Header fun.

This topic is the most current project as of this writing. I spent the day finalizing some welds.

The post could have started 9 years ago when I took the first step in preparation to build headers, I bought a big ass band saw. I wanted a variable speed model. Not many out there but I found one and dragged it home. It nearly killed my truck.

Armed to the teeth with no clues, plan or knowledge, it stayed on the back of my mind that I will need headers someday and they’re not an off the shelf item. I would have to find someone to build me a set or attempt the build myself.

I’ve known about the modeling tool made by ICEngine Works, those little widgets that snap together so you can build a header out of plastic and then transfer the shape to metal pipes. They’re pricey and something I was not willing to spend that kind of money on.

In 2018 a plan started to form.

A friend revealed that he was into 3D printing and it just so happens I had stumbled across a site for 3D printing called Thingiverse. This website has a section where people can post 3D printer programs and it just so happens that someone had posted a program to print pieces very similar to the ICEngine works stuff.

I showed the program to Manny and he printed out the modeling piece. Sunuvabitch, you can actually 3D print this crap and it actually kinda sorta works! I was hooked.

I went out and bought a cheapy 3D printer and printed out the Thingiverse modeling header piece. Several actually. They kind of worked but there were areas that could be improved on. I talked to Manny about designing my own pieces and he turned me onto a free drafting program called Fusion 360. It’s a 3D modeling program. Holy crap, I can barely work my email and now I’m supposed to learn computer drafting?

I have a little experience with a drafting program called Autocad and it does me no good with Fusion, it’s a program all unto itself. Thank God for YouTube. That became my teacher for a few weeks. To be honest, using Fusion did not come to me easily, figuring out how to recreate that header modeling piece took me months. It wasn’t like I was working at it everyday. I’d get an idea, try it out, fail and then walk away for days and weeks.

Two years into it, I finally got serious and just hacked away on the computer until I figured out how to make the parts I wanted.

I made three different versions just to get the pieces to fit snug. The filament I was using proved to be too stiff and rigid. When I finally did make some pieces that fit tight and snug, the connecting tabs would snap off when I tried to disassemble the them. The final design was fairly snug but the joints would rotate. I ended up using masking tape to keep the pieces from spinning. I eventually found a filament that would allow me to make the pieces fit snug and not break when taking them apart but by then, I was done making these stupid plastic things. Printing out a set of these pieces took hours.

I made pieces of varying radii and straight lengths. Printing them took about a month. I wasn’t doing that again just to try something that might be better.