Patterns

When making a patch panel for your car that has some shape in it,what is the best way to make a pattern?That will help read the shape you need to re-produce.

 

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs..._mmc=shopping-_-googlebase-_-D25X-_-100659804
I've used similar contour tools like this one on some patch panel work.Get the shape.Trace it on a piece of sheet metal and that will be your gauge.
Is that what you were referring too?

 

I am more looking for:

If you have panel that has a high crown to it,how do you make a pattern that will show you how to put that exact shape into your new blank?

 

If your going to be shrinking the panel to get a crown you can use paper to make the pattern and the areas that need a triangular crease to conform to the panel basically tell you how much shrinkage you need in those areas and direction and placement of the shrink (either thumb nail or tuck shrinking or i guess stump method too)

 

I think most guys do the shape and check thing and shape and check some more. If you check any top chopping thread on here that is the norm.

The contour gauges that Frank Dog showed sure are handy though. One of those is going on my "gotta have" list right now.

I

 

Get on MetalMeet.com and look around.
I have seen those guys use "flexible" patterns by using overlapping tape laid across the area, in different directions, like plywood layers.
Mike Bynum

 

So you lay the paper on the panel,then when the paper conforms around the crown of the panel it will buckle.Do you cut the triangles out?

Then do you mark the triangles out onto the blank and then just shrink in those areas.

If so how do you know if the panel is perfect or if the panel is in it proper arrangement?

 

You have very good questions. No do not cut the triangles fold them over the piece u r working and once folded hold them in place with little magnets and continue until all areas have been folded then take it off and look at your papaer where the lines are is the areas the need to be shrunk. You will know its in proper arrangement when it fits very tightly onto the piece your copying? All this information and so much more is on metalmeet.com It would be in your interest to sign up on that board anyone on hear who does fab work should really be on that site.

 

X2 flexble patterns.
IRRC the first layer is a flexible film, second layer is very strong, non-flexible packing tape. No cutting, folding or fooling around. Turning this inside out also give a pattern for the other side of the car.

HF sells a 3-foot contour gauge called a "profile gauge" -- you could use it to cut plywood profiles of different areas of the panel. Plywood would hold its shape better at right angles than sheet metal.

 

paper patters are good for getting you close with out a bunch of work you still need to check it against the original piece, thats the only way to know if the piece is "perfect", as far as alignment that's really how the body lines, panel edges and surface of the patch meet up with the rest of the panel. the folds are more of a guide for shrinking. if you have a bunch of folds like in a very high crown piece its best to shrink the whole area and not just the area in the folds. if its just one fold you can just shrink in that general area. its more art than exact science.

 

I have shaped panels before that looked nothing like the panel I was trying to re-produce.

To make a accurate pattern,the information you will need is shape and arrangement.

I capture the shape by using flexible shape patterns and the arrangement with contour gauges.


Here is a example

Here is a panel with some shape in it.



Then I took a pattern off of it and a contour gauge off of it.



Then I grabbed the panel and bent the hell out of it.





All I did is change the arrangement of the panel.I did not change the shape at all.When I place the pattern back on the panel it still fits perfectly.



So all I have to do is push the metal back into it's proper arrangement and it will be perfect again.


After I get the pattern fitting perfectly like it was a layer of paint on the new panel.I use the contour gauges to put the panel into its proper arrangement.After that I know it will fit perfectly every time


I have never shaped a panel that ened up in its proper arrangement.It is never that far off,the rule is if it fits the pattern it will go into its proper arrangement.

This is one of the most important things to learn and understand when it comes to shaping panels.