Mythbusters - Hydroforming

[Shox Dr]

Just watched Mythbusters where they used Hydroforming to produce halves of a torpedo. Interesting how they ended up doing it, made a very nice job of it as well. And would be good if you required multiple units


Youtube comes to the rescue go to 6:40 in to se how they did it

 

[troppo]

Wouldnt it be lovely to have access to the sort of toys needed for that sort of thing. Working on that show must be like heaven, even with the cleanup and other boring stuff involved

 

[Tupers]

I remember watching that when it first aired and trying to think of uses for that sort of thing at work. It's pretty impressive to watch a sheet of steel expand like that.

 

[Wedg1e]

I think 2-stroke motorcyle exhausts have been made that way for a while. Well they were, until 'they' got rid of 2-strokes

 

[the snooper]

I think 2-stroke motorcyle exhausts have been made that way for a while. Well they were, until 'they' got rid of 2-strokes

i would have thought they would have been pressed being mass produced

 

[Angusdog]

It depends on production numbers. Mass produced are stamped but one-offs and low production numbers are hydroformed (if not made up of short tapered sections). I recall seeing an article in Performance Bikes decades ago about a bloke who made four stroke exhausts for superbikes etc by hydroforming.

Incidentally, wasn't there a thread on here where you got good results from a domestic waterblaster? We did an exercise at Polytech were we welded up a cube, then pressurised it to see how much it could take. If you'd done a good job, it buldged nicely before letting go. The second exercise was to make a cube, then weld it inside another cube, with the space in between pressurised. Afterwards, you cut the outer cube away and if your welds were good, you ended up with a compressed cube inside. I'll find a pic of my sample and post it later.

 

[stuvy]

alot of high end mountain bikes are hydroformed!

 

[FranV8]

So are Corvette chassis rails. I'm not sure the Elise isn't as well.

 

[Delta]

More Hydroforming here: http://autospeed.com/cms/A_111290/article.html

Autospeed (like this forum) is a great place to be!

There are other methods of forming metal explained on there too, I seem to remember one where the sheet of steel is hung in a tank of water against its die and an explosive charge pushes one onto the other with such force the panel is formed.

 

[Justme]

Did know one else think that the shape, weight & balance point was wrong as soon as they saw it? It was obvious that it was going to take of as soon as it hit the slightest ripple. Needed much much less top end power & a longer slower burn.

Very poor work from the MB team.

 

[Delta]

Did know one else think that the shape, weight & balance point was wrong as soon as they saw it? It was obvious that it was going to take of as soon as it hit the slightest ripple. Needed much much less top end power & a longer slower burn.

Very poor work from the MB team.

I didn't care, I was too busy laughing at it!

 

[jb2000]

RX8 sills are hydroformed, re lack of B pillar.
Quite a few USA 4x4 use hydroformed subframes.

Hydroforming is lighter & stronger than a conventional pressed & spot welded construction, so it will probably get a lot more attention re auto makers.