How to form Aluminium sheet

[lucylound]

Hi, I'm currently and A level student and my project this year is to create a product which can hold artist equipment, keep them safe while also being lightweight. I've decided to make the main structure of my product from aluminium.

The trouble I'm having though is I'm not entirely sure how to form the aluminium to the shape I want.
The product is in the style of a quiver, and is roughly the shape of this

quiver.jpg (254.23 KiB) Viewed 2581 times

but where it goes out at the bottom is more dramatic as it has a pocket on it to carry an A6/A5 sketchbook.
Is it possible to just form the whole thing? At the moment I've been told that I can make a mould from MDF and hammer the annealed sheet aluminium into it, but I wasn't sure that was possible for the whole thing in one go.
Would it be easier to make it into components, like the bottom shape, then cyclinder in the middle and then the top shape and rivet them?
I'll take any advice on the matter, please reply
thank you for reading

-lucy

[big-all]

heeelllooo and welcome lucylound

you need a wooden former a hammer and loads off time
or a several thousand pounds per section press to shape

look up "cold metal forming"

[Hitch]

There is various methods you could use.

Hammers/mallets and formers is probably the simplest method... you could get the majority of the shape by making a flat pattern, then cutting and forming the sheet to suit, by hammering in the right places which will stretch it.

You need to take it slow and be precise with your hammer mallet blows to avoid too much damage to the sheet.

[wrinx]

It could be made in several pieces with the main tube being cold rolled on a set of rollers...if you can find a company nearby who'll let you have a play. Or, you can buy aluminium tube in large diameters, that's perhaps 75mm...or would that be cheating?

The end pieces could then be formed easily by hand, make cardboard templates of the desired shape and transfer that to sheet material, followed by pressing them over various shaped formers and then drilled and pop riveted onto the main tube.

You don't say what the A-level is for, if you're not an experienced metalworker you could talk to the metalwork department for advice.

wrinx