Projects new member. watch me section my Desoto.

yes I did have to cut the inner door. I still have to cut more inside. It's fine but, I'm trying to learn and do my very best... And this is just not acceptable to me. I don't have a shrinking disk, I've never used one before. Yea, I didn't think it would be the doors that burned me out.

 

Ahh, take a break, fresh eyes see things differently.

 

@rytang all the metal gods had hurdles to cross and still face them. They overcome them and you will do the same.
I have been following your 4 wheeled custom artistic adventure. I take it your self taught with numerous years of research in the many archives of literary resources. You are surrounded by a number of very skilled artisan hotrod and custom creators. Metalworking back in the day if uncovered no doubt would have exposed these details and more. Many share their experiences openly and like so many threads here its a technical adventure with tech flying from every direction. Keep your head held high, keep living the dream...and enjoy the climb to the top by doing the walk...

 

Thank you for your kind words. I will figure it out. I have to.

 

rytang, you're doing brilliant work.

Another vote for a shrinking disc- it's loud but works wonders on high spots and ripples. My wife calls it "The shrieking disc of flatness". There are several good youtube videos.

 

Yep, Shrinking disc....

 

I made my shrinking disk from a Goodwill stove pot lid.
$.99 and works like a charm.


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Id love to see a tech type post on that. both the making of your disc and the use of it.

 

Wolfes Metal Engineering is the one I use, they have a great how to video on their site too.
You're doing a fantastic job, take a break from it, you'll get there.


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A few quick pics of the pot lid shrinker. There are a lot of you tube videos showing how to use it. The cutting disc backing is to keep the lid from warping and stress fracturing the center.



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thats a helluvan idea rite there !

 

I only wish I were as skilled as you on your worst day.

 

Major props for the pot lid shrinker pics!

Rytang,

You got this man.

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Yep, take a break. Go play in the desert or something. The car will still be there, and you'll see it with fresh eyes.

 

Thank you

 

Thank you. Been watching shrinking videos all morning.

 

I watch a lot of videos too. IMO the best learning and figuring it out was to get one and try it. Using different cooling techniques and seeing how it worked was an eye opener.

 

Not to step on any toes but watch the home made shrinking disks. Problem with a pot lid etc is you have no idea what material it is made from or how it will behave after repeated heat cycles. Not that it won't work but the idea of a 5-9" piece of stainless shredding at 1-3000rpm or more scares me.

It is to early to be thinking about a shrinking disk. They are really designed to work in the last 5-10% of the project to level the surface.

You will have a ton of shrink in that panel when you weld it. Personally I feel that was a very drastic measure. But it is tough to tell from just pics. You might consider cutting everything between the top and bottom cut and making a patch panel that fits as you desire and weld that in.

I look forward to reading this thread. Great job.

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Is a good point on the pot lid disk that I had not considered.

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Home brewed solutions are cool but sometimes the big picture can be an eye opener. The 'Whats the worst that happened in the garage' thread is coming to my mind.
You may have saved a tragedy with that advise. On the other side of the coin the proper tools can malfunction or fail so to all you garage hoodlums wear your safety stuff....

 

Can I suggest please, don't get yourself too worked up as yet on the shape of the doors just yet. The reason is you have sectioned it and got the basic shape and fit looking real cool by the photo's I and everybody else can see but the way I see it from my humble experience is you need to section and have the front fenders fitted to the car so that you can "eye" the body line completely full length of the vehicle. If you worry too much about perfecting just the doors and then do the front fender, you could end up with a pregnant door or a too flat door compared to the overall shape of the other matching panels. I was also taught the successful use of a good length straight edge over the larger area. You are doing and I have full confidence in your ability to win this minor challenge so as already mentioned, take a deep breath, walk away for awhile and it always appears a minor fix on your return.

 

"Been watching shrinking videos all morning."


The ones I've seen usually do the opposite........and it's at night.

Curious about that lid vid, though.

 

Well that takes care of that.

 

Thank you for your advice.

 

Looks like your cutline on the door was a couple of inches higher than on the body. That probably threw the contour off a bit.

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Might as well save a few headaches and make your patch go all the way to the bottom and save some welding and metal finishing. Looksgood though.

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One thing that helps me is not welding 90 degree corners, a big radius makes less pucker.

 

Let's get this party started.

 

I'm still amazed every time I check in on this thread. I think a lot of us have learned more than a little bit from it too.

 

Thank you very much. I'm learning every step of the way.