Manufacturing For Modern Needs

Stretching Sheet Metal: 3 Useful Tools

1 May 2018 by Frances Gardner

Many of the products that are in use today contain metal components. Sheet metal fabrication plays a critical role in the development of these metal components. Grinding, drilling, and crimping are all part of the fabrication process, but many fabrication applications begin with stretching.

In order to stretch sheet metal without warping the base materials, you will need access to the right tools.

1. English Wheel

One of the tools that you might opt to use when stretching sheet metal is an English wheel. These stretching tools allow you to place a piece of raw sheet metal between two wheels. Once you tighten the wheels to the right setting, the raw sheet metal passes through the wheels and becomes stretched due to the tension applied during tightening.

English wheels are versatile tools that can be used not only for stretching but for finishing fabricated metal components as well. The dual wheels can be utilized to smooth out a metal surface during the finishing process.

2. Planishing Hammer

If you need to maintain maximum control over the stretching process, then you might want to use a planishing hammer. These are specialized hammers that allow an experienced fabricator to stretch out raw sheet metal to his or her exact specifications.

The sheet metal is placed on a smooth work surface, and the planishing hammer is used to lightly beat on the sheet metal until it stretches to the appropriate shape. A planishing hammer provides total control over the stretching process but requires a lot of skill to use properly.

3. Stretcher

A stretcher is one of the most basic tools that you can use when fabricating sheet metal products. When utilizing a stretcher to work with sheet metal, you place the raw metal between the serrated jaws of the machine.

These jaws are located on opposite ends of the sheet metal. Once the machine is engaged, the jaws pull in opposite directions to stretch the sheet metal and make it thinner. It's important that you gradually increase the tension when using a stretcher to ensure that your sheet metal doesn't fracture or warp.

The right tools make sheet metal fabrication tasks a lot easier. English wheels, planishing hammers, and stretchers all have their place in a fabrication shop. Experiment with each tool to determine which is best suited to meet your stretching needs as you fabricate sheet metal components in the future. 

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