How to Shape Metal With an Air Hammer - Kevin Caron
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- Опубліковано 17 жов 2024
- From www.kevincaron.com - Artist Kevin Caron gets out his air hammer to shape a sculpture, just one of the things it's good for ....
Caron is working on a fireplace sculpture commission, which will have three sections that swirl upward. "It'll look like a little fire tornado," he said. The sculpture will replace the usual gas logs and the regular burner. Caron also recommends trying broken tempered glass in this type of setting as the glass reflects the light.
Caron needs to adjust a divot in the fire sculpture's 1/8" steel structure. He tried using his detail hammer, which has a small head and a pointed end for getting into tight areas, but the metal was too thick for the hammer to do the job.
But Caron has a hammer that will.
Some guys call it an air chisel because you can put a chisel point on it for cutting, and some refer to this tool as an air hammer.
For the job at hand, Caron is using a flat head on it for pounding. It's great for driving out bushings and stuck bolts. Yes, Caron learned about this tool when he was working on cars - it's from the automotive industry.
He got his air hammer from Snap-on, and Caron says it hits really, really hard. It's great for reaching down into tight areas, so he can put the sculpture up against the anvil and has plenty of air power coming from his compressor (you'll need 60 gallons or so to have enough volume to run this tool). That allows him to pound that small area back into place more easily.
Caron shows a close up of the area he needs to pound out. He explains how he is going to position the metal on the anvil and use the hammer to shape the metal.
He's even used this tool to smooth small dents in big sculptures, fitting the tool up inside and holding his dolly on the outside. "It's better than trying to reach up in there with a hammer and swing it," Caron says.
Caron uses the air hammer on the metal. Afterward, he says, "It almost got it all." There was one small stubborn area where he needs to come back and hammer it more. Or, he says, "I might break out the big hammer."
He shows the inside of the sculpture, and explains that an outside skin will hide the hammer marks.
It's close enough now, though, that he can tack weld it on the inside and weld it on the outside. Once it's welded, he uses an angle grinder to grind it smooth.
Then he needs to add his side for the inside edge of the curve. He'll then continue to fit it, bend it, shape it, "beat on it a little." "It'll come together," he says, "and look pretty cool when it's done."
The air hammer is a nice tool, Caron says, something you may want to add to your toolbox. He adds that you can get different length shanks, different diameters and varied ends. You can get a point for punching through; a chisel for removing spot welds, etc. You can even get a pipe splitter, which cuts pipe and sheet metal easily.
Caron reminds everyone to wear ear protection and safety glasses when using this tool.
He's ready to get back to work, so you have time to subscribe to watch more how-to videos or visit Caron's site at www.kevincaron.com where you can watch this fire sculpture develop.
But don't miss the end where he tells you what he really thinks ....
Great video!
I have that same air hammer and love it. I got by with a 25gallon 2HP Crafstman compressor for decades. The smaller compressor is fine if you don't mind waiting for the compressor to refill every minute or so. Finally bought a bigger 18CFM 60 gal compressor to keep up with my blast cabinet and to blow out my sprinklers.
Man, air hammers are the bees knees I'll tell ya! I have the same SnapOn unit as Kevin, it works phenomenal, it's amazing the amount of times the air hammer pulls through in a pinch while working on stuff
Great. Now I want an anvil and air hammer, too. :-)
Can't wait to see the finished piece!
How well do you think something like this would work for taking out dents in an aluminum boat?
+Love2boat92 Very well, just go slow and use a backer of some sort so you don't go to far the other way.
Kevin Caron, Artist Yes that is a great idea. Aluminum is soft.
Love your how to videos ! Thank you for sharing your techniques !
Thanks for watching!
Cool. I ordered a hammer like this, as well as a pipe bender, from Northern Tool yesterday. Both are back ordered though. One will ship in the middle of this month and the other the beginning of next. I am excited to try new stuff. Should be a lot of fun. Thanks for the cool videos.
did they come in yet?
Wow, you make life looks really simple
I've seen a man from Norway who uses an old rivit hammer. he makes some surreal stuff, mostly door knockers with faces. the level of detail that can be achieved with these is amazing.
Always fun to see what a tool can do instead of what it is supposed to do.
ua-cam.com/video/Xw1n0IeQM9A/v-deo.html
check him out, it took me a long time to find him again lol.
Thanks guys. Using the chisel, those put cool textures on copper too...
I always enjoy your video's did you ever do a video on the finished fire place?
Sorry, I don't think I did. But if you look here, kevincaron.com/art/urban-pueblo-fireplace-sculpture/ You will see the finished piece.
Did you heat the metal at all before you started pounding on it, or is it easy enough to do cold?
Hi Kevin, is your air hammer cp 714 or 716? İ couldnt make sure..Best regards from Antalya..
716 if I remember right.
@@KevincaronSculpture Thank You Kevin
you got nice tools in the background.
Love that anvil....wish i had one.
Thanks, found it a blacksmith school that was going out of business..
What would be your best recommendation for pulling out dents/warps? I've got a t-joint to make in some 16 gauge. The base plate is warped down from the edge of the cross piece, but the underside of the base is enclosed. I tried pulling up with a welding magnet, but that was no-go. I'll probably try a stronger magnet next. I have also pulled dents out of MC tanks using hot glue on a shaft. If all else fails I'll probably cut into the base to get under the dent.
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That's a tough one! I would probably try heat and pulling to get it close. You might try heat and then ice or maybe a co2 fire extinguisher. But cutting it out and do over is the best way to make sure.
60 gallon of air storage is great, however the cubic feet a minute the compressor puts out is more important.
For those with small capacity compressors and your air tool slows noticeably right after you pull the trigger here is a trick. Use a pressure tank such as a 5 gallon LP tank and plug it in where you are working. Just put a tee in the top of the tank and have a male coupler on one side and a female on the other and use a short work hose from the tank to the tool.
AN INPORTANT TIP, put a quarter turn valve in the male coupler side so when you disconnect it you do not have a rocket nozzle launching your tank. If you have a piped installation in your shop one of these tanks mounted overhead at the end of a run of piping at an air line drop also helps any air flow problems. My grandkids loved to sit in the office chair in the shop, hold onto the tank and open the quarter turn valve. Fun for them and it moved the dust around in the shop.
BTW, those hit the automotive business back in the 50s when if you bought 5 mufflers to sell you got an Air Powered Muffler Tool. Thus the popular term "Muffler Chisel" used by us old guys. That was a great deal back in antiquity as mufflers were a great business for service stations. The air powered muffler chisel drastically reduced the time and effort removing mufflers. I still have most of the chisels that I got from that muffler deal. Today the car will probably die before the muffler.
WHOA! A 60 gallon air compressor just for that air hammer? I have a cheap one from harbor freight well both an air hammer and air compressor and that seems to work alright. I think its an 8 gallon compressor.
haha I was going to get a , I think 4 gallon one. I was talking to K. C. through email and he said to get a 60 gallon. So, that is what I will do. Seems it would be better, to have more power than less. Whoa, I sound like Tim from Home Improvement.
You are so right! - a very useful but very noisy brutal tool if not used with care. as you say you need a big tank at high pressure with large bore pipes supplying it to get the best from one.
You are right about not all air hammers being the same i have had several and they were always weak, the last one i got near rattled my fillings out it surprised me quite a bit.
what kind
That is unique! Can you show us how you made the curving tubular flames? Thanks for putting in the effort to share your skills.
Love the anvil! You have me very curious about your fireplace project would love to see a short video on it once it is done.
Hi kaven, can i use this air hammer with an air 1hp and 10 liter air compressor?
Nope, too small of a tank.
hi, appreciate your work.. need the same hammer in electrical power source with variable control. pls suggest .. thanks from india
Sorry, not a clue in your neck of the world.
Excellent info Kev, interested in these air hammers. Just need to start with a cheaper hammer due to funds and I hope my little compressor will let me get some hammer time before running out of air.
no that is a mistake you need a snap on
What did you do to that anvil
That sculpture looks cool please show us it when your done.
very helpful
Sure would love to see a video of that fireplace in action. Bet it looks great!
Here is one, Look on the lower right side for the link,
www.kevincaron.com/art_detail/fractal_fire.html
Thanks, that is one fine fire. I put in a lot of gas logs and some glass covered gas burner fire pits here in GA. I use manufactured burners but think I heard you say that you make your own burners. If so, you sure have the burner holes, oriface to gas (nat or LP) sized pretty correctly as it is burning nice and even. Lots of trial and error? Thanks again for the vid.
And lots of research, just copied the holes in the regular burner assembly. But yes, I have also been very lucky with my work.
How did you put that fitting through the beehive spring ?
The spring has a small tab that you push to open it. Or sometimes you unscrew the spring and slip it over the tool.
Solid rivets? Same tool?
With a different bit, yes, you can.
great video......thanks for sharing...
Why are there so many songs about rainbows and what's on the other side?
Because it's not easy being green!
Can you do this with Titanium?
Sorry, but I have never had the chance to play with titanium.
Thanks for sharing...
Thank you.
You're welcome!
Why not make the sculpture the burner also? Drilling the holes at an angle and playing with the air flow, maybe you could create a flame vortex? Maybe a different project for all that though. Thin high temp stainless and tig welding could be another path. Ah, Air, Water, Fire and Earth, elements for creativity!
Be careful with your burner design and sculpture use to avoid flame impingement and only use this as a vented appliance.
Nice work stretching the helix with the air hammer.
Never did see him cut with the hammer
I was joking!
If it doesn't work out as art maybe you can adapt it to a Hotwheels track ?
Yeah Kev. We're old enough to remember those ;-(
Douglas Alan Yeah, I remember those also....
I liked him better when he was just doing the voice over for kermit the frog.
Better than stunt double for Miss Piggy!
Lots of talking with little actual hammering.
No sound
Dang you talk allot with a Kermit the frog voice!
Better than looking like Miss Piggy i guess.
@@KevincaronSculpture Jeez, that was an awkward silence ....
Simpsons anyone?
please stop talking , and do some work .
Right!
Timothy Mychaluk ..... He keeps talking and no show what
his tools do...
booboo
Kermitt lives
Chatter hammer
Big time!!!!
Hmm, all talk and no action.
Wow, you make life looks really simple