can anyone help me find a resorce for sheets of metal roofing. thanks for any help.
I can’t help with a source of metal roofing, but I know that is available. However, I can pass along my method of making corugated metal roofing. I found a paper crimping tool at my local craft store. It’s made of two metal splined rollers that me***ogether . One of the rollers has a handle attached to turn it. the paper is placed between the rollers and gets corugated when it’s pulled between the rollers.
I use .010 Evergreen sheet styrene cut into scale 10’ by 4’ sheets. I pass them through the rollers such that the corugations are in the long direction. The resulting product is very close to the prototype and costs a fraction of the what you’d pay for manufactured sheets.
Hope that helps.
Walt
i bought a crimper and tried to run metal flashing though it (it didnt work) i still would like to use metal, is there any thing thinner?
Hello,
I did my loco shed roof and siding using aluminum panels from beer and soda cans. Wa***hem out them put them in an electric oven and run it thru the self cleaning cycle. That anneals the metal so the crimper works better and it isn’t as springy.
After the annealling is done cut the tops and bottoms off and cut the can down the side. Run it thru the crimper and viola’ …corrugated roofing and siding! I fixed mine to the walls and roof with a silicone glue.
Andre’
great idea! cans in mi have a deposit of .10 cents still cheaper than buying premade.
I use metal I buy from a local junk yard for my siding and roofing.
If you go to the ECLSTS next April in York , PA you can pick up some of the metal I use from me for the taking. [I don’t sell metal as I’m not in sales. I give it away.]
Here is a page on my site with a few ideas on using metal for building.
http://users.stratuswave.net/~wd8jik/crimp/crimp.html
Take care,
Yogi
Daniel and Andre
I do the same thing with the crimper but I use a sheet product by K&S Engineering called “Soft Aluminum” which comes in rolls from craft shops or if your lucky your LHS (local hobby shop). It FAR easier to cut to size and this stuff is SO MUCH EASIER to run thru the crimper than the can stuff. I then use a silicon adhesive to glue it down. They sell copper, brass, aluminum sheets for model and craft projects and it seems pretty easy to find, anyway thought I’d pass along the tip.
PS I’ll try to post the contact info on the side of the roll later tonight …
Dan
There is an advertisment in the February copy of GR on page 152. The advertiser is Sodders Enterprises and it is located in Parkersburg, West by God.
Bob
Here is another dealer for two styles of roofing. D.A.S. (704)925-3737, or e-mail bigd601@msn.com. He has a very nice product. Ken
This is the STUFF!!!
Triied the crimper on very thin tinplate but the crimper fell to bits !
Tried the aluminium cans, hand worked the corrogations and they looked good, but cant get paint to stick to them, dos’nt matter what primer I use, nothing sticks and it all peels off. 2 months is the record so far!!!
Finished up using corrogated cardboard with several coats of roof paint. Surprising enough it has lasted 3 years outside in the weather with little effect, but would prefer to use something else, like metal, but here can only purchase HO scale roofing.
Any suggestions?.
See my post above your initial post…that K&S soft aluminum goes thru a crimper in on pass, glues down with silicon adhesive and is real metal so it should hold up well outdoors. As for weathering, if paint doesnt stick how about chemical darkeners like Blacken-it, they also make a mix for blacking aluminum as well as for brass[;)]
I haven’t tried this yet myself, but I’ve been looking at the “disposable” aluminum roasting pans in local grocery stores. They’re made of fairly heavy aluminum but should still be very easy to cut and crimp.
Vic, How does that soft metal hold up outside to heavy rain and hail? Is it heavy enough to withstand hail or will it bend? Sound interesting otherwise.
Michael, the crimper mentioned here will effectively crimp the disposable roasting pans. It’s still sometimes hard to get the factory crimping out of the bottom of the pans, but with a little work, you can get through them. The material won’t take paint well unless you acidify the metal. Not to be gross, urine will do the job. Some of the guys in Great Britian have used sheep urine, who knows how they get it, but it does work well. I suppose any source of urine will work…or perhaps a VERY weak solution of muratic acid would do the same thing. I recomend testing first. Regarding alum. soda and beer cans. After they’ve been annealed in an oven or gas grill, the burnt paint on the surface of the can looks pretty cool as a roof surface, especially on sheds or commerical buildings. With the same acid treatment mentioned above, they wil take paint as well. Good luck.
For the loading dock roof on my recent pork store project I used the aluminum roasting pan material as advocated by Yogi. I found that the larger roasting pans sold in our local dollar stores are made of thicker material than the smaller ones. It went through my crimper very well and I’m even optimistic that the flat black primer I applied to it will stay in place. If it doesn’t… well, we call that weathering!
Regards,
Bill C.
South Jersey
I went to the local automotive paint shop and asked about painting aluminum. I told them how the paint can chip off after a while.
They told me to get " self etching primer made by Sem products. Then use “U-POL” white primer over the etching primer.
I can’t say how well it works. It hasn’t been warm enough in my shop to paint with it.
The U-POL must be good because there are instructions in 8 languages plus pictures to show how to use it if you don’t speak one of the other 8 languages.
If the temperature gets warm enough before the ECLSTS I will bring a sample with me.
Take care,
Yogi
I think it will hold up to heavy rain OK enough but hail would definetly cause dents, if you use it I would take it up in heavy weather, of course nothing will be undamaged if you live where you get 1inch round golf-ball hailstones[;)]
Guys,
The other thing you can look for is called zinc chromate primer it comes in spray cans and is a self etching primer made for aluminum. I’m not sure on what prices you may find on it or where. My sources for it would tend to be rather expensive. The zinc primer will leave the item with a green or yellow color depending on which color you buy. They both cover easily with regular paints.
Later,
Jack
I found this easily at welding supply houses for no more then any other spray paint.