Hydroforming
Across 2015 I developed a method to hydroform handpans shells. The result was a very consistent handpan shell that could be made in-house by a machine that didn’t require a big monetary investment. In 2016, I opensourced this method.
Updates as of January 2021
In 2018 I built hydromachine 2.0. It incorporated many of the improvements that were made in the previous 2 years from open-sourcing the original design. Below are the details of how to upgrade the original design to incorporate the new features:
Details:
- Get your plates machined flat. You can have them milled or blanchard ground. This will make a big difference in consistency and keeping pressure in.
- The other part is to have a groove machined into the full plate. Then you can put an o-ring in the groove and this will keep all pressure in.
- Specifics of my groove and oring:
Groove: ID: 21.5"
Thickness: Slightly under 0.25"
Depth: 0.20" (or 80% of the o-ring's diameter)
Oring ID: 20" (undersized allows it to stretch and next in the groove)
Oring Thickness: 0.25"
Here's where I ordered my orings.
Silicone Orange 70 Durometer
0.250"CS X 21.500"ID
Part #: S1000-6.35X546.1
https://www.allorings.com/configurator-availability
- A water-based lubricant will make o-ring installation easier.
- Both plates were milled flat to ~.0008" which is more than enough.
- I also had my ring plate machined flat and had the ring's edge rounded to a radius of 7/64" or 0.10"
You can control the draw with different bolt patterns
- I bolt down 6 bolts then drop in the other 18, unbolted, this results in about 0.5" of draw and a thickness delta of ~.15mm- The following pattern results in a draw of ~1.0" and drastically reduces the thickness delta: no bolt, bolt, bolt tightened, bolt, no bolt etc.
“All the information on this website is published in good faith and for general educational purposes. Any action you take upon the information on this website is strictly at your own risk. I am not liable for any losses and/or damages in connection with the use and/or misuse of the information found on this website.
-Colin Foulke-”