The machine is an air-power metal shaper. It has a big power head that runs off air pressure from, for example, a compressor. A foot pedal on the floor controls how much air feeds to the power head, which runs a die that rattles up and down against a fixed anvil on the bottom. There are many different types of dies and anvils for different jobs.
Kevin is sure you’re thinking, “OK, fine, but what does that do for me?”
He tells viewers to turn down their speakers and shapes a piece of aluminum with the air shaper. It is loud!
Kevin shows what the air shaper has done to a piece of aluminum in a short period of time. You can take a flat piece of metal and dish it out to make a bowl, a cap, or anything you want to shape in a rounded form.
Next he takes out the shallow die and puts in a more pointed one and shapes a corner of the aluminum. Kevin shows the difference between what it did to the aluminum compared to the first die, even with the same air pressure.
This air shaper comes with a small set of different dies. Kevin shows steel ones, like he�s been using, as well as plastic, rubber and leather dies. The plastic ones are for shrinking and planishing, which smooths out the metal, getting out the hammer marks. It may even mean you don’t have to grind!
So that’s just a couple of things an air shaper will do.
A couple of things that this machine will NOT do is shape steel thicker than a quarter inch. If you get the big power head, though, you can shape – steel.
The other thing you don’t do with this machine is try to shape hot metal with it. The heat will destroy the temper in the dies and anvil.
Hopefully that answers the viewer’s question. Kevin asks you to �like� this video and leave your comments below. Well, you might want to hang out for another moment to see an unusual way Kevin plays with this equipment ….