Low Cost Hydroforming 

To help prevent any cracks, Polish the forming radius of the forming block. Oil you block before putting you blank piece. You want a lubricant between your blank and your block. Use clevis pins for your locating pins: they are cheap, have a loose fit and a low head. Also always consider the grain direction of the aluminium. The best is to have the grain direction perpendicular to the forming radius (less cracking and stronger finished part) ...I've designed more than a 1000 of these forming tools over the last 20 years.

Well well well. And just when you think youve seen everything, this comes along.

Excellent! No fluff nor filler. Eye opener, thought provoking, I want one.

Wow, this is one of the most informative videos I've seen in a while.

Remarkable manufacturing technique. I've done a lot of machining/milling and composite work, but never this. Very cool.

If you sprinkle talcum powder on both pieces of rubber it will flow much easier and last longer.We use rubber quite often in our shop for forming but mostly as a bottom die in a 150 ton press brake.

Loved the fighter planes on the wall!!

Wow...I have nothing I need to make but I want to go out and round up all the stuff for this rig. Amazingly cool. Subbed!

The high school shop teacher I never had. Thanks brother!

That was a great video and very informative, thank you for your efforts!

This is a fantastic video! No idea that something like this was possible.

Impressive and great description !

Not interested in forming. Well, not much. But I love videos like these packed. Useful information for us non-professional makers. Well done.

Really great instructional video, clear instruction, well illustrated, good unity. Thank you bigly for creating same. :-)

Thank you for the info and your professional advice.

Great video, fantastic information. Thanks

Super informative. Thank you.

This is Rubber Pressing by the Guerin method. Lurathane is a Polyurethane elastomer suitable for this process. Two one inch sheets can successfully be substituted for the two inch block. More complicated and larger pieces can be formed with the use of pressure intensifiers that assist the rubber to flow around the solid die. A second die with a bevel and a cutout in the shape of the first die with significant clearance ( an inch or more) around the first die.

Thank you so much for this precious information, currently we want to build a bike frame with hidroforming this video is gold for us, thank you again!!!

I'm impressed, and believe this will be useful in many a home shop.

Great job, thanks a lot

Awesome video! These techniques can be useful to me! Im not building a plane but for simple parts for my jon boat!

Thank you, great idea

Thank you!!! The best vídeo explication

If you're making smaller pieces you could use a hockey puck for the rubber blank. They're plentiful. Or the blocks they use for automotive lifts. They're relatively affordable, easy to find and come in many shapes and sizes

exactly what i needed & more thank you so much 🙏🏻

I've made dies from fiberglass with as much as 1.5" draw in mild steel. I use a 200 ton hydraulic press for pieces as big as 300 square inches. Instead of rubber, I make male and female dies.

You can also try baby powder as the lubricant instead of lemon pledge. Put some between the tooling and the metal, too.

Simply Spectacular

Rainbow.... You are my sun shine ☀️

Instead of dealing with an inner tube as a sacrificial medium...try using pieces of roll rubber roofing material. It's much tougher than inner tube. There are a couple of different thicknesses available but it's cheap and easy to cut and easy to work with.

Awesome video 👍🏻

2020 ... Thank you ... and Subscribed

Thank you!

Learnt a few good things here for the NON_Aviation engineering sector -got that itch to go and try now - Corian? new name for me too Thanks for all!

Can use a harbor freight log splitter as a press also. We use them for forge presses in blacksmithing. Cheap as hell and it can be used as a log splitter or a press just by fabricating some kind of quick(ish) die changing system.

Excellent teaching ! 6061 T6 .010 thick material could be formed I believe . Hardcoat Anodizing could allow stiffness, and wear resistant surfaces, and color dying. I have c n c machined solid material, and your teaching teaches this. Thank you Thank you

Gracias por toda tu información

I have made dies for rubber forming with glass reinforced bondo, works well for a limited number of parts.

It's called rubber block forming ! Nice video by the way

Thank you I do not build airplanes, mostly just from lack of funds and a place to build it. However, I do small metal working projects, and this may work for them, tho the box itself will be much smaller.

You should blend your rubber into chunks, making bags of different densities, mixed with different dyes. Red for high, blue for low, etc. Then "pour" this rubber into box to give a differential gradient by mixing them. If the rubber is not only of varying colour but also varying size, you could quickly filter them back out into bags afterwards, and refresh the bags from time to time.

great video new subscriber cheers

Great! Now I know what to do with my empty beer cans.

Mind blown

I went out and bought myself two 100 tonne hydraulic cylinders and a pump to drive them at 700 bar. yep I am going to make a press and then do this. awesome. oh and one last thing. the most important think. thank you

This is really elastomeric forming.

Have you ever experimented on using tiny rubber beads suspended in slippery fluid instead? Your press could have weep holes where you can recycle the fluid on the next press.

cool video....

Like the old joke, "To become a millionaire, first, get a million dollars." In this case, "To use this simple method of forming parts, first, get a die made."

Little late to comment here, but... Ever see how Colin Furze did hydroforming with a pressure washer?

I worked in the lighting industry. A lot of the shapes were parabolic. We used 1100-0

hello, I found the rubber suitable for making the forming block for my project.... I see you have made plans for making the plunger as well to fit inside the box. I assume constructing the plunger is cheaper than sourcing a very thick steel plate?

Consuela; "We need more Lemon Pledge". "We don't supply that. You should just bring it from home". "Noooo"

very intresting and nice info but wich part of this is exactly hidroforming?

Cool.

Is it reasonable to use pressed fiber glass epoxed with steel wool composite with such hydraulic hoist?

Every time Lemon Pledge was said I thought of Conswala from Family Guy.

Have you tried using a pressure washer to develop the pressure needed?

What was the aircraft you were working on? The low wing single seat pusher.

I use Hockey puck as rubber. perfect for small parts.

hello friend , have you considered using a smaller die pad for smaller objects to increase the force ?

The captions are a hoot - did you not think of checking them before publishing this?

use lubricant under the sheet metal too

Nifty

I think that your locating pins should be as rounded and low as possible. The hex corners prevent smooth flow of the rubber towards acted on material. Also, the sharp corners of the hex are what tears the inner tube sacrificial material.

When I was making countertops I would give the good customers a cutting board to match their countertops made out of that sink cutout run a router around it twice and poof happy people that get you more work.

I learned something. Thanks. But I wonder what kind of press you used for the larger wing parts?

awesome work!

what are the advantages of this type of forming vs a two piece die?

This video was very informative and a good alternative to the pressure washer technique. I'd love to try it but I only have pine pledge. Sigh.

Corian is extremely lung hazardous according to my friend with slicosis.

What is the airframe at 3:18?

Consider RF welding TPU to make your bladders. It costs pennies a bladder and stays glued inside the part. your latex bladder only last so long and then they break off inside the part as they age. The TPU stays bound to the epoxy forever.

Really cool, one question, why is the box so big, if pressure is a "precious" commodity? Would you have more available pressure with say, a 6 x6 inch box?

print the die? or a resin print die?

You should try PAM spray. It is more slick.

wonder if the solid rubber floor mats might be a good cheap source or rubber? about 1/2" thinkness glued together. I may have to do this. Thanks for the video.

This is awesome. Im trying to use this technique to form some automotive panels. Anymore advice would be great, ill have a closer look at you RU-vid channel for more info. Thanks

Subscribed :) Thank you for sharing this impressive process, seems like a nice pair to bucks which are 3D printed at 100% fill, or MDF routed with the affordable "Makesmith CNC" My question/request if you please: Would you repeat your hydroforming technique with the use of fill from a $10 bag of "recycled rubber mulch" from a garden store? I know how useful a press is, but I'm interested in your assessment of the expensive rubber block compared to mulch. Many thanks again for this great video!!

Thumbs up, what else? I'm speechless...

Would any of these home shop methods work on regular sheet metal for old tractor parts?

Have you ever tried hydro forming small stringers from 1/2 X 1/2 X 1/16T 2024T3? If so, can you give some recommendations? Examples of the blocks used?

What is the airplane at 7:12 ?

I'm pretty sure my grandfather, bill roerig airplane is in that issue

I only have Forest Fruit Pledge, will that be OK?

How did you cut out your template that accurately with those lugs?

The rubber doesnt even have to be that thick either to get this effect. I can do this stuff with 1/8" thick Neoprene.

If I have big variating radiuses on a small part, say a spline s curve, will hydroforming be effective enough against aluminum returning to its original shape?

Consequilla: “WEe need more lemon pledge”

"By using lemon Pledge as a lubricant" Nice.

How about forming Vehicle Replacement Floor Pans, from Sheet Steel? What kind of Press (Pressure) would that require? How about Making the Dies in a "Progressive Step Sequence", where each Die moves the metal towards the Final shape a % of the movement at a time? Say, Die #1 moves the metal 25% of the target shape; then Die #2, another 25%; Die #3 - another 25%; & Due #4, the Last 25%? This way, you could also have the Benefit of more steps with Lubricants allowing the Metal you are forming, to "Slide" as it moves, instead of "Gripping" to the Die, or the Rubber!

11x11 is 121 plus or minus 1 so youre still within print

No no no.Me have no lemon pledge yet

Do you know of anyone using horse stall matt? They sell it at tractor supply in different thicknesses. I have a sheet of 3/4".

might want to look into a more tonnage on the hydraulic jack...20 tons does not seem to be enough, to get fine detail.

Wonder how a non newtonian fluid would work? How about plasticine? Silly putty (also non newtonian)? I think the harder rubber works because pressure is not lost from getting squeezed out the edges from sloppy fitting pressure plate. The inner tube rubber is much softer.

can't you saturate your MDF in a high strength epoxy to make it more durable?

For the love of all that is holy get the HF pnuematic jack for the press.

hydro??