suggest a solution to supply of surplus sheet-metal

December 11, 2006 2:15 PM

What creative use can I put all this sheet metal to?

I work at a printing plant. Large sheets of sheet metal are used in the printing process. When a job is done the sheets are recycled or thrown out. Can the Hive Mind suggest a more creative use? There are three sizes of sheet: 13" x 19", 15" x 20", and 24" x 28".

posted by lekvar to Grab Bag (16 answers total)

buy an O/A torch and teach yourself how to cut and weld and make art.
posted by peewinkle at 2:37 PM on December 11, 2006

Response by poster: I know how to weld with oxyacetylene - this stuff is way too thin, about a millimeter thick. Better for pop-rivets, I think.
posted by lekvar at 2:43 PM on December 11, 2006

Get a shear and a brake, and make lots and lots of boxes :P
Or, you know, give it to a highschool shop class, and let your minions make the boxes for you.
posted by Chuckles at 2:59 PM on December 11, 2006

Get a shear and brake and make lots of boxy robots.

What metal and what gauge? Are they coated with ink or other chemicals in the printing process?
posted by hydrophonic at 3:47 PM on December 11, 2006

Response by poster: Steel, 12 guage (.3mm). Some of the plates have ink and "gum," a fixative, plus the substrate that the exposing laser fuses to form the image (we use direct-to-plate). I plan on cleaning the plates before I get too creative.
posted by lekvar at 4:01 PM on December 11, 2006

You could laser weld them. That'd give you a couple of projects for the winter. First, build laser....
posted by wzcx at 4:16 PM on December 11, 2006

Actually, they could be pretty cool with the images, if you applied some sort of fixative to 'em.

Then it's on to all the shop-class projects.
posted by klangklangston at 4:26 PM on December 11, 2006

Best answer: magnet boards -- drill holes in the sheet and nail it to your wall. use magnetic poetry or stick pictures on it.

make an industrial picture frame -- get prints that are proportional to the metal and glue them in the center... instant metallic border.
posted by kerning at 4:53 PM on December 11, 2006

Best answer: Homemade backsplash in the kitchen. Funky ceiling tiles. 5/8th's replica of the batmobile.
posted by empyrean at 4:58 PM on December 11, 2006

If the metal is ferrous and not zinc-coated then get a plasma cutter, and make decorative formed or flat sheet metal whoozits. If the metal is aluminum, get some rivets and a set of Clecos and start a-building.
posted by jet_silver at 5:16 PM on December 11, 2006

Make armor for next halloween.
posted by Iron Rat at 6:27 PM on December 11, 2006

Best answer: any way to emboss them, and make fake tin ceiling tiles?
posted by twistofrhyme at 7:44 PM on December 11, 2006

Best answer: You might not have any access to this, but I had friends who were in an industrial arts program and we able to make incredibly sweet stencils with sheet metal using computer patterning and laser cutters.
Even without that level of precision, you could still make some sweet stencils.

Oh, and as kids in shop, we sanded off the sharp edges on scraps, bent 'em in half, and used a couch rubberband to launch 'em as wicked tweeters.
Probably a good way to put an eye out, though.

You could also have them etched...
posted by klangklangston at 9:31 PM on December 11, 2006

Response by poster: klangklangston, can you explain what a tweeter is? All I'm getting is speakers.

Good stuff, people. Any other ideas?
posted by lekvar at 11:11 PM on December 11, 2006

Oh, yeah. A tweeter is (usually) a sheet of paper folded over several times, to form a V shape. If you twist the edges right, and then shoot it with a rubber band, it makes a high-pitched whizz noise. You can also make them with sheet metal and shoot them at your buddies.

(As a side note, I have seen people make pretty sweet "musical" instruments by micing huge sheets of metal, and I know the guys in Wolfeyes were experimenting with a huge magnet pulsing sheet metal in and out, but I don't think they found a way to avoid the feedback in the system).
posted by klangklangston at 11:36 PM on December 11, 2006

Pick up some RF connectors! Experiment with sheet metal antenna designs. Bend some waveguide, play with horns and reflectors and stuff. Sheet metal and wire are the basic components of most antennae. Making standoffs out of Bic pen tubes and styrofoam is par for the antenna-building course.

Take a swing by Trevor Marshall's antenna building site and get some ideas.
posted by Myself at 7:11 AM on December 12, 2006