The Armour Archive

Hopefully before too long I Will find a decent company and get back on the road and start making the big bucks again. When I do I plan on trying to build a workshop to replace the mosquito infested corner of back porch that I use now. My question is what do you out there consider the basic startup equipment and tools to do so. Right now all I have is a few hammers, 3" air cutoff tool, a drill press, bench grinder, side grinder, stick and wire(gasless) welders, a few wire cutters and a winding jig. I hope to eventually order dishing forms and get a metal shear but what else could I use?

A Beverly or electric shear, definitely.

The bottoms of several old pressure vessels, to use as dishing forms, and leather-faced mallets to dish with.

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<B>Gundobad,
Wise Ogre Armory
Wise Ogre Pic of the Day
Wise Ogre Armory T-shirts & more</B>

There are three kinds of people - commonplace men, remarkable men and lunatics - Mark Twain

A position worth taking, is worth defending.

I've seen on several sites forms made from old oxy bottles. Exactly what does it take to get them "dished" properly. I know you have to cut the bottles down but how do you get the dish even.

The oxy-bottles are manufactured with a bowl shape, so all they need is a good polishing. Different manufacturers make them with different curves, and different sizes, so a large variety are available.

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<B>Gundobad,
Wise Ogre Armory
Wise Ogre Pic of the Day
Wise Ogre Armory T-shirts & more</B>

There are three kinds of people - commonplace men, remarkable men and lunatics - Mark Twain

A position worth taking, is worth defending.

At the top of my wish list are the following

1. Delta Future 2 OOOHH, AAAHH!!!

2. And a good quality Mig setup.

3. A fluting rig (I will make this when I get my lazy butt around to it.)

I think that is it for my wish list. Got pretty much everything else I could hope for.


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Pheylin Quinn

Hammered Steel by Pheylin

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Gundo:
<B>A Beverly or electric shear, definitely.
</B></font><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

All the electrics shears I've seen were limited to 18 gauge. Are there any particular brands that will do 14? If not electric I also have a 5hp air compresser.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Klangiron Skullthumpa:
<B> All the electrics shears I've seen were limited to 18 gauge. Are there any particular brands that will do 14? If not electric I also have a 5hp air compresser.
</B></font><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

There are shear that will do 14 (and even 12) in mild (usually they will do 2 gauges less in SS). There seem to me two basic types of electric shears - ones that look like a mini-beverly with the motor on top, and ones that look like a drill with a scissor where the drill-bit goes (these are often called swivel-head shears).

I've used an old Black and Decker (no longer made) of the throatless type, and it worked well. I just picked up a Kett K-440, which is a swivel head, and will be forced to return it - the tightest curve it will do is about 8-9" circle, nowhere near tight enough for armoring work. I would reccomend against this style. By contrast, most of the throatless style can do about a 1" circle.

DeWalt, Milwaukee, and Makita all make the throatless-style shears. They are ususally available in 18, 16, 14, 12 and sometimes 10 gauge (mild).


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Yehuda ben Moshe
mka Juliean Galak