Imperial Wheeling Machines

Imperial Wheeling Machines At Imperial Wheeling Machines we manufacture and service the finest and most versatile English wheels, metal shaping tools and fabrication tools on the market!

We are still a full service shop so the tools and equipment we sell are shop tested every day!

Hey everyone out there in internet land, i have gotten a bunch of emails and messages about our June 5,6,7th Flock to th...
05/21/2026

Hey everyone out there in internet land, i have gotten a bunch of emails and messages about our June 5,6,7th Flock to the shop metalshaping event so I thought i would explain what it is all about!

This is a 3 day working get together where you can bring parts and pieces of your project to the shop to work on it(contact me first as space is limited). If you don't have a project you can find a interesting shape in the shop and reproduce it. There are demonstrations every day of the event, in years past demo topics have been aluminum casting, Buck construction, tig welding, gas welding, epoxy press dies, metalfinishing, automotive upholstery and so many more.

The whole idea is to get a group of people together and everyone learn one thing from everyone else! Food is provided for breakfast, lunch, and supper so you can work on your project as long as possible each day. There is no cost to attend!!!! If you would like to attend shoot me a message so I can have a head count for food and supplies!

As stated above the whole point is to share methods, techniques and skills in a fun environment. Please do not bring a part and expect someone to make it for you, that is not the point!!! Looking forward so seeing the regulars and some new faces! Thanks everyone and have a great day!

Hey everyone out there in internet land, our Flock to the shop metalshaping event is coming up June 5,6&7th in our shop ...
05/12/2026

Hey everyone out there in internet land, our Flock to the shop metalshaping event is coming up June 5,6&7th in our shop in Hastings Nebraska! No cost to attend! What is a metalshaping event? It is a working get together where you can bring parts and pieces of your project (contact me first please as space is limited) and have free range in the shop!!!!! The younger crowd would know this as a Makers Meet. There is no official sign up I just need a head count for food. There will be live demos each day!!! If you have any questions or would like to attend give me a shout, info in the picture below. Thanks everyone and have a great day!!!

Hey everyone out there in internet land, here is a heads up for our sports car body construction class held here in Hast...
04/06/2026

Hey everyone out there in internet land, here is a heads up for our sports car body construction class held here in Hastings Nebraska April 24th,25th,26th, & 27th!!
****as of today there are 2 spots available ****

I really enjoy this class as its focused on a iconic British sports car, now we have taken a few artistic liberties with. This body is being shaped from aluminum but if you are a steel guy and that is all you are ever going to work with you can shape your parts from steel if you wish.

-In this class we will cover how to measure and scale.
-Buck construction, types, advantages and disadvantages of each type
-Pattern work and building your roadmap
-Layout and order of operations
-several ways of shrink and stretch and when to use them
-wheeling up panels with the English wheel and alternative uses of the wheel
-Fitting, marking,trimming and welding your parts
-Metal finishing and detail work
-and so much more!

This car was chosen as a class project simply because it has some of the most beautiful and wild shapes and some that are fairly tame. So if a guy is just getting started with metalshaping he can work on a little bit less complex of a panel but still be exposed to more complex panels and see the similarities between them.

Class days are from 8am to 8pm all four days, cost is $800 per person and includes lunch,supper,refreshments and all materials. If you have any questions feel free to call the shop 1402-462-8581 or email [email protected] or sign up at wheelingmachines.com.

Thanks everyone and have a great day!!

03/06/2026

Working on something interesting any guess what it could be?

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Hey everyone out there in internet land here is a heads up for our hot rod body construction class March 20th21st,22nd &...
02/27/2026

Hey everyone out there in internet land here is a heads up for our hot rod body construction class March 20th21st,22nd & 23rd held right here in Hastings Nebraska! Our class size maximum is only 4 people so everyone in elbow deep in the project.

The goal of this class is to shape up one whole side of a 1930's hot rod body from flat sheet! We will also discuss building inner structure and sub frame parts, we will go as deep as the class guys want to on this part of the project.

As the class runs we will cover the how's and why's of metal, pattern and layout work, shaping with hand tools, several ways to shrink and stretch with hand tools, use of the English wheel and why it works, bead work edges and detail work, trimming, fitting and welding and so much more!

Cost for this class is $800 per person. Class days are 8am to 8pm each day, cost includes lunch, supper, refreshments and all materials. If you have any questions feel free to give me a call at the shop or to sign up check it out here Thanks everyone, have a great day!
https://imperialwheelingmachines.com/collections/metal-shaping-classes/products/metal-shaping-class-4-day-intensive-sports-car-body-construction-class-march

Hey everyone out there in internet land here is a recap of our January fundamentals of metalshaping with hand tools clas...
01/30/2026

Hey everyone out there in internet land here is a recap of our January fundamentals of metalshaping with hand tools class. The weather forced a couple of guys to reschedule but that didn't stop Robb from Canada! I want to make one thing very clear here, people make a lot of arrangements to get here so we do not reschedule classes if only one guy can make it here. So Mr Robb got a one on one class basically, the other guys will just slide into the next class that fits their schedule.

Anyway on to the fun stuff, Mr Robb is just getting started with metalshaping but has done a lot of research and had great questions!! Pattern work being the first topic raised a lot of questions as so many people do it differently. We started with a paper pattern to identify where the shrink and stretch needed to happen then used radius guages to find where different radii start and stop. The part we were making was half of a midget tail tank, and a very real world situation popped up. How do you pattern a part that is a little beat up? More on that in a bit.

Having our pattern we moved to layout work and sizing out blanks. The first shaping operation was shrinking only where the pattern told us to. Tuck shrinking was the method of choice simply because you can shrink exactly where you want to!! Robb made measurable improvement on every shrink only needing to re-shrink two areas.

Next was a little bit of hand planishing the shrinks and stretching the middle to satisfy the radius guages. We walked through several stretching method and the pro's and cons of each, all effective but a little more time on the front end saves finish work on the back end!

Next was making a couple of hammer forms for the hard edge parts. One hammer form was wood one was poured epoxy directly off of the model. Having a little more detail in a part requires a softer touch but Mr. Robb adjusted well!!

Next was shaping the reverse curve in the part, and we walked through three different ways to linear stretch and the difference between stretching using the elasticity in the metal and compressing and displacing.

I know this is getting long winded but hang in there! After shaping the parts and hitting our targets we moved on to trimming, fitting, and welding. We used both tig and gas welding, again Mr. Robb made measured improvement in both pretty quick.

After welding the some of the parts together we decided more time on the metal finishing process was time better spent. I will let the pictures tell the rest of the story, thanks everyone and have a great day!!

Quick reminder! There are a couple open spots in our February pattern and panel development class 13,14,15 &16.

Hey everyone out there in internet land here is a heads up for our January 23rd,24th25th & 26th fundamentals of metalsha...
01/17/2026

Hey everyone out there in internet land here is a heads up for our January 23rd,24th25th & 26th fundamentals of metalshaping with hand tools class held in Hastings Nebraska!

This class is the foundation of a well rounded shaping skill set. We will make parts to fit a actual panel, that way you have a target to hit, and need to build a plan to get there! We DO NOT make soup bowls in any of our classes, you have enough of those at home!
I really enjoy this class simply because we go though alot of methods that time has simply forgotten about. Classes always start with a talk about metal and why it does what it does, next we will make our patterns and compare acouple different types of patterns and discuss the pros and cons.

Shaping parts for the project will use only human powered tools, we will cover shrinking with the use of the stump and tuckshrinking, bag work, smoothing by hand, detail work, fitting and welding, and so much more.

It is hard to put into text what all goes on in these classes so feel free to give me a call at the shop if you have any questions 1402-462-8581.

Cost for this class is $800 per person and includes lunch, Supper, refreshments and all materials. If you would like to sign up for this class you can call me at the shop or follow the link below, thanks everyone and have a great day!!

https://imperialwheelingmachines.com/collections/metal-shaping-classes/products/metal-shaping-class-4-day-intensive-fundamentals-of-metal-shaping-with-hand-tools-january

Hey everyone out there in internet land our New year New skills sale is here!! Take 20% off any or all classes in 2026!!...
01/14/2026

Hey everyone out there in internet land our New year New skills sale is here!! Take 20% off any or all classes in 2026!!! If you have never been to our shop for a class what can you expect?

A explanation of how AND why so you understand what needs to be done instead of just repeating steps blindly .

Small class sizes, 4 people so everyone is elbow deep in the topic.

Pattern making, layout, and shaping of REAL patrs. NO SOUP BOWLS you have enough of those at your house!

Multiple methods to accomplish the same task, as this work is very situational and sometimes you need a different different approach on different parts.

One on one welding instruction so you can get if from your head to your hands!

If you guys or gals out there have any questions feel free to shoot me a message or give me a call at the shop anytime 1402-462-8581, thanks everyone and hope to see you in 2026!!

I bet my leg day is a little different than most people out there. We are still here everyone just very busy, and that's...
01/09/2026

I bet my leg day is a little different than most people out there. We are still here everyone just very busy, and that's a great thing!

Address

4215 Hornet Drive
Hastings, NE
68901

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 6pm
Tuesday 8am - 6pm
Wednesday 8am - 6pm
Thursday 8am - 6pm
Friday 8am - 6pm

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