what metalwrking tools are must haves

im gonna try to do my own metalwrking and need to kno what tools will i need? i dnt have money for classes or to pay someone to help. so any help would be great. tia

Bodywork or fabricating?

both really

Body hammers and dollies is a must and probably should be your first purchase. Eastwood has alot of neat metalworking equiptment.

yea ive used those before i have them on my list im tryin to find the cheapest website to buy from. whats this eastwood you speak of? lol im a noob sorry

These are all tools I have made with a total investment of about $15 (rear wheel bearing from a 9" for the english wheel).



The tool that is made of two rods is a tuck tool. It is used to put a "pleat" in the edge of a sheet that is then hammered flat to form a compound curve. Do a search on a metalworking forum for more info. the hammer is a welding tank cap. I use it with a sand bag. The e-wheel is made from plans I found on roddingroundtable.com. I made a small tank with these tools only and it turned out awesome. Hammer it into rough shape on the sandbag while using the tuck tool along the edge. It will look like a bag of walnuts. the wheel will smooth it out after only a few minutes. this also is great for relieving stress as you will hit it with a hammer about 100000000 times. good luck

wow good idea

make some slappers out of old leaf springs. Mallets can be made out of old baseball bats, a beater bag can be made of a old leather purse, either fill it with playground sand or even better small birdshot. I make tool stands out of an old drill press. There are plans on line on how to make yourself a english wheel and planishing hammer. Also goto to metalmeet.com and read read read.

thanks everyone

On the fabricating end, some tools I think make the job so much better and easier would be:

1) A decent floor mount drill press. Even old ones are generally good as they don't have much to wear out. One of ours is about 20 years old and works as well as the one I bought new a couple of months ago.

2) A horizontal and/or vertical bandsaw. Makes much more accurate cuts in steel tubing and pieces than you can make any other way.

3) A welder. It can be as simple as a 220 volt arc welder, or a mig, or tig. All can produce good welds, even if you just tack stuff together to have a pro finish it up for you.

4) A torch set. Invaluable for cutting, heating, and bending stuff. Loosens frozen parts like nothing else can, and gets used more than you can imagine.

5) A decent air compressor. For years I got by with a 2 hp 20 gallon Sears compressor and actually painted a few cars and boats with it. But it was a pain when sandblasting or running air tools. Finally moved up to a 3 cylinder 80 gallon one and now we have all the air we can use. But even a small one will get you started.

6) A hydraulic press. I only have a 12 ton one from Harbor Freight, but I use it to death. Never had one until about a year or so ago and now I don't know how I would live without it.


Those are some tools I think are handy for fabricating stuff.

Don

Great suggestions so far,


but I'm suprised these have not been mentioned yet.....

























Multiple Vice Grips- of all sizes

and one can't never have too many c-clamps also of assorted sizes.

thanks for those some will be out of my price range now but definately good thing to have

Tools

There are many here are a few I can think of off the top of my head
A sheet metal nibbler to cut the panels
A planishing hammer to smooth out panels
Definately a shrinker stretcher to bend inside and outside curves
And a radius gauge. [

Yeah all good info here, also go to the weekend flea markets. I bought most of my hammers, dollies, and oddball stuff from those

Play around on this web site, you will have a wish/want list three pages long.LOL
http://www.daggertools.com/

I use the hech outta my chopsaw. Have used up 4--get a good one. Milwalkie, or DeWalt.

Have 3 hand grinders--4 actually, but the 9" is just a man killer--(works FAST though)--but would'nt recommend one. The 7" and 2 -- 4.5" are used constantly.

PA41

Books! If I could have one, it would be one I had (not sure if it got lost in the divorce and subsequent move) by Ron Fournier 'Metal Fabricators Handbook', excellent excellent stuff in here. Hammerforming, hydro forming and just so many good techniques and ideas. It looks like this:



I have no connection with the guy, but I really liked the book.

Regards,

Rev. D.

Reverend D said:

Books! If I could have one, it would be one I had (not sure if it got lost in the divorce and subsequent move) by Ron Fournier 'Metal Fabricators Handbook', excellent excellent stuff in here. Hammerforming, hydro forming and just so many good techniques and ideas. It looks like this:

I have no connection with the guy, but I really liked the book.

Regards,

Rev. D.

Click to expand...

The internet rules. I'm new at metalworking and I'm gonna pick this book up today. Thanks D [cl

Here's what I use to form transmission humps, etc. The bench has a 5/8" thick steel top so it works well as a base. Not much expense in this setup.

Cool, hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Regards,

Rev. Don