Collaborate Disseminate
Back when I used to work in the pharma industry, I had the opportunity to hire summer interns. This was a long time ago, long enough that the fresh-faced college …read more Continue reading ChatGPT, the Worst Summer Intern Ever
For those of us who don’t do it every day, handling sheet metal can be a nerve-wracking affair. Sheet metal is thin, heavy, and sharp, and one wrong move while …read more Continue reading Handle Sheet Metal with the Power of Microwave Oven Electromagnets
[Stefan] is always looking for a way to make stronger and better 3D prints. His latest experiments involve using a texture on thin plastic parts to increase stiffness. You can …read more Continue reading Texture Adds Stiffness to 3D Parts
Press-forming is a versatile metal forming technique that can quickly and easily turn sheet metal into finished parts. But there’s a lot of time and money tied up in the …read more Continue reading 3D-Printed Press-Forming Tools Dos and Don’ts
Using 3D printed forms to bend sheet metal isn’t exactly new. We’ve seen several people create custom dies for their brakes, and the results have shown the concept has merit for small-scale production. But that’s usually where the process ends. A bend here or there is one thing, but the …read more
Continue reading Forming Sheet Metal Parts with 3D Printed Dies
Reddit user [thetelltalehart] has been making brake press tooling with 3D printed PLA, and recently shared an interesting picture of a hybrid brake press punch, shown here on the right, in blue.
In a press, material such as sheet metal is formed into a shape by forcing the material around …read more
Continue reading 3D Printed Tooling Punches Above Its Weight With Added Hardware
Chances are pretty good that most of us have used a bench vise to do things far beyond its intended use. That’s understandable, as the vise may be the most powerful hand tool in many shops, capable of exerting tons of pressure with the twist of your wrist. Not taking …read more
Continue reading 3D-Printed Tools Turn Bench Vise into Expedient Press Brake
Sometimes, there’s a job to be done and the required tools don’t fall easily to hand. [Bob] found himself in just such a position, needing to get some window flashing made up despite lacking a sheet metal break. After waiting far too long for someone else to do the job, …read more
Continue reading Build A Sheet Metal Brake With No Welding Required
For those who don’t spend their free time creating music with experimental audio effects, a plate reverb is essentially a speaker. It just happens to be, by design, a rather poor one. Rather than using a paper cone for a diaphragm like a traditional speaker, the plate reverb uses as you might guess, a metal plate. As the plate vibrates along with the source audio, a set of piezoelectric pickups convert that to an output. The end result is that audio fed into the plate reverb comes out with a nice echo effect.
But despite their relative simplicity, a plate …read more
If you want to form a piece of sheet metal into a shape, you’ll probably think about using a die. That’s certainly a great way to do it, but it presupposes you can create or purchase the die, which may be a showstopper for small projects. [Dardy-7] has worked out how to use a lesser-used technique — incremental sheet forming — to get similar results with a CNC machine. The idea is to trace out the form on the sheet metal with a round blunt tool.
He got good results using an inexpensive dapping tool, although he’s seen other use …read more
Continue reading Incremental Sheet Forming with a CNC Machine