making a hit&miss gas tank (warning, lots of photos)

[Mcgyver]

Needed to make a brass gas tank for my hit & miss engine and thought you guys might like some pictures. Experts might find the photo’s superfluous, but I tried to take enough that it’s a bit of a how-to post for someone newer

Lazy mans way of laying out the sheet – propped up against an angle plate, the height gauge makes quick work of the layout. Brass is .028 thou.

A lot of the corner material can be cut with good shears, but as the corners will have tabs, you need to get into them with a fret saw. Here’s the simple set up for this job

Cutting out the corner with a fret saw

The sheet is now ready for folding. Corners all cleaned out and any required touchups done with a file

Here the sheet metal is held in a home made set of folding bars – just crs, some dowel pins and cap screws.
In the midst of the first fold – I held the bars vertically as the wasn’t enough throat distance in the vice to hold horizontally – a more convenient position. Note that the tabs are not folded over at this setting of the bars

This is the right tool for folding the metal over so as to not mare the surface; a leather mallet

[Mcgyver]

Here is a tab that has just been folded. Note how the bars have been moved so that there is about a 1/32 gap between the bar and the side – this will allow the tab to fold up inside the of the side

Here the work piece is ready to have the ends folded.
Hunt through the scrap box for a chunk of metal to fold against and that will fit in side of the box. Here the end is being folded. Note how the tabs tuck neatly inside of the box.

The narrow lip on the bottom piece is folding using the folding bars

Here’s the competed sheet metal work, ready for soldering

Simple solder set up, weight & refractory bricks. Wet paper towel was used as a heat sink around completed joints.

Here a some shots of the competed tank. I had wanted to include shots of bending the pipes and shots of them set up for soldering, but I managed to destroy my camera (arrrg). Bought a new one for these final shots. The pipes were soldering using my 3rd hand design http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net//Fo...ML/012958.html



Hope its of some value to you


[This message has been edited by Mcgyver (edited 11-06-2005).]

[tattoomike68]

very nice , a work of art.

[aboard_epsilon]

WONDERFUL Mcgyver.
GREAT POST
This is what I like ....a complete beginning to end explanation on how to do a very good job.
Learnt quite a bit from your post , keep 'em coming ....in the same style.
well done !
all the best...mark

[charlie coghill]

Mc I have not done a lot of sheet metal work so yes this has been some help. Thanks.

[lugnut]

Great looking tank! I really liked the "1/32 gap between the bar and the side" I'll try to file that little trick in my ever shrinking memory file. Have you posted any photos of your "hit and miss" project? Thanks for sharing your work and photos with us.
Mel

[Your Old Dog]

Yea what lugnut said! I always screw it up on the tab. I'll try to think a little more precise and see if comes out like yours My guess is it won't. If neatness counts for anything you go to the head of the class.

[Luke55]

Real nice.Want to see the engine now.

[3 Phase Lightbulb]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Here is a tab that has just been folded. Note how the bars have been moved so that there is about a 1/32 gap between the bar and the side – this will allow the tab to fold up inside the of the side</font>

Thanks for the tip! I've made a few boxes like that but I've always bent both tabs and side at the same time.

-Adrian

[jkilroy]

Of course Neil is probably wondering why you didn't submit that as an article, seeing that you did all the work? Very nice either way, thanks for the pics.

[CCWKen]

Wow! Looks GREAT Mcgyver!

Looks like you're ready to do some Model T fenders.

[JRouche]

Great work. I was a sheet metal mechanic for a few years and that is a real nice tank. JRouche

[Furnace]

Very boss...

[japcas]

Great post. This is the kind of info I come to this forum for. Very useful info. Would love to see the hit n miss engiine now.

[Mcgyver]

thanks guys, I'll post some pics of the hit miss, one of those long term projects progressing in fits and starts