I have five years experience as designer of constructions from bended sheet metal. I see three major mistakes. 1. too small radius on dies, 2. no lubrication of sheet before forming 3. don't hamer it, press it. Change these three thing, and you'll see better results.
Hello fellow nerd here. The shock of the hammer is stretching it? That’s what I was assuming. Yes! Lubricant 🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻 I’d guess he needs to smooth Champher the top so it gradually forms the top. Also couldn’t the die just be half an inch long. Does it really need to be shoved in so far. What matters is just the two corners at the bottom right. Less friction?
@@TankToChest In this case, the stretching of material is negligible. The issue is creating the stress concentration spots. That is why, forming of sheet metal, is always done in one smooth stroke. A force and heat from friction is much better displaced through the material. That mean better chance to avoid stress marks, like its rippling, cracks or stretching (like you said). A deeper die is beneficial for this type of bending. Because it is more in area of forming than bending. And friction is solvable by lubrication of material. But is absolutely possible to use shallow die. But result would be probably less desirable.
And radius of the bevel on the die needs to be corresponding with a thickness of the material. Good rule of thumb is 2.5-3x thickness of the material as a mininimal radius.
What does the lubrication do for the process? I knew vaguely that it was a thing in metal bending, but I've never known why. My assumption was that it allowed it to move against the die without as much friction along the sides as it bends, thinning and straining the material at the bend. I've only done metal bending for home projects and making cosplay props. My methods were amateur, but they were more akin to Adam Savage's recommendation of gradually bringing the radius down in tiny increments.
@@Merennulli Your assumption is correct. And following recommendations of Adam Savage is good thing to do. His experience with fabrication are priceless for diy projects.
I love this lighter kind of content. I can't hold a candle to this kind of work. Straight fire! You're about to light up the internet with this one. The heat is on now. Ok I'll stop.
It feels like this build could benefit from the use of a small hand brake. Somewhere down the road try making a Roman compound utensil, the "original Swiss army knife" from about 1700-1800 years ago. I've made a couple and they are a challenge.
Alec should get all the youtube blacksmiths together and do a sword collab. Each person makes one part, (blade, guard, handle, pommel, decoration) and then sends it to the next with no guidance, so the next person up has to look at style clues to get the same look. Give no direction to each other either, kinda like how they used to do it, where each part was made individually.
The little bits that bulge out at the bottom of the inner casing have a purpose Alec! I believe they are there so the inner casing can be undersized compared to the outer casing can still result in a snug fit. Possibly make a slightly undersized bit of sheet and put the bumps in with a cold chisel that way you don't have to design around perfect tolerances? Great work as always tho!
There were different numbers of holes around the chimney, that changed in the late 1940's. I suggest you cut the holes to look different than the circles, like file them into stars or make slit-like square ones. I always thought a small bend in the top of the lighter case would make it easier to locate and handle in a pocket, set right in the middle. The number of hinges for the case changed from 2 to 3 to 4 hinges, mainly during the 1940's and 1950's. The US patent numbers were different, and WW2 ones are mostly known by their patent date changes. Letter and number abbreviations on the bottom of the case gave general information about when batches were made. The US Marine and WW2 black crackle Zippos are very sought after. The sealant in the top of the case is very important, because the fluid tended to evaporate out quickly. One of my Zippos will hold a charge of fluid for a couple of weeks. In comparison a competition Sherman lighter from WW2 I have I will only hold fluid for about 3 days.
The Zippo I bought about a year ago has a B ZIPPO 20 for the code The 1 hinge is 3 tines one one side 2 tines on the other. It has 8 holes on each side of the chimney. I bought a spring clip leather Zippo Case for it, holds the lighter upright and easy to access with a waistband clip of spring steel to keep the case in place.
Timothy Dyck is fantastic. He's one of my favourite youtubers, alongside Alec Steele, ofcourse! Timothy Dyck makes incredibly good quality usable axes if anyone ever wants one.
For projects like this he should really consider a small scale laser cutter, good for thin sheet metal. It may sound like a waste of money but when you spend a few days making blanks just to break them during testing it starts to even out, time tends to be a lot harder to come by.
For the very small folds, wouldn't it just be easier to make your blank longer than it needs to be, fold it, then cut it to size? It certainly seems like making small bends is harder when you don't have much leverage or space
It is truly amazing. I think I’m like most people who watch this. I wish I had the knowledge, tools and fortitude to make stuff like this. Even with all that, I’d would probably give up after a few failures and order the footage to be destroyed and threaten to sack anyone who mentioned the doomed project. That’s what makes these videos so good. He just keeps trying until he gets it right. A lesson for all of us.
You need a mini metal brake to do it.. I made one over 30 years ago to restore a very old lunchbox.. You should be able to buy one or just get plans for one and scale it way down to build a miniature version...
I’ve never had any interest in blacksmithing or knife making, but I can’t get enough of your videos. It’s really cool how you tackle difficult projects specifically to target skills you need to improve.
Alec, just let me say good luck. I worked for Zippo in the 90's making the wheel, screw, flint tube and tip. All of those parts are made in house and the wheels are undercut and then flame hardened to be able to make a good spark. The press that stamps out those insides makes the earth move under your feet every time it cycles... I can't wait for the next instalment.
I've been to the Zippo Lighter factory. It is about 50 miles Southwest of where I live in Western New York State. They also make Case knives in that same factory. There is a great museum of the history of the Zippo Lighter in that factory. You should visit this place someday.
One of the things I love about your channel is you work like a true blacksmith. If you don't have the tool to make something, you don't just buy it for the most part, you make it yourself.
When i saw the video's title i've been shocked. Because that product is really really giving pleasure for me (smoking kills kids, please drop that quickly.) and beside you are already working on them. This is great interest, thank you for the handle of this beauty.
Great to see you taking on a project most of us probably have little experience of but sheet metal work is so universally used its a great choice. Would love to see more dimensions and numbers.
loved watching you try new things and really push yourself into areas of weakness which is the only way we improve. I love the attitude of "i need this... but different, i'll make it" most people would have brought another bend tool but not you. :)
always wanted to see this, also Alec, when you draw around a shape it will usually be around a millimetre larger than the actual thing because the sketching tool used will almost always have something kinda spacing it, you can see this at 1:42 and it seems your be your problem at 9:17.
This is awesome, I love watching the breakdown of everyday items and seeing the complexity of what someone else went through in design. Excited to see the final one!
I'm about 5 minutes in, from what I know about sheet metal manufacturing they probably stamped the holes, then stamped the share with the chimney bends and then a final shape is pressed on some kind of block the same size as the finished lighter, power hammers were a godsend and out manufacturing of small precise objects went through the roof when they became more available.
My absolute favorite thing is when people try to tackle commercial production methods at home. I don't know why I love it but it's just so interesting. The commercial and industrial fields are usually just so far disconnected from normal people that you never get to see how they do it and to see how much work went into it.
This is a really cool project and I'm excited to see the process (and the final result!) I think one thing that will be obvious throughout is the difference between hand-made and mass-produced designs. The Zippo is meticulously optimized to be easy to make... for a machine. The way it's assembled is repeatable and tolerant to flaws, but is difficult (but not impossible) to reproduce without bespoke tooling.
My grandfather gave me one that his father gave him. My grandfather served in Korea from 49-52 and his father served in ww1 and 2. Still have it. Love it!
Hi Alex, it's important to note the Rolling direction of the material. Bending perpendicular to the Rolling direction would prevent cracking of material, if you bend parallel to the Rolling direction the grain of the material can not withstand the bend and easily cracks. Especially with tight corners. Good luck with the project. Like to see the finished project!
I've been to the museum in Bradford. It is both fun and informative, with a charming whiff of American Roadside Attraction. I highly recommend a visit.
Everytime Alex posts I remind myself of one of the better decisions in my life of subscribing to this channel I love this stuff want to eventually get into blacksmithing and this is great motivation
The Zippo Museum and store in Bradford PA would be well worth the visit! They have a repair shop and you can watch metalsmiths repair Zippos at all states of disrepair!
That's a lot of work for mock-ups and tooling! Great video, as always! Side note: if you make it with that iconic Zippo *ping* sound, make sure it's not exact. Zippo actually owns the rights to the sound a Zippo makes
A note on engineering your dies: don't forget to add clearances for the width (twice the sheet thickness) of your work material. Looks like you're opening up the jaws with your sheet metal.
I think what I admire most about watching your channel is your dauntless dedication to the tasks that you both lack skill in and detest doing. Your attitude toward improving your skills and always seeking to make things the very best you can is an inspiration; keep it up!
I smoked for years when I was younger and I had a black zippo with a Harley Davison brass buckle wrapped around it... I quit smoking 11 years ago but I still have that Zippo
There are instructions for coiling springs on a lathe in the Machineries Handbook. It gives wire and mandrel sizes as well as the TPI for a few sizes. Not sure about tiny ones.
Use a window blade and or sectional blades. Bend across the grain to prevent cracking. Also the blade radius needs to be twice the thickness of the sheet. The Vee block should be 7 times the thickness of the sheetmetal.
This is fundamentally what my dad did. He was a press tool designer. Flat metal in one end shaped finished piece out the other. Sometimes hundreds per minute. Look forward to the next stages !
I have at least 6 zippos with various inserts from butane to electric to ones sealed to reduce fuel evaporation. By far the best lighter design on the market.
Fair do’s there’s only a very rare, token few young people who would even want to attempt this build. Alex isn’t just a blacksmith, he’s a bladesmith, a RU-vid content creator, a business owner, a tool maker and everything else in between. I’m pretty sure he can even cook well too. I can only sit here and wish I had his drive at his age, I just turned 49yo on Friday and I’m in awe of his skills and work ethic.
A lighter is probably, no definitely one of the greatest inventions. I remember a story that Stephen Fry told on one of his shows, he says that in the past some explorers doing an expedition of some kind and they came across some tribe people who had never seen any other humans in recent history. One day one of the explorers put a cigarette in his mouth and pulled out his lighter and lit it to the amazement of the local people. Then a while later explorers took some of the locals to see their helicopter they had flown in. The local people were told that it was a flying machine and yet they seemed very unimpressed. They asked the villagers why they were not excited or amazed by the helicopter. The villager said "You can carry fire in your pocket, of course you can fly". To them a lighter was 'A god tier' invention. And, if you think about it, to us today it still is. Having the ability to tame fire is so important to human life.
Oh man- next time you have to cut an angle into some stock, just put it into a machinist vice and clamp that vice onto your mill vice. Nodding the head is the most headache inducing way to do that. Anyway, can’t wait to see this project! You are the best!
It would be cool to see you make a series of sheet metal dies to use in the power hammer to stamp out a template that potentially requires only a few final folds for finishing. Then you can mass produce your own Zippo Lighters!
You need to have a look at a hammer formming. Basically, you create a buck to pin the piece of sheet metal onto and then hammer the steel down over it till it has the correct shape. So, flat piece of metal with all of the shape built into it to make all of the bends in the one setup, except that last one that closes the case up.
I am an job trainer and my trainees make those bendingjaws as first work on the milling machine 😅 also i want to say thank you i startet blacksmithing because of your videos greetings from austria!
I thought of a cool tool for you to make, a hand cranked whisk, which I have always assumed was mostly made by casting but doing as much of it with forging would be a rather interesting challenge
Working with sheet metal manufacturing methods is an art in its own. You can start with the same length of sheet metal and change the end dimensions of your end product, just by adjusting your bend radii or where the bends are located. End dimensions also change everytime you change the gage of the sheet metal. It becomes a nightmare even with software.
I thought you were going to made a die, and just make 2 sides separate, make it so the 2 side hook together, then pinch the two seams together, then solder together. It would be easier and softer to make it entirely out of brass or copper. But what you could do, before ripping apart the Zippo, make a mold, like a silicone mold, then pour a metal one so you have a form. Then push each side in then put together. Please make a Damascus cover. Or copper or brass
Great video as usual Alec, been a fan for a few years now! Just wanted to pop in and let you know I was born and raised in Bradford, PA and have family and friends that have worked at Zippo. There is a pretty sweet museum near the factory. When you get back to the US you should check it out!
