Handmade Square to Round Duct

JStar

I was just looking through some old pictures and thought I would show off a bit. Here's a handmade square-to-round duct fitting. Yeah, we're not just wetheads. Ok...we are wetheads, but we're good at other things, too.

Feel free to show off some duct-fab here. Not enough respect goes out to the really skilled tin-knockers.

Tinman

Back in the 80's I was card carrying member of Local 73 in Chicago. If you could dream it, I could make it. Today? I'd probably have to refer to Richard Budzik's 40 Fittings book.

Rich_49

AHHH , Tin Knocker ! LMAO

SWEI

All I have to do is think about sheet metal and my fingers start to hurt.

unclejohn

Down here in Maryland there is a shop, Custom Sheet Metal. I used to go there and scratch out some drawings and the old man, Joe would make it. He had a ash tray piled about 5" tall with camels and his son would sit on the stool next to him and watched. Now the son makes up the metal from my chicken scratch drawings and the duct goes in like it grew there.

JStar

Ductwork is an extremely bi-polar trade. You either get the guys who sneak by with a small brake and a roll of tape, or the ones who are real artists. There are some jobs that you just can't take your eyes off when it's all done.

Tinman

Geez, I've seen guys laying a piece of metal on someone's driveway, putting their tool box on it, kneeling on the tool box, and then bending it up with their hands. No brake. No nothing.

Now THAT is something I could teach a monkey to do.

JUGHNE

A "Henslers Bender" works so much better than the tool box.
(For a small potatoes guy like myself)
That is all I have used for a brake for 25 years. It makes pretty tight bends if you weigh enough, ( I certainly do). A 12" pipe wrench for a handle on the far side helps. It is great exercise.

It is just 2 angle irons spot welded on the ends. Slip up to 36" tin thru it and bend. For a plenum/box I use a "S" cleat and hide it on the back side of furnace. Paid for itself on the first day. A 24" folding tool does the top.

hot_rod

Nice work, Joe. It's good to be a well rounded mechanic. Are you SURE you want to part with those tools?

I visited the NAIT tech school in Alberta back in 2007, along with ME.

Here are some of the sheetmetal projects the girls and guys built over the years. Great to see that skill is still being passed along.