Ben gave me a demonstration on Emile's Pullmax and told me to give it a try. The Pullmax was used as a shrinker in this case, and very quickly gave the aluminum the rough shape we needed. The advantage of shrinking is that the material is not made thinner but actually thicker than it was when we started. If we were to use stretching techniques only the material would have been extremely thin when finished.

After shrinking with the Pullmax the piece needed a little bit of stretching with the Yoder and then smoothing with the planishing hammer. All the time the tape pattern was used too see where more work was needed. After finishing all 3 pieces Emile TIG-welded them together and put the completed cover through the planishing hammer to smooth the welds. This is how far we got in one day, next week it will be mounted on the motor.