[TheForge] RE: Frying pan

[Michael Horgan]

Used to work in San Diego next to where the boys @ Conic made the Fuel 
Tanks for the Titan Rockets. They started with Explosive forming in a water 
tank. Bolt the blank to the top of the die, pull a vacuum under it, then 
submerge under 10 feet of water.  When the charge went off in the water, 
the pressure wave shaped the metal nicely. At least some of the tanks were 
titanium.   Later on they dropped the explosives, and switched to a huge 
bank of High voltage,high current capacitors. Charge for an hour, then dump 
the charge into an underwater arc.  Got an even bigger bang, and perfectly 
repeatable.


>I think this is where the guys who like Very Loud Noises come into
>their own.  I *think* the way you do this without expensive machinery
>is to put the sheets of metal on a platen under a layer of sheet
>explosive with suitable containment stuff on top and fire it off.
>Explosive welding.  I looked into explosive forming once but found the
>bureaucratic doo doo involved in getting the materials was just too
>much hassle.  Everybody takes it all soooo seriously. If you have a
>blaster license or a licensed buddy, you can probably make some neat
>bi-metal stuff.
>
>There was an article in Smithsonian some years ago about a woman in (I
>think) Arizona who did explosive-formed sculptural objects.  I talked
>to her on the phone but she wasn't very forthcoming.
>
>
>- Mike
>
>Michael Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada       .~.
> 
>/V\
>mspencer@tallships.ca 
>/( )\
>http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/




Michael D. Horgan , lughaid@earthlink.net
http://members.aol.com/lughaid/
posting from
  A BRAZEN FORGERY
Blacksmithing and Metalwork
Claremont, Ca.