Thread: New shrinker-stretcher for my shop

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Made a trip to Long Island to pick up a "new" s-s for the shop, this originally came out of a Northrup Grumman aircraft plant on LI. Here's the unloading device ....





....and located in the shop, anchors installed to keep it from moving.








To show a couple test samples, we'll use about a 4" long piece with 1" flanges. The result shown is after about 4 passes, with a close up to show the "finish" result.











Shown against a roll of tape to compare the radius size we've accomplished..





Here's a closer shot to show the stippling on the shrinker jaw....





.....and the shrinking sample....











These Lancasters are what it will be replacing....

I'll bet that foot pedal makes controlling the workpiece easier. That does a nice, clean job.

I'm impressed with the quick result, but even more the finish! Those jaws are so much better than those in my little hand set (similar to what you replaced).

Nothing like having the right tool for the job..

Am wondering if the face of the jaws could be re-surfaced to make them smoother?

Very nice tool and well worth the investment. I have a set of the small ones that I use every day... that foot operated one is really tempting... hummm maybe it's time to start checking out Craig's List again. Congrats on a cool addition to the family.

Originally Posted by sunsetdart

Am wondering if the face of the jaws could be re-surfaced to make them smoother?

The surface texture is what provides the grip to the metal surface, and leaves it similar to a sandblasted finish. The Lancaster/Eastwood style with the lines are actually not used on aircraft parts (aluminum) as the lines left in the surface promote the formation of cracks, where the stipple finish does not. Smoothed out, the stipple would not grip as well and lose its effectiveness.

Neat machine!!!! Betcha that thing whooped out some way kewl airplane pieces over the years!!!!! Good find, Robert, how did you ever locate a piece of machinery like that? Got to have some years on it???

Man-O-Man, what a nice machine! That thing is a killer, i've heard of jaws that didn't leave marks (pricey too) but those are the first i've seen.

Dave, I had emailed someone who had one advertised from several months ago as he also had a planishing hammer for sale, which is what I really wanted. He had already sold everything, but let me know that his cousin's husband had recently passed, and his Erco kick shrinker was available. As I was working in the Baltimore area last week, which took about two hours off the trip to Long Island, it was all the motivation I needed. Glad to put a vintage machine back to work. Still looking for the planishing hammer....

I wonder if anyone has ever changed the grip pattern on the smaller uniits to achieve that non mar surface? Seems a hard facing metal spray might be the hot set up or maybe peen the heck out of it to get a similar surface as your big unit? Just thinking out loud...

Kent White sells the stippled dies for the Lancaster/Eastwood style machines on his web site, TinManTech