Well every site that I go on seems to have their own radiator shroud for sale. I figure they probably do not help much but hey I will have a go at it, so I broke out the tools today and about $3.00 worth of aluminum. I even rolled the back edge to add a little strength. This is the results of a few hours and a little blood on the air orbital sander. It is far from perfect but not bad for $3.00 and it covers more of the holes than the retail ones. Sure beats $60 to $100
lol... If I had a shear and a good break I would consider it. Without these tools it is a slow process. Sure do wish I had access to a metal shop.
Dude, you can pick up a cheap break and small shear for dirty cheap at places like NorthernTool. It would be plenty for bending/shearing 16ga aluminum sheet. You'd probably want some sort of punch with differently shaped dies for popping out those shapes. Not sure what that would cost, but I would be willing to be you could have a decent manual shear and brake for under 100 bucks.
well, my 24" break cost me right around $150 iirc. I tried the cheaper ones that use clamps, and I don't think they could bend a piece of paper. I am bending .070 on mine. It will also depend on what kind of aluminum you are bending. Russ Russ
Yea I picked up that $100 one. Could not bend sh** with it. Was rated to 16ga but no good (that is the gauge aluminum I was using). If someone can weld aliminum and renforces the brake then it might work but it kept gapping out on me.
Sweet, I was wondering if they had a local store. I have been getting catalogs and ordering online for a little while now.
I think getting the brake to work would be huge. Next step is getting a shear. My lines are a little wavy from using the air shears.
I figured you were using air shears. I didn't know those little cheap brakes couldn't bend 16ga metal...pretty useless then, I wonder what people use them for. So I guess this isn't going to pay for itself, lol. If I had room and extra money, I'd buy the tools, I love sheetmetal work.
I've got a MIG but I only have gas to do stainless. If you want to buy what's needed for aluminum I can bring it over and we can have welding fun. Hope that doesn't sound ghey. that's not my intention.
