Thread: looking for high school Metal work bench

Are you after a bench or the different stakes that are used to form the bends on??

Hi Alf,
Welcome to the mob

Why not introduce yourself to the forum.We are a friendly and helpful bunch most of the time.
There's even a few Brisbane ites on the list.

Perhaps if you tell us just what it is you are trying to acheive you may be be pleasantly surprised at the solutions which flow from discussions about things metal.

For instance theres a couple of Manual arts teachers here.

I have a stake bench which is the long saw horse like bench with cut outs for the stakes.I do not have any stakes however.

Grahame

hi guys,

Thanks for the responses...

I am looking for the bench and the stakes.

I would like to add more tools to my shed...It is pretty sparse at the moment.

I only do a bit of tinkering around the house and would like to have the right tools for what ever job I am working on... well, a wider range of tools anyway...

Cheers
alf...

Ring up a few high schools.
Ask to talk to the Manual arts dept
Some of them may have stakes and stake benches. They may want to get rid of them as the curriculum is changing all the time.

The big thing is that a lot of kids hate sheet metal work and that may be reflected in a change of curriculum.

They can only say no,so you have nothing to lose.

You don't ant to buy them new ,I don't think you could afford them.
Cheers
Grahame

What's these stakes you speak of? It's been a lot time since I done metal work at school, but I did sheetmetal work up to about 10 years ago.

Sheet Metal Forming Stakes. Not in common use much now but great for one off jobs (like what we doo at school!)

Its was a while back but I recall but sheetie,(most of our our teachers have trade backgrounds- fitter ,boilie,chippy etc,)
mentioned to a student flogging the BJs out of a piece of sheet with a Hammer( one uses a soft dresser) on that 901 type stake was about $900 to replace and he would ask his parents to replace same.


If you are not going to be in full time sheet metal production and just need to tinker, maybe make your own out of different shaped steel sections.

Now or soon would be about the right time to meet a new friend who owns tools that could be used to cut ,weld grind and shape these tools.

The pics are a damm good start to work out what you wish to do and start to draw these things up.

No one says you must have a stake bench .Why not the standard work shop bench with taper holes-In any case I would work out what I need to do or would like to make and build your tool set around that notion.Tools for tools sake is a bad idea.You will end up with tools you just do not use .I can attest to this one personally

Taper holes will accommodate the square male taper found on most of the stakes.
Right then get on it.any questions?
Grahame

Originally Posted by Wood Butcher

Sheet Metal Forming Stakes. Not in common use much now but great for one off jobs (like what we doo at school!)

Thanks Wood Butcher.

lol I haven't given these things a though in the last 20 years and didnt even remember the stake tools until I read about the holes in the benches in this thread and have been bending up sheet metal for the last 20 years with bits of angle in the metal vice and g clamps to lengthen the clamped area and a rubber mallet when and where required...
Works like a charm form me anyway.
You can bend just about anything sheet metal with the right sized hammer and a few pieces of 1/4' x 2'angle.
cheers Rileyp

Edit....
Except round stuff ...
Ah I remember making the soup ladle now out of aluminum and the ball stake which doesn't seem to be shown?
Well thanks for the flashback...
Cant make a soup ladle with 2' angle....


Hmm I distinctly remember getting to metalwork class early to get a good stake hole that wasn't loose in the bench..
Cheers Rileyp

Originally Posted by rileyp

.
Ah I remember making the soup ladle now out of aluminum and the ball stake which doesn't seem to be shown?
Well thanks for the flashback...
Cant make a soup ladle with 2' angle....

Hi rileyp
Thats right you can't.But you can make the ladle over a hardwood former block shaped out to the form of the ladle and pein it. You can use that with the ball pein hammer or even a pick hammer, all of which can be fabbed up in a home work shop.

Even the stakes are capable of being made at home and mounted in a vice.rather than have 24 kids around the stake bench ,we have fabbed a couple of tools which mount in the vice ,far cheaper than cast steel and machined stakes.Kids tends to pound on the stakes with steel hammers ( which will dent them) and not the dressers.Do you remember them?.They were wooden (hardwood)

Grahame