Source for DIY bash-plate materials

[Ocean1]

Any tips to impart on shaping said material.

You could hydraform it, if you had a big enough press and a CNC mill to make the tooling.

Or you could explosive form it, if you had a kids swimming pool, a concrete mould, a rubbish bag, a few bricks, an Oxy-acetalyne set and a broken 12v light bulb...














Visions of orphans with no xmas pressie swimming pools...

I just cut it from a cardboard template, sanded the alloy back at about 45 deg from the edges I needed to weld, shaped it with special tool No:5lb on a sandbag, TIGed up the stainless from the outside then used the patented Ocean "box and pour" Tig method to weld up the alloy on the inside.

[clint640]

Any tips to impart on shaping said material.

When I modified Rosie's 3mm alu bash plate I made a wooden former by cutting a chunk of 4x2 along the curve I needed with a jigsaw. Then I clamped the alu between the 2 shaped bits in the vise & squeezed/tapped/whacked/bent it into shape, this also held it firmly while I mitred & bent up the sides, you need a good size vise though. If you can get everything all cleaned up, shaped up & ready to weld the actual welding part will be really cheap assuming you don't have a TIG.

...although I do like the sound of that explosive forming method...

Clint

[unstuck]

Hmmm. I have a big ass vice, some explosives and an abundance of old road signs, sounds like my kind of fun.