Need help naming a tool.

Ok, so I was watching an older episode of Monster Garage and saw Jesse make a fender (I think) by dragging a piece of sheet metal back and forth between what appeared to be two large steel balls, maybe 4-5" in diameter. The upper ball was sitting at the end of a fixed arm, while the lower ball was sitting on top of an adjustable stand, allowing him to adjust the pressure - by changing the direction of the back and forth motion he was able to create compound curves, very cool.

I´ve searched Google using various terms, but haven´t been able to find anything. If anyone has a clue as to what I´m talking about and maybe even know the name of the tool please enlighten me.

Isn't that called an English wheel?
-dutch

Wow Dutchz, that must be the fastest answer ever. It is indeed called an English Wheel, just checked Google again and found a how-to on making your own:

www.roddingroundtable.com/tech/articles/12ewheel.html

Thanks for the help.

Dang, what´s up with all this double posting? And how come I can post as a visitor? Do you get logged out automatically after a certain amount of time? I´m pretty sure I was logged in the first time around - got distracted while typing, came back and submitted the post and was logged out, wtf? Also I can´t seem to edit the "visitor" posts?

Post edited by: onkelb, at: 2005/11/04 12:33

You're welcome... I would love to own one of those things and learn how to fabricate custom parts. Like a cafe tank for my bike haha. Didn't know you could make your own english wheel but it figures...
I too have been logged out and posted as a visitor in the past. No clue why...

Any big & good aircraft shop will have one and a guy who knows how to use it.
If you're just needing a couple of custom parts it will save you a whole lot of time, money, and space in the shop.
Back when I was buildiong instruments, some were for installation on outside of aircraft and the guys who made the housings using the english wheel were amazingly accurate and fast.

-Duck

don't forget about shrinker/stretchers. If you are gonna own an english wheel, you gotta get yourself a set of shrinkers/stretchers as well. Like the english wheel, they are pretty simple tools. they are small tools with a serrated jaw that clamps down on the metal. one is a shrinker, by design on the serrations, it pulls the metal together on a panel edge. One is a stretcher, which expands the metal along the edge, giving you the ability to creat compound curves and fine tune designs and shapes. Metal working is something that I really love to do, but don't have all the equipment to do it. For what it's worth, unless you have lots of need for custom panels, or doing custom work, then owning all those neat tools is out of the question. Most people bring me a rusty door that just needs a flat patch welded in; or they bring me a smashed up toyota, which a fender costs $125 for. I have built floors by hand, unibody frame channels, and even the entire back-end of a CJ. It's amazing how much you can do, but then again, it's incredible how muhc of hte actual shaping is done with a sandbag, rather than with an english wheel. english wheels just smooth and fine tune a panel, the rubber mallet and a sandbag do most of the heavy shaping. (Unless we are talking about relatively mild curved panels, those you can do entirely on an english wheel.)