Let's see some sheet metal shaping

Jay, glad to help! Look forward to next time.

 

That bmw headlamp shroud looks familiar. Gosh I hardly recognized Rick been a few years since I seen him. I hope you guys come to the Jalopy showdown and participate in the fun there. Sorry I been lax on hyping it.

 

Rebuilding some 1938 chevy doors and building new running boards.

 

Hey,

Great lookin running boards & door skin!

Were the running boards built with Pull-Max tooling or a beading/swaging machine?

 

Nice job on the running boards and door skin!

 

The ribs in the running boards were pressed in with a die and 50 ton bearing press. I thought i had a picture of the dies but can't find one, it is made of 1/2" x 1/8" strips welded to a bigger 1/8" sheet. I may do a thread on how i make them for the next tech week contest.

 

Ignore for a moment the kitchen cabinets, and imagine the part on your car that may be formed in a similar fashion..

Have been swamped at the day job and a couple of rentals in need of repairs, so not much time in the shop. One of the rentals did have some kitchen issues to resolve and thought that it was the perfect place for some metal shaping.
Here's the background, kitchen layout was less than ideal, I guess they were fine until the knobs were installed....





Removing the knob, we have much more access to the adjacent drawer. I had looked for similar knobs in recessed form, and could not find much available, or that would match and use existing hole. Placing the knob on top of the drawer face, it looks like a recessed offset would resolve the issue..







Cut out some blanks and used a sharpie and the lathe to mark a good circle for trimming.





The snips work much better with less distortion when the trimmed amount is limited to 1/4 width, so a couple trims and then we can trim to the line..







Reinstalled onto the lathe-sharpie tool, the outer diameter is marked on both sides. This diameter provides a good flat for the knob.



I haven't had much time in the shop to make new tools, and one of Captain Kirk's version of tucking forks is on the list. So I resorted to the vise grip tucking pliers. These tend to be more effective using heat on the tucks, so off I go..









Repeated shrinking effort and checked knob offset...





Measured off about half the distance and added another bend line to bring the diameter in a bit...











Finished and media blasted...



Drawer face hole opened considerably and as the recessed "cup" protrudes through the back side, a stepped washer was made for the inside of the drawer.









Will be painted black to match the appliances. This looks like it will work!

 

Cool ! Thanks for posting
What's a capainkirk tucking tool?

And a rookie cabinet install lacking foresight - the big ass filler 2 doors to the right should have been in the corner or split.

 

Do a search on West Coast Metalshapers Captain Kirk has a thread posted on tucking fork.

 

A while back I had attempted to fabricate a drip rail based on a sample that I was sent.




My first step was to form an offset in the bead roller





Followed by a bead roll into the skateboard wheel to form the radius on the face, and a tipping wheel to form the remaining folds.

My results lacked accuracy, it does appear I need more offset on the initial roll, and I wanted to see if anyone had other suggestion that might improve the accuracy/duplicability. I need to make these about 24" long...










Any thoughts/suggestions for improving the fabrication methods?

 

Don't know if this count?





Just bang on a piece of sheet metal I had in the scrap bin.

 

As a follow up to my previous attempt at drip rail in the above post, the dies I used in the original attempt had about a .07 offset. I didn't want to alter their size as they get used once in a blue moon for sheet metal offset, like I did for the 55 Chevy truck windshield panel.. So I decided to make another set, and based on the dimensional difference between the good sample and the trial piece, it looked like I needed to add about .04 to the offset, or .110 total. So here are the new dies...





I used a "backstop" die on the bottom to set the distance, and had to go back and trim a bit more off the width of the lower die to get the drip rail height correct.







Then the "backstop" die was radiused to use with the skateboard wheel in providing the radius for the front face...





Then a few passes with the tipping wheel to fold up the front face...





The ends wanted to fold much more than the rest of the trial piece, so rather than continually readjust the tension, I sacrificed the first inch or so and just cut it off in the band saw.

Here is the outer portion formed, the height is about perfect, this is using die width and back stop to regulate dimension...



The offset also turned out much better. The sharp bend on mine wasn't quite as tight together, but we'll see what the owner says to this version.....

 

beautiful work, thanks for sharing ...

 

I finished the "hood ornaments" for my '46 Ford pickup race car tow vehicle - a pair of heels titled "Built for Speed". They will adorn the bed cover and serve as a handle to lift the cover, whilst at the same time showcasing my metal art capabilities. Let's face it - most women can look at a chopped top pickup cab and not appreciate the work involved but when they see these shoes the typical response is, "Where did you get those shoes?", and then, "Can I get them in my size?"

 

I think you've found the easiest way to get all the females at the shows to crowd around your truck. Awesome, beautiful work!

 

A demo piece for something I'm doing for my wife for putting up with my onry ass..3003 aluminum, planishing hammer, bead roller, hammer and dolly, and a couple polishers. All was going well till the polisher decided to toss it down the driveway!

Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!

 

I have been fixing some junk fenders for an old chevy truck. Got 1 side finished today, now the hard part will be making the other side match. When I started I didnt have an english wheel, so everything was made using hand tools except the bead.
Before



it looked like someone had worked the whole fender over with a pickaxe

Someone had torched off the lower rear section, i was able to get templates from a good fender and then made a new piece

And After




The weld seam


The other fender isnt quite as bad, so hopefully it goes easier.

 

Holy shit that's beautiful, well done..


Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!

 

x5!

 

Good job on those fenders.

Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!

 

Whoa !!!

 

thanks for the nice comments, I am an amateur at this stuff, but it is fun.

 

Here's one for critique. Not up to par with most of this work posted here, but a neat little trick I'm sure some can use. I have a little side work here and there building dog boxes, tool boxes, truck tool boxes, etc for guys that just want a little something different. Generally just simple bead rolled panels, etc, but I've fooled around with flames rolled in, etc, until this last request. Decided to play with the trucker girl logo and try to stamp panels if I could, so sketched up a silhouette, cut it out of plate, then a little heat, little hammering, etc and success. Just a pic of the first test panel, but I'm fairly stoked with the result, so thought I would share.

Dan

 

real nice job!!!

 

Been awhile since I have checked in. Lot of good reading has been added.

 

Big_dan are you hammering around the edge with a soft hammer or corking tool? I have done embossing with male and female dies like the running boards a few posts above yours but i have not done it with just a male die.

 

wingedexpress - I used a soft mallet (rubber) with a little heat applied. Take it really slow at first; I tack the "die" to my shop table then scribe marks to keep myself aligned and prevent doubling any areas. Hope this helps.

Dan

 

Just spent an hour reading this thread and more to go. I truly envy anyone that has the skills on display in here. My total lack of metalworking skills is why I finally accepted reality and handed my car off to an expert, Bob Hilton.

I would really love to gain some skills in this area and maybe in the future tackle something...

Anyway, kudos to ALL who posted their work in here. An inspiration to many I am sure.

 

Thanks Big_dan i will try that on the next small project i have.

 

Nothing too fancy but still tricky to make, these are the corner pieces that connect the A pillar to the roof lid on a 32-34 truck


Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!