I need to make a part VERY similar to the one below. It's what I need is actually the air intake for my car, pretty much just like the K&N cold air kits, only a totally custom app. The one pictured below was for a motorcycle and I actually cut it out of aluminum and welded it together. Turned out good, but I want to try something diffrent this time.

I'm concidering cutting 2 molds out of wood, one for each side, and using a plastic body hammer to shape the alumium to the mold, after clamping or screwing the aluminum to the outside of the mold. I'm just worried about getting a nice finish as the part goes on my car for the world to see... I guess a planishing hammer, a sander, 5 diffrent grits of sandpaper and a buffer would get the tooling marks out, and I could powder coat it if I couldn't get it to polished quality in a reasonable amount of time.

The other thing I was concidering, and am more interested in is making a press mold. But for a manual hydraulic press. A set of molds for each side of the finished part and weld the two parts together.

What are the do's and do not's? Bad idea? Won't work?

Looking for some input here before I go re-inventing the wheel. Never worked in a press or stamping shop. I've made molds, but to prints, and they were all plastic injection.

Any input appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

Well if you really want to make a press mold I say go for it. I also have never done any pressing or stamping so I wouldn't even know where to start but it sounds like you have an idea of what you want to do.
Everything that I have seen where parts are stamped it always seemed like it was a very quick process, not slowly building pressure with a manual hydraulic press. I don't see why this would make a difference but it was just an observation.

I would see if you can contact your local Die casting shop which could be a plastic injection mold company as well and talk to an engineer. Those typ of custom molds are very expensive and could be an option just to pick the engineers brain for other methods of forming, casting or it could be just as simple of machining the impression of your part out of a few pieces of steel and and then form it in 2 sections then weld it together in the middle then grind the weld smooth then polish. Never had to do something like that but the engineers design the processes for parts like that all the time.

Many yers ago when I was in school to bscome an avaition mech.....we dollied aluminum pieces over wood moulds...and they turned out quite nice...you would have to use a softer grade of alum. ...or aneal it to make it ductile.
have you considered making it out of carbon fibre?
you can get pre-preg carbon fibre that has the resin "built in" ...just wrap it around your mould and hit it with a heat gun....presto whamo ....you got your part....more or less...there are afew things you have to take into account...like getting the mould out ...ect ...but basically thats it.
Ben

Many yers ago when I was in school to bscome an avaition mech.....we dollied aluminum pieces over wood moulds...and they turned out quite nice...you would have to use a softer grade of alum. ...or aneal it to make it ductile.
have you considered making it out of carbon fibre?
you can get pre-preg carbon fibre that has the resin "built in" ...just wrap it around your mould and hit it with a heat gun....presto whamo ....you got your part....more or less...there are afew things you have to take into account...like getting the mould out ...ect ...but basically thats it.
Ben

Carbon fiber would actually be a very good idea! But what material would you use that could withstand the heat of curing and be removable? And why was I thinking you had to use a vaccum process before curing?

The first attempt was a failure. I have to relocate the throttle body in order to get a straighter run between the MAF and the throttle body.:rolleyes:

Oh well, there is a foot of snow on the ground right now so I'm in no hurry. Back to square one, have to design a piece between the throttle body and supercharger(eaton), then maybe just a straight shot between the throttle body and MAF, according to the dyno shop, that's the best bet, no curves, they said it can greatly effect the MAF metering.

RaceComp could make you the parts in carbon no problem.

Ben touched on a technique often used in metal fabrication. It's called Hammer Forming. Like he said, you would use a soft aluminum, anneal it, and then hammer over a form. For one-off or low number parts many people use MDF. For harder metals and/or multiple parts, the plug should be made of harder materials. The surface quality of the part is usually very nice.

Ron Fournier has a couple of great books outlining this and many other techniques. his site is: http://www.fournierenterprises.com
Browse a little if you like, there are a lot of cool pics and they sell metworking tools as well.


sites outlining the process:
http://www.knucklebusterinc.com/features/2010/11/09/sheet-metal-fabrication-hammer-forming/

https://www.chopcult.com/forum/showthread.php?p=12837

http://www.chopperweb.info/forum/showthread.php?threadid=9247&perpage=15&pagenumber=1

Videos:
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22hammer+forming%22+-drop&hl=en&prmd=ivns&source=univ&tbs=vid:1&tbo=u&ei=ggkvTZ2cCoH98Abg_fi0CQ&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&ct=title&resnum=2&ved=0CCUQqwQwAQ

I can find more. At work a lot of attachments won't show up for me so having to hope the quality is good. This process is quite common so a little work on google should net a lot of great information.

If carbon fiber or other composites ends up being the way you turn to solve this problem hit me up. I could offer assistance if you need. I've been a fairly advanced composites hobbyist for several years.

Just realize that you would be able to build a hammer form as easily if not much easier since I believe we are talking about a one-off part.

For a carbon fiber part, you could build a shape from styrofoam (slightly smaller than the finished part to account for thickness of the composite). There are carbon fiber sleeves available from several online retailers. The sleeve is made almost like a chinese finger puzzle. It can increase in diameter while decreasing length or decrease diameter while increasing length. This would allow the sleeve to form itself to complex shapes relatively easy.

To make the part on the form, you could inert the styrofoam form in the appropriate size sleeve. Then brush epoxy on the sleeve. Try to only use enough epoxy to saturate the fiber. Then you need to wrap the part. You have a few options here. You could use heat shrink tape or electrical tape. There are wide electrical tapes available as well. Heat shrink tape would be best but electrical tape works nicely. If you use electrical tape, wrap it adhesive side out. Make sure to get the overlap as even as possible and keep the number of layers as consistant as you can. Also as wrapping with the electrical tape you want to stretch the tape. This will add a little pressure to the layup. The even overlaps and number of layers will minimize the ridges left in the finished part. If you used heat shrink tape you should heat it up to shrink it on the layup. After wrapping the layup come back with a needle, thumbtack, etc. and poke holes about every quarter inch into the wrap. This allows excess resin to escape. Let the resin cure (follow the supplier's instructions for mixing and cure times).

Once cured, remove the wrap from the part. At this point you can sand the part for to smooth out the finish. Come back with an automotive clear. Sometimes several coats are required to build enough thickness to sand and polish a smooth surface.

If you don't care for carbon fiber, you can get the sleeve as fiberglass reinforcement (eglass). If you wanted a durable part that wouldn't show scratches too badly, you could add pigment to the epoxy so the part is solid color all the way through. Pigments are available in many colors. With carbon or fiberglass you may want to make the part using two layers of the sleeve. account for this thickness when making your sacrificial plug. I say sacrificial because obviously you will not be able to pull the foam plug from the part once it's been made. To remove the plug use an appropriate solvent to melt the foam away.

This sounds like a complicated process but is actually simple. With careful sanding and polishing, you should end up with a very nice looking part. With this part's intended function there isn't much need for strength but the part will be strong. Will this be an aerospace quality part? obviously not.

By the time cost for materials, labor, and possibly a few tools are factored in, hammer forming could still be your best bet. Glue and stack mdf to form your two form halves, shape the mdf using whatever shop tool you prefer. Belt sander, disk sander, die grinder, etc. come to mind. Once you have the desired shape (slightly smaller than you want the finished part due to metal thickness), anneal and then use hammers, wood blocks, punches, whatever you need to get the metal shaped to the form. Then mark and trim the lines where the two parts join and tig it up, polish, powdercoat, paint or whatever.

Just thinking you may already have 99% of what's required to make the part with hammerforming. Most people would have to place an order for supplies to go the composite route. I buy many of my composite supplies from www.uscomposites.com (http://www.uscomposites.com) They carry the sleeve and I've had good luck with their resins as well.

Racecomp.. I wanted to say that I checked out your website. That is some very nice stuff. Are you CNC cutting these parts when they come out of the mold?

Racecomp.. I wanted to say that I checked out your website. That is some very nice stuff. Are you CNC cutting these parts when they come out of the mold?

No but I'm loving water jet CNC, so cool with no problems and dust free. You don’t get water absorption with Autoclave cured pre-pregs, the fibres are so well consolidated that none of the toe is dry and if it isn’t dry it will not absorb!

Prepreg and autoclave is nice. Most hobbyists can get by without that expense though. Its definitely not a DIY process. Very acceptable parts can be made with resin infusion for all but the most demanding aerospace or racing applications. Good results can also be attained with wet preg and vacuum bagging.

Maybe one day I can play with prepreg and an autoclave since it is definitely the best. But due to cost, I will just have to stick to stuff I can do in the home shop.

Duplicate post.