Shrnker stretcher

[Cheesie]

Ive been asked to reproduce parts that i know will have to be both shrunk and stretched, having never used these before, looking on the internet there can be a big difference in price, what's the run down with them, they all look like they'll do the same thing

 

[Shedendman]

All depends how much money your prepared to spend,but i'll tell you one thing,you will end up someway somehow having to tweak/adjust them
I bought a pair,both shrinker and stretcher(for the life of me i cant remember who from),the shrinker was fine but the stretcher had to have a little bit of fiddling needed
Loads of how to's for this on utube

 

[Shedendman]

found them

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08CQVXR4H/?coliid=IPJ99O35RWVRK&colid=1I365KW0ORRTS&psc=1&ref_=list_c_wl_lv_ov_lig_dp_it

 

[Agroshield]

You may have already seen but they come in two formats: deep throat and standard throat, depending on how far into the piece you need to reach.

The ones in the Amazon link are hand-operated (you have to use the hand that is not attached to the two arms holding the panel). Foot-operated ones are more money, but you have the skills to do the conversion.

You can buy the jaws as items on their own and there are videos showing builds of the frames. You would never build one for cheaper than you can buy one but you would build one better than you can buy one.

From watching a lot of YT on their use (Lazze is good), the shrinker seems to be used maybe three times more often than the stretcher.

 

[addjunkie]

Stakesys Manual Shrinker Stretchers - Shrinker Stretchers

The UK's Number 1 shop for your tube bender, fabrication and sheet metalwork tools and machinery.

stakesys.co.uk

 

[8ob]

All depends how much money your prepared to spend,but i'll tell you one thing,you will end up someway somehow having to tweak/adjust them
I bought a pair,both shrinker and stretcher(for the life of me i cant remember who from),the shrinker was fine but the stretcher had to have a little bit of fiddling needed
Loads of how to's for this on utube

Same here, bolted the pair to a lump of angle iron so they could be vice mounted, I think these are all from the east and rebadged. The first few shrinks/stretches are gainful but as the metal work hardens things slow down, best to re anneal or progress can be slow.

 

[hotponyshoes]

I bought the cheapest foot operated ones.
Went cheap as I don't need to use them often and I figured I could make upgraded parts myself as things broke/wore out.

Fine for the money, do the job. Tolerances are pretty poor but they work as they should. I don't think they would last that long if you are using them daily!

Big downside is there is only one foot pedal for both shrinker & stretcher so you need to swap them around which is a faff if you want to both shrink and stretch on the same bit of metal.

Not sure if you can get one machine with both mounted in at the same time?
If not, I'd buy 2 if you had the space to mount them.
Hand operation is a pain if you are doing larger bits as you really want both hands to guide the work.
Although you can't do huge pieces with the foot version as you can't reach the pedal and see what you are doing at the same time

 

[Cheesie]

I bought the cheapest foot operated ones.
Went cheap as I don't need to use them often and I figured I could make upgraded parts myself as things broke/wore out.

Fine for the money, do the job. Tolerances are pretty poor but they work as they should. I don't think they would last that long if you are using them daily!

Big downside is there is only one foot pedal for both shrinker & stretcher so you need to swap them around which is a faff if you want to both shrink and stretch on the same bit of metal.

Not sure if you can get one machine with both mounted in at the same time?
If not, I'd buy 2 if you had the space to mount them.
Hand operation is a pain if you are doing larger bits as you really want both hands to guide the work.
Although you can't do huge pieces with the foot version as you can't reach the pedal and see what you are doing at the same time

That's along the line of my thoughts get the cheapest foot operated one I can, I have to many unfinnshed projects that were easy jobs to modify in theory in my mind I'll not be using it that much

 

[Fazerruss]

It also depends on what you want to shrink.
If you want to go deep on a big piece then you will need a thumb nail shrinker that fits in an air planishing hammer

 

[Cheesie]

It also depends on what you want to shrink.
If you want to go deep on a big piece then you will need a thumb nail shrinker that fits in an air planishing hammer

I would say at the most I'm in 20mm from the edge, it's a radius edge that needs folded over on itself, like a safe edge, it's in 1.6 1050 grade aluminium the curved panel will either need shrinking or stretching after it's been through the bead roller

 

[Nomad]

I used a foot operated shrinker / stretcher 20 years ago on a car restoration, very easy as you had 2 hands free to control the workpiece and I could apply a lot of pressure with my size 12 boots !
There was no need to swap any rods or linkages to switch between shrink & stretch but I'm not sure if it had 1 pedal that did both or if it had 2 pedals - one for each set of jaws.
- some of the ones I see now are "siamesed" with 1 pedal facing forwards and 1 facing backwards, the one I used had the pedal(s) at the front.
Clarke from Machine Mart sounds familiar but I don't see anything in their current catalog, maybe they have discontinued it or maybe I have the maker wrong.

A hand operated one sounds like a poor compromise and the arm working the lever will soon get tired unless you are working on a very small job.
Edit: go for a deep throat if you have a chance < reword this later??> small throat = you can only work near the edge, deep throat = better.

Just for info the one I used was something similar to https://www.woodwardfab.com/product/shrinker-stretcher-with-foot-operated-stand-wfsscast9/

 

[Dcal]

You can have a lend of mine to see if the cheap type will do the job you need.

Only issue I see is they marr steel so the will mark soft aluminimum even worse.

Mines the short version with a home made pedal.
You have to change over the jaws but that only takes a few seconds.

 

[Cheesie]

You can have a lend of mine to see if the cheap type will do the job you need.

Only issue I see is they marr steel so the will mark soft aluminimum even worse.

Mines the short version with a home made pedal.
You have to change over the jaws but that only takes a few seconds.


View attachment 454792View attachment 454792

That would be fantastic thank you

 

[Popcorn]

I got this one works pretty well, after the usual titivations:

VEVOR VEVOR Sheet Metal Fabrication Shrinker Stretcher Set Motorcycle Hot Rod Chopper, Sheet Metal Shrinker Stretcher 16/18/20 Gauge Fabrication 2-in-1 Mild Steel for Garage/Body Shop/Workshop Metal Tool | VEVOR UK

Discover VEVOR Sheet Metal Fabrication Shrinker Stretcher Set Motorcycle Hot Rod Chopper, Sheet Metal Shrinker Stretcher 16/18/20 Gauge Fabrication 2-in-1 Mild Steel for Garage/Body Shop/Workshop Metal Tool, Shrinking & Stretching and Good Cutting Capacity at lowest price, 2days delivery...

uk.vevor.com

 

[Agroshield]

I got this one works pretty well

How well does it work on the square tube shown in the top of their picture?

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Did someone try the tool on the thread title? It appears to have shrunk so much the 'I' has disappeared.

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When you shrink something, the thickness increases. Hence, would the thickness increase be enough to give you material to abrade away the marks left by the tool?

Maybe with the opposite way, you can under-stretch it and then planish it smooth. The hammering will make the metal even thinner and stretch it to its final shape.

 

[ian f]

when doing my cortina restoration i thought about buying a shrinker/stretcher but made some shrinking pliers from a pair of visegrips and found i could stretch the steel by using a vice and only hammering to straighten any distortion. came out well

 

[Popcorn]

How well does it work on the square tube shown in the top of their picture?

LOL pop round and I'll teach you how to do it...........

 

[LewisT]

I bought one of the very deep throat ones from vevor its pretty garbage even after smoothing the dies the frame isn't very rigid.

I may just buy two of the small ones soon.

 

[sasquar]

I bought one of the very deep throat ones from vevor its pretty garbage even after smoothing the dies the frame isn't very rigid.

I may just buy two of the small ones soon.

thats extremely dissapointing.... i have a pair of the smaller ones, which have been built onto foot operated stands, and work perfectly, but ive been looking at upgrading them to the deeper throat options, just to give me a bit more versatility.....

To be honest, the shrinker if far more usefull than the stretcher in real terms, easy enough to stretch with a hammer and dolly, or a cross pein hammer and a vice jaw or whatever.......

 

[droopsnoot]

I have a pair that I bought from a link that was posted on here a few years ago, and as others have said, the shrinker gets far more use than the stretcher - I can easily stretch a flange with the edge of a cross pein hammer, but every time I try to manually shrink, it always just opens up again when I tap the peak down. I was happy to get the pair for a good price, because one if the items I make requires a shrink and a stretch and it's far too much trouble to switch jaws all the time.

I did buy a deep throat shrinker from WNS, it's OK, but the shape of the jaws means that I can't do as much as I want to with it.