I would like to be able to make a lot of my own panels, doing stuff like the belt line and various other things since patch panels now pretty much suck. The time you spend making them fit and look right you could spend on making your own. I have a Woodward Fab bead roller, tried the steering wheel, didn't like that so I installed a motor and gear box, you can do about anything now without having a helper. I have the dies that came with it and also I was going to buy 2 off set dies and a tipping die plus a nylon flat die to use with the tipping die. Can I use the tipping die to make the lip on a door skin? I'm talking about where it is bent around the inner structure. I seen where you can buy the 3 step deal to do it but that could get expensive. I also want to build me an English wheel, nothing fancy but big enough for say a door skin on a model A.Any other tips or suggestions are welcome.
Check out the sheet metal shaping thread here on the HAMB. Lots of good stuff there. "Let's see some sheet metal shaping" I believe is the name of it.
Yes you can use the tipping die to make the edges of a door skin. I start by putting the correct crown in the panel first, then use the tipping die with the flat steel wheel to brake the edge to about 45 degrees. Then I just use a flat faced hammer and dolly to fold the edge to a full 90 degrees. The edges will then need to be fined tuned with a shrinker/stretcher to fit the profile of the door frame. Once the panel lays flat on the door frame I clamp it in place and use a hammer and dolly to slowly fold the edge over to a full 180 degrees. The trick is to make multiple passes around and fold the edge a little at a time to avoid leaving hammer marks and wrinkles on the edge. Ive never tried the fancy 3 piece tool, it probably works good, but when it comes to metalshaping, patience and understanding are far more critical than fancy tools.
Eastwood has a very good set of supplemental dies that I've seen. Lots of options by mixing and matching. I hope you post some pics.
A pair of flat nosed vice grips and a thick steel benchtop and a panel hammer and dolly is all you need but a forklift blade, a gate post, an I beam,a gas bottle heck I use anything close by to form panels over. A shrinker/ stretcher is very handy and I use a cheap English wheel and have formed everything I’ve needed to do with it. Yes the big ones are nice but who has spare space for something the size of another car?
What comes in very handy with a bead roller is using a skateboard wheel as the lower die with the tipping wheel upper. Skateboard wheels come in different hardnesses, a couple different ones will fix you up. Check for threads by 'MP&C', he's done some good threads about beadrollers.
Fantastic work! What is the process for forming the roadster door? Do you have a build thread somewhere?
The model a doors are reasonably easy to fabricate. But I have a press an English wheel and rollers. I just mark out the perimeter measurements on a flat sheet and fold the front and rear edges 15degrees and fold the lower step and first upper crease 60 degrees and then English wheel the crown in the door. Then put in my 4ft roller and manually roll the upper swage. But you could just use two bits of pipe welded side by side with a 2mm gap to put your sheet between and roll it around. Then I shrink the top edge where your arm rests to get the curve in the door. And manually ( with folding pliers do the last fold on the top. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/model-a-packard-grille-boattail- speedster.1061719/ https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/39-cadillac-custom.937692/
Go to youtube and look up "lazze metal shaping" and you'll see some great how-tos and amazing work . He'll show you how to shape things you didn't know could be done. WHY BE ORDINARY ?
You make that sound far easier that it looks, ha! Thanks for the explanation and the link to your thread. I thought it looked familiar and found I had posted in it!
Thanks for the info, I was looking at Eastwood's dies, I know there is better quality out there but they would work for me. I have watched Lazze' videos, or some of them, that guy is good at what he does. I'm going to make a small English wheel, something I can hang up out of the way, I got enough junk in the way now. I really need to do some research on the shrinker and stretcher, I've never had experience with one. Don't think I could build one of them. I've shaped stuff around everything you can think of, I'm trying to make life easier and do more quality work. I'll get a pic of my bead roller tomorrow if I think of it. At it's fastest speed it is slow but I'd rather have that than to fast, plus I got 2 motors in the deal plus another gear reduction box.
There is a HAMBer named Jamey Jordan that now has signature model Mittler Brother Bead Roller advertised. He has always been happy to answer questions as to how some things are done
I found his videos a little while ago, guy is good and very informative. Also found some info and videos on a shrinker and stretcher, a lot easier than cutting bending, welding and grinding. Looks like Woodward Fab and Harbor Freight are $160. Sure wood make things easier.
I have a woodward fab bead roller with the vice mount. Mine has so much flex that anything including a straight line is almost impossible. A friend of mine wanted to get into bead rolling and bought one of the Mittler brother units and starting turning out nice pieces in a very short time. He did the door and quarter panels in my V8 Corvair.
If I find tipping dies and offset dies will do 60 percent of everything I need to do. I am building a roadster body and floor pans at the moment. Next week I will be moving onto doing the roof panels for a 29 Model A Tudor and Coupe and 30 Pickup. The tipping dies will put all the folds in for the flanges.
We tried making our own English wheel awhile back. Spent a lot of time and money and frustration, and in the end we just went and bought the HF English wheel. It's not Covell level, of course, but it's not bad for the price. With the cost of steel these days, you may be better off buying a wheel than building, and spend your time making parts instead of tools But good luck, whatever you do. Nothing is cooler than taking a flat piece of metal and turning it into curvaceous coolness!
Agree with buschandbusch. I know this isn’t hamb friendly but its the same process whether a Datsun, Duesenberg or Model A. I banged this out this month on a cheap but good $600 English wheel and $400 shrinker/stretcher. Actually I didn’t even use the stretcher, a $50 sand bag and hammers.
Very nice fab work, I got lucky and found a guy that can make dies where he works so that'll save me a few bucks.
Nice work Mike! Check out our newest bead roller the "Super Bead" with thicker frame. New add-on bead roller 1/2 hp motor coming soon.
The Jalopy Journal
