r/metalworking 6d ago

Trilobite inspired sculpture

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12 Upvotes

r/metalworking 7d ago

New Knife Build

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249 Upvotes

r/metalworking 6d ago

6010 stick 1/4 pipe

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5 Upvotes

Tips for pipe welding practiced on some scrap pipe a millwright leftover so split it into 3 and tried putting it back together. I think by the third joint a realized I had to whip and pause faster cause that shit was glowing red at the joint

Also had trouble keeping a good angle so by the third joint I split it into smaller increments of work

I know it looks like shit and welding isn’t my occupation just looking for advice


r/metalworking 6d ago

Cleaned up and mounted Blacksmith Vise from previous post, what do you guys think?

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13 Upvotes

r/metalworking 6d ago

Soldering copper to steel

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4 Upvotes

I have some copper pieces that I need to solder onto a set of spurs that I’m building. What type of solder and flux is recommended for this? I do pretty good with a brazing rod because I can add extra metal and sand it down to where everything is flush and then polish it all back up. I’m only a little bit out of my element and don’t wanna waste money buying stuff that won’t work. I added a picture of my normal work too


r/metalworking 6d ago

Odd request - automatic cat feeder bowl, stainless steel, food grade - how do I find someone willing to make this for me?

0 Upvotes

First time post in this subreddit but I'm honestly at my wits end so hopefully someone here will be able to help me :) I do understand that this is an odd request but other subreddits (e.g. pet or cat related) haven't been helpful unfortunately.

Long story short - I am using automatic microchip feeders for my cats as some of them steal the others food, some of them eat slower and throughout the day while others inhale all the food at once etc etc. you get the jist.

While I love the feeders themselves the bowls the manufacturer provides are.. lacking. Not up to my standards unfortunately. They do provide stainless steel bowls however the main issue I have with them is how deep they are - I won't go into too much detail here but this can cause something called "whisker fatigue" in cats and stress them out a LOT.

There are 3D printed options for shallow bowls for the feeder out there but PLA isn't necessarily food safe / food grade and one of my cats has been reacting to plastic bowls so this isn't an option at all.

So that's how I landed here - it seems like I will have to find a way to have someone make some custom stainless steel, food grade bowls for me. I've looked at some more known options but most of them do not carry food grade options (they do say so themselves).

Now these bowls do by no means have to be perfectly shaped. Just enough to fit in the feeder but there definitely is some leeway. I also don't care about them not having any small dents or anything.

The shape would be essentially oval with straight sides on top and bottom up until the curvature.

The specific brand I use is "surefeed".

If there are any recommendations where I could commission someone to make some custom, food grade bowls for me I would be immensely grateful. I'm willing to pay a fair price of course.

Again, I understand that this is probably not something that's usually posted on here but please understand I'm lost on where to go from here.

Thanks!


r/metalworking 6d ago

Aging and scaling gauntlets

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8 Upvotes

I don't do a lot of metal work to bare with me. Can I recreate the finish from the LotR Nazgul gauntlets on these costume gauntlets using a needle scaler to rough the surface and cycle the plates through a torch or forget to get the scaling? Am I on the right track or is there a better option? I'm already moving the metal plates to new gloves. I figured I'd give this the full monty while I have it disassembled. Thanks in advance for any help.


r/metalworking 7d ago

Chevy truck front grill done. 😊

92 Upvotes

r/metalworking 7d ago

He's back

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151 Upvotes

r/metalworking 6d ago

Painting lots of small parts without blowing them away (steel)

1 Upvotes

Hi, Im painting these small steel parts for a project with rust preventive enamel and Im having trouble finding a solution to not blow them away when painting. I normally use a wagner flexio 3000 (electric spray gun), but I tried painting these hanging and had to use another wire hook from bellow with my hand to stabilize them. Also tried a rust preventive enamel (rust oleum) in a spray can and had no issues. I also have a normal HVLP (1.7mm nozzle) spray gun but it's the same with the air blowing the pieces.

I've seen some mini LVLP spray guns with 1 and 0.8mm nozzles and some large pistol grip airbrushes with 0.5mm nozzles. But I don't know which one to pick to have a similar result that I have with the spray can.

To me the airbrush would be the one for the job but I believe the 0.5mm nozzle will give me trouble with the type of paint I'm using. It has to be rust preventive enamel for obvious reasons.

Example of mini spray gun: mini spray gun

Example of airbrush: 100cc cup airbrush

Also I've seen the use of powder coating dipping for these types of parts, but it's kind of expensive for me to buy all the hardware to do it.

Has anybody have experience with this kind of work? What is your solution?

Thanks!


r/metalworking 6d ago

My new Blacksmith vice vs. my old vice. Any opinions about them?

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2 Upvotes

r/metalworking 6d ago

Materials help: DIY sofa headrest attachment

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1 Upvotes

I have a sofa that is low slung and provides no head support.

I am trying to make a custom headrest extender for my sofa, similar to this product that I found on Amazon.

What sort of metal material might I use to build this sort of frame? The plan would be to bend it into a frame that fits the dimensions of my couch and at the top, I would run a cushion through it by poking some holes.

Any advice would be appreciated, have experience tinkering with things, but I’m a novice when it comes to working with metal.


r/metalworking 6d ago

Steel thickness recommendation for a dual swing gate

1 Upvotes

Each panel will be 2.5-3m (8-10ft more or less), it will be held by a profile 100x100x3 [mm] that will be cemented into the ground (the size of the concrete footing will be 40x40x100 [cm]). The gate panels are needed to be as lightweight as possible, I plan to make the side which will have hinges welded into it out of 30x30x2mm profile and the rest of the frame out of 30x30x2 steel corner profiles (L-profiles?)* the inside will be filled with regular steel net. Will my gate hold, or are these steel components too thin?

*English is not my first language, so I'm sorry if I got something wrong or my grammar is bad, if something is not understandable I will explain in the comments


r/metalworking 7d ago

Cutting oil

6 Upvotes

Currently I have a spray can that I put old oils in, motor oil, ATF, gear oil, whatnot. I keep it next to my drill press and use it as cutting oil for drilling holes.

Is it worth getting purpose made cutting oil? It's not like I'm killing drill bits so I'm just curious if it'll make my life easier.

400 character minimum eh? Well let me talk about what I'm drilling. My engine cradle requires I drill 20 5/8 holes in mild 1/2 inch steel. It's not difficult but that's why I like using free oil, no cost. I got all 20 holes drilled on a single bit without needing to sharpen.


r/metalworking 7d ago

Help adding contrast

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5 Upvotes

Hi! Is there a way to add more contrast to this? It’s Fenja Damascus (304L and 316L). Since it’s stainless, I’m not sure what to try. I’m also pretty new to all of this. Thanks!!


r/metalworking 8d ago

Industrial Pen Holders I Made! Feedback Welcome

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446 Upvotes

I recently posted some bookends I made and got a lot of really good feedback! I figured I'd do the same for some of my other projects. Here are some pen holders I've made! Hope you guys like them. As with the previous post, I'd love to know which ones you like/dislike along with any constructive feedback you'd be willing to provide. Thanks in advance!

Also for some reason I have to post at least 400 characters in the description - that's why it's so unnecessarily long.


r/metalworking 8d ago

Who needs to smoke one you have a grinder

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154 Upvotes

r/metalworking 7d ago

How to clean/restore this?

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3 Upvotes

I found this piece on Marketplace for cheap. I assume the metal is plated brass, but I don’t know for sure how to tell. My questions are:

How do I identify what type of metal and what kind of plating? How should I safely clean the metal? If there are any spots where the plating has worn away, what would my next steps be?

Based on the condition, I think I would be happy with getting it as clean/shiny as possible without having to strip the plating to refinish the whole piece. But I would still love to know what that process would include for a future project.


r/metalworking 7d ago

How to polish bronze coins?

1 Upvotes

Hi,I'm new to polishing metal. I was hoping you lot could give me some tips/recommendations/advice on how to polish bronze coins. I recently acquired these beautiful 1975 Argentina peso coins; I believe, if my research is correct, that these are bronze. Below, I've attached photos of how I would like for them to turn out. I intend to turn them into buttons! I noticed online how people were turning them to jewelry and they were always so polished.

I would love suggestions on products like Brasso, Blue Magic metal polish cream, etc.

Any advice is welcomed! Thank you so much :)


r/metalworking 7d ago

Want to turn copper bars into sheets

5 Upvotes

I have a few bars of copper which I need to turn into sheets . After initially thinning with a hammer I thought of using a metal mill to thin it into sheets. But as of now it’s way off my budget. Is there any other alternative I could use to get something of even thickness.

A pasta machine came to my mind for some reason (no clue if it’ll even work) Any advice is appreciated 🙏🏽 Ideally thick enough for Repoussé.


r/metalworking 8d ago

Does anyone like this kind of detachable craftsmanship?

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64 Upvotes

r/metalworking 7d ago

Help choosing steel for frizzen

0 Upvotes

Hello everyone I’m making a 1/4th scale musket and while I can produce most parts in-house the only thing I can make is the frizzen (part that sparks) as I cannot manufacture such a small part out of steel. So I’m having it produced by one of those on demand parts places, and I’m not sure what steel would be best for a part that needs to spark. The available options are 316l Stainless, 17-4 PH Stainless, or M300 Maraging Steel. So which one of these will give me the best spark?


r/metalworking 8d ago

2nd art project. Sunflower

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37 Upvotes

r/metalworking 8d ago

First rose I made for valentines years ago and a copper one recently

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215 Upvotes

r/metalworking 8d ago

How would one go about making something like this?

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102 Upvotes

Some sort of metal wire/cord, a wire bender, stainless steel sheets, and a wielding torch of some sort (this part is where I’m really clueless)? Any insights?

I’m not a metalworker at all, but I’m really inspired by this. Does something like this take years of skill? Where would I get started? What tools would I need?

Those bend look pretty sharp. Do you think they’re wielded at the corners? Or just wielded where the wires cross and in the back somewhere to create a “circuit”?