Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Watch Hedman Headers build a manifold from start to finish

There's something mesmerizing about The Discovery Channel's How It's Made series. While we couldn't care less about the intricacies of paperclip production, watching the various machines and processes interact is the stuff lazy Saturday afternoons are made of.



Hedman Headers has cribbed that successful formula with a new video that lets you follow a set of headers as they make their way from plain tube steel to performance hardware. The company uses computer-controlled machinery to precisely bend the pipes before handing them over to master welders, and those guys hand-stitch the various pieces into the work of art you see above.

Each part is test fitted against existing jigs to maintain quality control throughout the assembly process, and the final pieces are either sprayed black for shipping or doused in a special ceramic coating to resist oxidization