You are correct, It's not as difficult as most people think. the most difficult part of getting into metalworking projects is to stop overthinking things. Thanks for sharing!
I love the rivets that are called multi-grip. Just like it sounds they are pop rivets that have multiple crumple zones that can be used on varying thickness up to their maximum. They fold outwards and sort of make their own backing washer. I used to get them at TrueValue hardware stores but sadly I haven’t seen them in a long time.
28:10 my great grandpa machined his own hole cutter. its essentially a very tiny fly cutter you might find on a mill, but its very small and its balanced so you can free hand it. he made a very tiny cutting tooth for it (like a inner groove cutter nub) so it has a kerf of maybe 1/8 inch or a bit less. it has the option to use a pilot bit or not so you can have an unmarred disc if you are chucked up in the drill press or use a pilot bit for free handing it. its pretty awesome. to adjust the size of the hole, you just turn a screw which moves the cutter in or out from the center. its basically what your spade cutter is doing, only mine is adjustable and has one cutter nub instead of the two on a spade bit. it seems like you just want a tiny fly cutter
I used to work in the sign industry as a CNC operator and we used the 3/16" Onsrud "O Flute" end mill for cutting pretty much everything. Wood, plastic, aluminum, etc. I'm sorry, but I don't remember the speeds etc or if it was an up or down cut, but it's a great end mill. Much quieter than a 2/3/4 flute end mill too.
Great video. I had a seamless aluminum gutter business years ago. What we used to cut sheetmetal straps and splashguards was a swing line maple wood based paper cutter 18". works great
If somebody didn't want to cut those notches to bend over the flange it is possible to hammer it over the form. It takes patience and aneeling with a torch can be helpful but it's pretty cool to have a perfectly smooth curve rather than a series of straight lines. It's also stronger and more resilient rather than having all those cuts in the flange.
Great presentation. I recommend using peanut oil on cutting tools. It prevents the aluminum from heating from friction and smearing on the cutting edges. I purchased special applicators on swing saws at UTC's Extrusion Plant in Coldwater, MI. The applicator applied a mist on the blade just as it entered the cut. It increased the time between sharpening many times. We went through 100,000 lbs of extrusions in 3 lines every day. That is a lot of cutting. I also had the same equipment installed on a unique machine that drilled two 1/16" holes in a small button called a collar extender. The peanut oil made all the difference in the world. The drill bits that use to break off once an hour lasted a day or more. Lard works okay. Lubricity is fine and the cost is low. Biggest draw back is it gets rancid and that is not a good thing. Peanut oil is cheap, works well, easy to find, and unlike oil, cleans up easily with soap and water. Saw blades for aluminum production are ground to a triple chip configuration. It provides a smoother cut with little or no burr. Love the sign. 😁😎
don't use peanut oil. It has a relatively low flashover point, and can cause a fire when used as a "coolant" for cnc cutting. Use proper water-soluable cutting oils,, they work much better, and are much safer. (Not to mention peanut oil will go rancid in no time in a shop environment)
harbor freight has two different brands of spade bit with the spurs. I've had the same set for 20 years, I don't use them a lot but I've used them enough to realize they work as intended and I've never been disappointed by them. they don't make as a nice a hole in wood was a forstner bit but you can actually score the hole by running them backwards first for a second when using them in wood. I often used them when I need to put a hole in something with a regular drill and not a drill press by clamping a scrap piece of 2x4 with the same size hole over the workpiece to use as a guide. none of that really matters for aluminum but it helps make spade bits more useful.
I make roofing from time to time and I use nibler, and few years back I boght one wich have set of two cuters- first is nibler make those quater moon she..t and second make same springi croll like Ur shear. And work realy good. I use it all the time.
The deburring tool that you said was for holes can also be used for straight lines and radii... you want to hold the handle almost parallel and draw back towards yourself. You can basically tear the burr off of most cuts with one swipe and then go on to your sandpaper or file to get the chamfer or radius that you want. I am a Tool and Diemaker by the way so I know a thing or two about metalworking. Maybe I should make a video... that is a very handy tool that I use regularly.
A 40 min metal working class? Yes please! It's just riveting content from beginning to end! Seriously though. This format is great. Please do more.
Pun intended?
Yeah, this was my first introduction, and it was amazing.
@@Nevir202 always
@@Geeksmithing A man of culture...
When using tubes like the JB-Weld, don't open the cap: unfold the other end, snip a tiny corner and squeeze the product out, then crimp the end up again with pliers and refold. This is a far more airtight method, especially for highly volatile products like shoe glue.
Thanks!
🤔 Genius idea…thanks. 🙏🍷🎩🎩🎩✌️
huh interesting!
I will definitely be trying this. It’s so annoying when the caps crack and then it makes a mess everywhere
Thx, very helpful
My grandfather was a world class sheet metal expert. Worked for a company back in the day called Metal Door & Trim. He taught himself trig after quitting school young to work and help support his family, and could calculate things like making a curved metal door for a curved room.
In his later years, his car was rusting out around his headlight, so formed a replacement for the area out of thin sheet metal which came out perfect, but not strong enough to hold up to even moderate pressure, he created a cavity inside for a layer of concrete to give it backing strength. We used to joke if he ever hit another car it would cut through it like butter!
Concrete? • An early DIY'er, to say the very least!
Ok I'm calling it 'Alumium' from now on.
also: "I hate this tool, let's give it a try!" earned you a lifelong sub. That thing is basically a caltrop maker
If you are going to get into riveting, and doing a lot of it, save your hand, invest in a powered rivet gun. Pneumatic, electric, whatever you choose, a powered rivet gun will keep you from having to spend all that rivet gun money on painkillers and wrist braces.
"Get in to riveting"...try actually actually paying attention. He has a pneumatic and has been riveting for years.
@@higgy82 I believe he was talking to those who are NOT already "riveting".
Yes, but with any tool, master the hand powered one before buying a powered one.
Another tip for beguinner riveters: you don't need a rivet squeezer to put solid rivets, you can do it old school with a small ballpen hammer and a hand-held anvil. It _(edit: the squeezer)_ just makes it *so much* easier.
...and don't forget the hearing protection.
My first day working with an electric rivet gun ended with me being unable to hear my wife that night. I made damn sure I supplied my own earplugs for the rest of that job.
I find making holes is boring, but attaching the metal together afterwards is riveting!
Pardon the pun!!! LOL
good comment, better than the video
Oh. Oh no.
🤣
Ha. Well done. Well done
I am a pre you tube self taught metal maker since elementary school. I just sent this video to my new apprentice. 40 minutes with you would take months to cover in the normal course of things. Great work, balanced, honest. You earned a sub
I really like this format. Your humor has always been great, but this "I'm showing my brother's kid how to do it" vibe is really cool.
Yep I wholeheartedly agree!
Z0@@MrAlFuture
My friend, Jonni Good from Ultimate Paper Machi, forwarded you video to me. I used to work in a small steel fabrication shop. I was a laser operator, and I would look the things that I was throwing away. What can I make with this??? Later on, I bought a small CNC plasma cutter and a welder. I made and sold some metal art. Some things were dog silhouettes on a rod, and other things were multiple parts and 3D to make a flower. My sales friend and I started the business, but COVID shut me down. The sheet metal scraps from work saved me a lot of money. I sure miss making things with my CNC. I made a lot of custom programs. Your work is a little different than mine. Thanks for the video. I love watching people create things.
❤ Jonni Good
This is a lovely comment.
The ratio for a caulk gun is the thrust factor that will be applied to the tube plunger from the force of you squeezing the handle. You apply 10 lbs of force, and it will apply 80 lbs to the plunger.
I was less than 10 seconds into the video before I had to comment on it. No plumber has ever looked at someone else's plumbing and said that guy knows how to plum. I just about spit out my coffee. No mechanic has ever looked at someone else's mechanic work and said that guy knows what he's doing it's so funny and I don't know why it is but it's so true.
It's because you don't see the good work just the bad one because the good doesn't generally fail but is also close to stock you you may not even notice you only notice the bad work
@james10739 it's also competition
Meh.
I am a remodeler.
We compliment each other all the time.
Or wreck each other alike. Lol
I tiled the NoWear BMX Park bathrooms, volunteered.
Got a lot of great feedback...
And still got shit on, too.
People get jealous or something when someone gets to do something fun and they don't..?
Several tradesmen have said the new houses my partner and I were building were like a big piece of furniture. We are each, joiners. Joinery is doors, cupboards, and other fitted furniture. Following that great earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand eleven years back, the thirty duplexes, we built, were structurally sound.
Regarding hole saws, my job as an industrial electrical engineer (since the mid 1970s) meant I had to use them on a regular basis. I never found one type that really pleased me - thin replaceable blade ones used to burn out the teeth and thicker bladed ones (e.g.Sandvik etc.) were darned expensive (and still burned out teeth!) Recently though, after decades of going through all sorts of arrangements, I found the ABRACS brand. With one arbor, you can fit many hole size cobalt blades (virtually without tools) and I've cut even 2 inch holes in steel I beams` without any tooth damage. Worth the investment, and you don't have to buy all the sizes at once, although they do make sets with multiple sized blades, arbor and pilot drill all in a handy case. I'm not sponsored - just very impressed!
For metal i like to use Greenlee type punches (slug busters) but I know there are still many places where a hole saw is needed. It depends what I'm doing as to which one I use but I have a set that is for metal only that work well but only go to 2" conduit size. Diablo makes a great set for wood that are deeper than standard and cut really well
Really well done - THANKS!
As a longtime metal fabricator, I must say this is the best video on the covered topics of binding sheet metal EVER! In less than 40 minutes, too!
Im a automotive sheet metal worker and coach builder I can't say I disagreed with any of your statements and I watched the whole thing and learnt some things myself
The first nibbler I bought (to mod a computer case for my nephew) was a hand tool. The window in the computer case was incomplete when I bought my second nibbler. It was an attatchment for a hand drill. Like your pneumatic version, it threw the bites all over the place. Cleaning them up reminded me to wear gloves when dealing with metal. This also caused me to tape a shop vac hose to the drill to collect those bites. The ability to cut straight lines, then curves, and turn tight corners, all without changing tools, convinced me the nibbler was a brilliant invention.
Agreed!
I've helped a friend of mine build a few pieces of Plate-mail (just for show) out of thin steel sheets and without his nibbler some of the work would've just been very inconvenient and even more time-consuming.
Amen.
Nibblers and routers - two tools that in the hands of an amateur they produce make a mess, but in the hands of someone skilled they produce works of art.
No other tool can do what the nibbler does, if it did there wouldn't be a nibbler.
25:55 he is just biased and my guess is it's based on his early experience with them just like you. Unlike him you figured it out though 😉
I'm pretty certain that, in all my time on RUclips, I've never learned so much from one video. Brilliant content, brilliantly produced, brilliantly edited, and brilliantly entertaining., Brilliant :)
😳🤔 Well, that was 38 minutes I thoroughly enjoyed, thank you! 👍👍👍
I was in the military years ago and used to spend a lot of time after work visiting our aircraft machine shop, which had what appeared to me was an unlimited supply of scrap stainless, brass, copper, aluminum and titanium in the various waste bins.
These were often "pocket-size" 😂😂😂 making them perfect size for my RC model building project's where I made car frames, spoilers, rear wings, headers/tuned exhaust pipes for the small two-stroke nitro engines... pretty much everything I could manufacture on my own and save money or make them for friends.
Seeing you build these signs by hand brings back a lot of fond memories! :-)
Love seeing someone use words like thaumaturgy in an everyday situation.
When a thaum meter comes in handy!
@ChiChi-r4o
Ahhh, so you dont know what it means huh? You do realize that dictionaries exist... Right?
as a handyguy, I appreciate your inclusion of simple tools. creative!
Wesley Treat, for Mayor of all internet woodworkers/crafts ppl. Earnest, smart, no condescension, and a well of useful info and real no bullshit commentary on tools and techniques, not to mention entertaining.
You have made me more confident in simply just beginning so many times.
For your holes, you can get any spade bit and grind the sides to whatever shape you want. You can make some interesting patterns in wood using the same technique.
Thanks!
Thank you! 👍
A trick if you use an air nibbler. Get a small drink bottle with the neck opening the same size or slightly smaller than the nibbler head. force it on maybe with a little heat till it stays. This will catch almost all of chips.
Nice work. You explain things beautifully. Came to see an expert craftsman and left with a vocabulary lesson.
Great video, just subbed!
For deburring, my go-to is a convolute wheel mounted on a pedestal grinder. Some people call them ScotchBrite wheels or Beartex wheels, but there are several brands, widths, diameters, hardnesses, and grit types to suit your application.
I use my 1"w x 6"d wheel for deburring sheet metal, machinings, structural metals, sharpening knives, polishing hammer faces and bucking bar faces, and many other uses. With a full sheetmetal shop, weld shop, and fabrication shop, that wheel gets used more than any other tool.
They're not cheap, but if you get the right one for what you're doing, it will last a long time.
They work better and much faster than any method I've found.
This is cool. I've been an aircraft structure mechanic for 25 years and always wondered how to translate what I do into something other than aircraft maintenance. That looks like a fun project.
Wesley you are contributing to my tool addiction 😳 not to mention my skill set. I thank you sir. 😎
I can back up your claim even further. About twenty years ago I took some empty squirt brand soda cans, an exacto blade, scissors, super glue and coins and drill bits for forming, a little rubber cement for temporary holds, basic C-clamps, etc and made an airplane using yellow cans for most of the fuselage, red ones for the propeller and tail season and silver canopy, nose cone and landing gear. It had wheels that rolled, and the propeller spun and looked both fake and realistic at the same time. Nothing but alumium cans and super glue. So difficult that it was a challenge, yet easy and safe enough for a teenager to do.
Aloha Wesley, and one more thing….at Home Depot or Lowes….in the soldering section or welding, they sell these rods(labeled for different metals)for like brazing or “welding” with a torch. They sell those rods for alumium lol, too but they sell out fast. Try a small piece and bash it with a hammer to test the strength….simple to use, try it out Braddah!? Mahalo nui….
something worth mentioning is that after you have run your material through the roller turn it around and run it through again to remove the flat spot that was left on the first pass. thanks for the video. good stuff.
Totally on board with you on this, many people over look working with alumium (that's so much easier to type), when making products they want to sell. I fell into it by accident, never looked back, before that, chaning a fuse was about as hands on as I got with anything.
If you have a bench grinder, get a fibre wheel for it for deburring, it does it in a fraction of a time.
As for the CNC on alu, if you want to take decent cuts in it, get DLC coated bits, single flutes, they cut clean, fast and no lubricant required. I have numerous vids on my channel about this, I cut up to 3mm thick in single pass with these daily. They'll certainly do the 1-2mm no problen and fast! i cut 2mm alu 24k RPM, 1500mm per minute cut speed, with a 3mm (1/8th) bit 90% of the time. Thats on 1050, 5000, 6000 series alloys! A lot of 1050, that's my go to and that;s the one they tell you, you can't machine - I have videos on that too!
Thanks!
A Rip Taylor joke!?!?! Oh we are *old* my friend!
I was hoping that I wasn't the only one that caught that reference.
@@Smedleydog1 I had a "what year is this?" moment at that!
Did you catch the green stamp reference too.
i learned more here in 30 min than i did in 2 years of shop class!
You can grind spurs onto any spade bit. You can even grind regular twist drills to work as sheet metal drill bits for smaller holes.
Genius teaching video! I've got a few projects lined up for our motorhome that require this sort of tool work; your info has come along at exactly the right time. 👏 👏 👏
The trick that 99% of internet experts (and too many real experts, too) fail to mention: Cutting sheet metal with a jigsaw is *noisy.* Not a big deal, but you better plan accordingly. (Example: If you're not working in a dedicated workshop like Wesley but in your own home, warn your spouse before cutting, and try not to do it during times when there is something they want to watch on TV.)
The hero we didn’t know we needed. Saving marriages one RUclips comment at a time.
I been wanting to do a vehicle camping build with aluminum. Your tips working with aluminum has helped some. Thx u.
A good horizontal bandsaw was the first big investment in my shop, and I still use it all the time. Definitely worth the extra cost to get a swivel head style, in my opinion, it makes changing the angle sooo much easier.
I love to weld, and i LOVE to help teach others, and love to learn from others that are better or have better ideas. It's all art to me.
Wow! Thank you for this. I feel like I've learned a decade or more worth of wisdom during these 40 mins.
On your paddle bits, use a dye grinder and cut back the middles of the flat spots on each side. Form a cutting bure on the outer edge, then sharpen it. Be careful not to overheat the bit while grinding.
If you do accidentally overheat and lose the temper in the metal, you can retemper it with your propane torch and your kitchen oven. There are many videos that teach how to temper metal.
I enjoyed the video. It was very informitive and well produced.
Thank you very much. J.D. Body Art and Signs (Old Barguy)
Another note on the table saw use. Metal shavings can set fire to your wood dust collection system.
Nice! I've been welding (and a welding supervisor, and a weld engineer, of sorts) since the 1980's. I was trained in school (half of the welders reading this are already thinking I know nothing, now), have a stack of qualification certs bigger than I can measure with a 300mm rule (pissing more of them off), and I am not a great welder. If it meets requirements, that is what matters. Your welds are fine.
With all of this, I just riveted my new shed together. Faster, easier, did the job. Fit, tack with a Cleco, drill the rest, lay in sealer, reassemble, and rivet. Fast. Easy. Sufficient, and will never leak. Used the hydraulic shear, break, and Beverly at work for the flat sections, used an air hand shear for the galvalum siding, and an air nibbler for a couple penetrations. Greenlee chassis punches for other penetrations.
I did do the edges with a flap style scotchbrite disk on a grinder and a hand file.
With that, I learned a few more things to try next time. (and from the comments, as well) Thanks
This is a superb video, thanks for making it! My dad was an aircraft airframe designer so I grew up with this stuff, I use it for making valve amplifiers from aluminium and copper. The pop rivets are also available in a version for aircraft and ducting where there is no hole in the middle. Thanks for the tip on threaed inserts, I didn't know they existed outside of electrically spot welded types. Oh and the 'Knockout Punches' - yeah, i bought a set in 2003 and it took several days of searching to find out what they where called - they are like antipasta, try finding that in the supermarket!
Watching this video brought back memories of the two years I spent doing skin repairs on aircraft components back in the early eighties.
I haven't tried them yet, but the spade bit photos on the Harbor Freight site show that they also have the cutting spurs... Cheap enough to find out how well they work.
Good catch.
Bosch also make spade bits with spurs.
@@LittlePrince395 Yes, but they also have a twist to them, which makes them nice and aggressive in wood, but maybe too aggressive in aluminum. That's the reason I didn't suggest Bosch.
@@swp466 you mean alumium?;)
@@LittlePrince395 That too ;)
This is a perfect video. Covers everything thoroughly. Way to go. Also, riveting.
I enjoyed the video. In the steel yard we would crank up the stick welder and drag a new rod across the aluminum sheet and it would perforate a line to break off for recycling. Crude but quick
I use a paint scraper for de-burring metal or making a small chamfers. You need to grind a new rake and I usually flatten out the profile a bit too. Works on plastic, wood long grain, mild steel, aluminum, copper, just about anything softer than the blade hardness. Change the rake to the hardness of the material. Reduce rake if you get chatter. I adjust the rake so that it pulls clean long shavings. Sharpen till you run out of material. One blade lasts me a year. Also you can make this in any shape you need for the job. It takes a little getting use to but once you get the hang of it, I haven't found better. I also sharpen the rake freehand as you can shape the profile edge for the job.
I've been told that spot welding aluminum is not possible. But I saw a guy on line do it by putting a scrap of stainless steel on both sides. Spot welding is also known as resistance welding because it uses the metals resistance to electricity to heat the joint. (And aluminum has good conductivity but stainless does not.)
It depends on the aluminum alloy and the temper. Unlike plain carbon steel (which can be welded by almost any method) aluminum is much more dependent on the composition, thermal treatment and welding method. Some alloys like 2024 may only be fairly weldable by spot welding in an annealed condition, and any other combination is not reccomended. The main problem with "unweldable" aluminum is that those alloys degrade and become less resistant and more prone to corrosion. 1100, 6061 and 5052 alloys are in general weldable by most methods. I'm talking from what I can recall, ASM Metals Handbook and manufacturers datasheets will give you more reliable information and are readily available.
I recently acquired an 1835 'pillar and scroll' clock missing the minute hand, Like you, I'll try any thing once and digging around in my tools I found a nibbler, much like yours. It made quick work of roughing out a delicate and ornate design.
It's always neat seeing peoples different approaches to amulimum fabrication
Good video! You missed one that's rarely used: Clinch riveting. One round punch forms two sheets together into a mushroom and locks the parts with the undercut forming in slightly. It's not used much because it kinda stinks. It doesn't hold very well and protrudes from the surface on one side and forms a pocket that's hard to paint or keep clean on the other. Forget I mentioned it.
I am a sign maker that cuts 063 aluminum all day long. Spiral up metal single flute bit with 60 to 70 Inches per min. 20000 spindle speed. Light oil or misting fluid. But the key is a vacuum table. Stick it down so it can’t move at all and you will be an aluminum cutting pro…
Yeah, that's my holdup. I hate using lubrication on the CNC, because I use it for wood, too.
@@WesleyTreatwouldn't a sacrificial sheet of mdf help? From what I've seen just a few drops of WD40 goes a long way as coolant
@@WesleyTreat Another option is what a lot of woodworkers use: cut close to the line with a jigsaw/etc., then use a pattern bit in your router--with the pattern stuck on the sheet to guide it--to trim to final size. You'll get a perfectly smooth cut and surface with just two passes.
@@KeithOlsonhe said he tried that a long time ago and hated it.
@@WesleyTreat I do the same all day every day and use a single flute endmill with no coolant because I use a sheet of mdf as a spoil board. It honestly works great. If your spindle isn’t rigid, go slower than 60ipm, and make sure your tool stick out is short, and the endmill you use has a short flute. I cut 1/16in typically and use tools with a 1/4in flute length on a vacuum in a single pass. Also, my greatest purchase ever was a bench top buffing machine with a scotchbrite exl deburring wheel. The wheels are expensive, but last for a good time, and you will never want to touch sandpaper or files again.
Nice video, very interesting. All your experience in 38 minutes. Thank you.
One of the best RUclips videos I've ever seen in any aspect. Thanks!
I worked in a fabrication shop and we didn't have a bending machine we all did it vices and vice grips. Those screw rivets are so handy, they've so many uses and while you'd tap something if it needed to secure, they're really good for thin, light, fast work.
Do you mean Cleco's....? Screw rivets?
All your videos are excellent, informative and nicely paced. This one is no exception and is absolutely a must-watch for many makers. You do not assume we know anything and you take the time to explain things simply. Experts (like yourself) sometimes get a superiority complex, you have not fallen victim to that! Thank you!!❤
I worked for years at an aerospace company and saw your techniques plus a bunch more. I worked in the machine shop but the sheet metal guys were just across the aisle drilling, bucking and riveting. I still have a bucket of Clecos and some pliers in my garage. I remember they had some fixtures they would put a whole sheet of metal on and then rout out the whole sheet with a big template guiding them. Another place I worked we would cut big slabs of inches thick Alumium on a Craftsman table saw. We used a lot of WD40 to keep from binding up the blade.
Aah, we all have one - the bin of disused/unwise purchases that gather dust in a corner. Funny how, no matter how crowded the workshop gets, we never throw them away. That just guarantees that, two weeks after they go to the dump, you will have a job that can only be solved by that particular piece of cr&p, no matter how bad it performs.
We all grow together by sharing together. Thank you, for helping others build their skills.
One thing to note, if you are bending aluminum go with a 3000 or 5000 series alloy as they are softer and bend easily. 6061 alloy will tend to crack and break when bending as it is a harder alloy.
It's just a bigger pain in the butt to work with period.
I had a fab job that required it. 3/16 plate. I had to score every break, it still split, and God help you if you over break it! It's stiff and it didn't give you nothing lol.
Also, it welds like crap.
I'll take 4043 any day
6061 can be bought dead soft or anything in between, it all depends on the temper ( T6 ) is usually referred to a aircraft grade and is quite hard if you use lower T numbers it will be softer.
@@chucksmalfus9623, Yes Sir, you are correct, When making aircraft frame repairs (forming) we would use 2024-0 and have the parts heat treated.
@@chucksmalfus9623 I bend 2024-T3 all the time without cracking. The margin on the brake must be set for the correct radius and maybe a piece of softer 6061-T6 can be pre-bent and used for a radius in the brake. I've been building aircraft parts for 40 years and rarely ruin a piece of hard aluminum. I have used O condition and heat treated afterwards, but that's not usually necessary.
You did a great job of explaining the whole process and the tools.
Sandpaper on Aluminum edges seems a great way to come up with new cuss words.
Only if you forget to pay attention & let your fingers hit the edge before the paper does.
@@Tinker001 That's why a simple metal file (highly sofisticated tool) can be yor best friend.
@@notfeedynotlazy Yet not as easy to use for the task as a simple bit of sandpaper.
@@Tinker001 My own 30 years of experience using files tend to disagree.
Use textile backed sandpaper, not the cheap paper back sandpaper
I love the fact that you explain each tool
Harbor freight paddle bit Warrior brand still have the spurs. Great video!!
Also those spurs can easily be sharpened over and over. Framers usually toss them once the cutting flat portion is dull. Great garage sale pick up.
Diablo bits have them as well.
I have 2 Shopsmiths setup for my metal work. I love the shopsmith because its a variable speed so I can put metal cutting specific blades on it and lower the RPM to match the blade speed requirements for cutting steel. I have one setup as a table saw and the other setup for a sander. The nice part is being able to re-configure the setup for a drill or a router table. I've done a lot with a hand router and a wood pattern with a flush bit and its not for the faint of heart you just have to go slow and plan on bending or breaking a few bits. I did that up until I finally got a plasma cutter.
In the best way possible, you remind me of Alton Brown.
Sanding sponge blocks are lovely for deburring, and make great, CONSISTENT, soft edges on metal :)
As a welder and plumber, I have complimented many welders and plumbers. I have also held my tongue many times when a weld looked OK but far beneath my standard or the plumbing wasn't done the way I would do it. But there is a lot of crap out there, welds that looks like bird shit, insufficient penetration, too much heat, plumbing that has inappropriate materials, poor routing, rubbing that might create a leak inside a wall years later, etc. I usually let people know when their welding or plumbing is garbage.
Any way, I haven't seen you weld or plumb but if the reaction you get is so bad, you might have some Dunning-Kruger effect going on.
Professionalism should include a certain amount of pride in craftsmanship that will make you strive to produce a product that will impress a professional. When I look at something I have made, the things that stand out to me are the details that didn't work out exactly as I planned or the one spot where my welds aren't as pretty as I like. A consumer that isn't a welder or plumber would almost certainly never notice the details that stick out like a sore thumb to me (because I know they are there). Another professional will notice those spots if I point it out or they examine it carefully but I have really fucked up if the first thing a pro says is "what happened here" referring to one of my less than perfect spots.
Back to your video, hole saws can be great if you know what you are doing. I like a nice secure arbor to reduce chatter and walking. If you look at the saw material, it's like a bandsaw blade with the teeth pushed in and out in alternating fashion. If they cut a hole a bit bigger than you like, you can grind off a little of the outward bent teeth and sometimes that makes the hole saw cut smoother too. If you have a reasonable budget and need to do stuff like fishmouth thin wall tubes, look at rotary broaches (I think they are also called annular cutters). The cut quality is unmatched but you need a milling machine or a tube notcher to hold everything rigid during the cut.
When drilling a hole for a rivet or self tapper, I would lay it out and use an automatic center punch to give your drill something to follow. I would also look at center drills and maybe extended length center drills. They are much more rigid with their large shank and I think the tip is a little better at following a center punch than a standard 118° drill tip.
With all that said, I have done my fair share of sheet metal work and while I might have used slightly different tools, the only real.critique I can give is that the nose of the rocket is a focal point and you could have rolled one long piece to the radius of the rocket side, then bent it in your finger brake to create the point of the nose. That would be more symmetrical, less rivets. An average customer might never notice that but as a fabricator, that's the detail that sticks out, not because it looks bad or isn't a fine way to do it, it just makes me ask why. A reasonable answer would be "I didn't have a long enough piece of aluminum" or "I like rivets more than I like symmetry" but a lot of the time I hear stuff like "I didn't think of doing it that way" and I don't like to hear that from an artist or craftsman because that seems like a lack of creativity and the job of turning raw materials in to a quality product should use every bit of creativity you've got.
TLDR
@@HBSuccess I'm glad that you know your limitations.
Creativity is honed by experience.
Experience is paid for with mistakes or given by a teacher.
Good thought about the rocket nose treatment.
Metal cutting hole saws can be run in reverse to cut aluminum without grabbing. The angles are aggressive for steel and may be too steep for aluminum.
A drop of peanut oil on the blade will improve cutting.
40 years ago I installed a number of coolant applicators on swing saws at UTC in Coldwater, MI. The big takeaway from that was the special coolant they were selling at $25.00/gallon was just peanut oil.
It stops aluminum from smearing on the cutting edge.
@@OldSneelock thanks for the peanut oil trick. You probably know ths but a great lube for cutting acrylic and other plastics is kerosene. It's especially useful on clear plastics because it leaves the surface almost polished instead of cloudy.
Thankyou. Great no BS & over complicated/technical info
What about painting, any advice? Is it necessary to use some kind of grounding or just regular spray cans?
I use different kinds of paint. Outdoor latex with a spray gun, Rust-Oleum, Montana Gold. They all have their place. Whatever you're comfortable with. I may do a video on painting and weathering at some point.
@@WesleyTreat I'm waiting for that video 🥳
@WesleyTreat yes please. I don't have room to craft large things at home, but really enjoy watching your processes & hearing from a reasonable human who has a similar sense of humor is always a good way to learn.
Thank you this and every other video you have made, it's been incredibly valuable for my growth as a maker. I made my first 14' illuminated sheet metal marquee sign last year and it was incredibly satisfying, especially spraying it with the weathering fluid you suggested. One thing I've been doing with my aluminum project enclosures is flow drilling, it lets you make a tapped hole in thin material and saves on rivet nuts. I appreciate you!
Awesome!
Yeah alumium is pretty good. I may well adopt that.
Fasteners? Fasternating.
This is one of the best aluminum metalworking videos I've come across!
Thanks!
This video was so fun, I hated for it to end.
I randomly came across this video, I’m a WELDER (not exactly a DILDO) with over 40 years experience and I will tell you that I’m very good at what I do but I’m also the first one to compliment another person for the quality of their work, although having a large ego is part of being a top notch welder I still believe that there is always someone better than you!
That section on Fasteners was riveting.
Rotabroach is a great aluminum hole cutting tool. They come in a few different sets. Small to large. They are a little expensive compared to hole saws but under $200 will get you set up with most of what you will need. And if you only use them on aluminum they stay sharp forever. But can be sharpened be a machinist.
As an armchair welder, rocket scientist, wood worker, brain surgeon, and carpenter ... you dun it all wrong.
I just learned a lot today. Did not know that there are so many different bending tools and metal cutting tools. The v-cutter is one of the most interesting one. So, yes, it is possible to bind metal without welding. My brother-in-law was a master welder until a massive tornado caused a major injury. Now he does other projects.
Ah so the spurred spade bit is Wesley's version of the Adam Savage mechanical pencil.
Very informative video. This is one where the YT algorithm gave me a subject I didn't know I needed to learn. All great recommendations and lots of work by the creator to provide links for the things I can't live without. I've already ordered the spring drill bit stops. I don't do much metal work but but I am really good at blowing out things behind holes I drill.
So what you’re saying is I should start my own RUclips channel and I’ll soon be an expert because of all of the comments from experts….
Seeing you use the clicos, took me back to my airframe mechanic days we used them all the time, such a handy little clamp. I've never seen them used outside of the aircraft industry. Thanks for the memory.
Yea for the Rip Taylor reference! 🎉🎉
Hi Wesley. Great video, brother. As for end mills that will cut your aluminum in a single pass… I used 3/16” and 1/4” single flute end mills by Onsrud. This was at a large sign company that constantly kept the CNC running. The end mills lasted forever months and never seemed to dull. I only replaced them if they broke, which admittedly, would happen every couple of months.
But yeah… single pass on 5052 aluminum, mostly .063 and .090 thickness… no problem at all.
I used those big metal shears (yellow handle, straight cut) to make aero mods for my cars out of galvanized sheet steel flashing, flat and l-shaped aluminum bars, pop rivets, and slotted hex washer head sheet metal screws. Used pliers, screwdriver, and hammer to fold over the edges to keep them nice and safe. Purely for fuel efficiency. Got 4.25% improvement in mpg at 55mph out of my 05 Accord from a subset of the mods.
All good information! You are correct, It's not as difficult as most people think. the most difficult part of getting into metalworking projects is to stop overthinking things. Thanks for sharing!
I love the rivets that are called multi-grip. Just like it sounds they are pop rivets that have multiple crumple zones that can be used on varying thickness up to their maximum. They fold outwards and sort of make their own backing washer.
I used to get them at TrueValue hardware stores but sadly I haven’t seen them in a long time.
28:10 my great grandpa machined his own hole cutter. its essentially a very tiny fly cutter you might find on a mill, but its very small and its balanced so you can free hand it. he made a very tiny cutting tooth for it (like a inner groove cutter nub) so it has a kerf of maybe 1/8 inch or a bit less. it has the option to use a pilot bit or not so you can have an unmarred disc if you are chucked up in the drill press or use a pilot bit for free handing it. its pretty awesome. to adjust the size of the hole, you just turn a screw which moves the cutter in or out from the center.
its basically what your spade cutter is doing, only mine is adjustable and has one cutter nub instead of the two on a spade bit. it seems like you just want a tiny fly cutter
I used to work in the sign industry as a CNC operator and we used the 3/16" Onsrud "O Flute" end mill for cutting pretty much everything. Wood, plastic, aluminum, etc. I'm sorry, but I don't remember the speeds etc or if it was an up or down cut, but it's a great end mill. Much quieter than a 2/3/4 flute end mill too.
Great video. I had a seamless aluminum gutter business years ago. What we used to cut sheetmetal straps and splashguards was a swing line maple wood based paper cutter 18". works great
Great video.
Knipex pliers wrench works great for bending small pieces of metal and not damaging the surface.
If somebody didn't want to cut those notches to bend over the flange it is possible to hammer it over the form.
It takes patience and aneeling with a torch can be helpful but it's pretty cool to have a perfectly smooth curve rather than a series of straight lines. It's also stronger and more resilient rather than having all those cuts in the flange.
Great presentation.
I recommend using peanut oil on cutting tools. It prevents the aluminum from heating from friction and smearing on the cutting edges.
I purchased special applicators on swing saws at UTC's Extrusion Plant in Coldwater, MI. The applicator applied a mist on the blade just as it entered the cut. It increased the time between sharpening many times. We went through 100,000 lbs of extrusions in 3 lines every day. That is a lot of cutting.
I also had the same equipment installed on a unique machine that drilled two 1/16" holes in a small button called a collar extender. The peanut oil made all the difference in the world. The drill bits that use to break off once an hour lasted a day or more.
Lard works okay. Lubricity is fine and the cost is low. Biggest draw back is it gets rancid and that is not a good thing.
Peanut oil is cheap, works well, easy to find, and unlike oil, cleans up easily with soap and water.
Saw blades for aluminum production are ground to a triple chip configuration.
It provides a smoother cut with little or no burr.
Love the sign. 😁😎
don't use peanut oil. It has a relatively low flashover point, and can cause a fire when used as a "coolant" for cnc cutting. Use proper water-soluable cutting oils,, they work much better, and are much safer. (Not to mention peanut oil will go rancid in no time in a shop environment)
harbor freight has two different brands of spade bit with the spurs. I've had the same set for 20 years, I don't use them a lot but I've used them enough to realize they work as intended and I've never been disappointed by them. they don't make as a nice a hole in wood was a forstner bit but you can actually score the hole by running them backwards first for a second when using them in wood. I often used them when I need to put a hole in something with a regular drill and not a drill press by clamping a scrap piece of 2x4 with the same size hole over the workpiece to use as a guide. none of that really matters for aluminum but it helps make spade bits more useful.
Thanks Wesley for your awesome video. You covered a lot of ground and it’s very helpful to newbies to aluminum fabrication like myself.
I make roofing from time to time and I use nibler, and few years back I boght one wich have set of two cuters- first is nibler make those quater moon she..t and second make same springi croll like Ur shear. And work realy good. I use it all the time.
The deburring tool that you said was for holes can also be used for straight lines and radii... you want to hold the handle almost parallel and draw back towards yourself.
You can basically tear the burr off of most cuts with one swipe and then go on to your sandpaper or file to get the chamfer or radius that you want.
I am a Tool and Diemaker by the way so I know a thing or two about metalworking.
Maybe I should make a video... that is a very handy tool that I use regularly.