Technical Tech Week: Hand forming four inch louvers

What do you do if nobody in your area has a louver press?

Or, they have a press, but not a four inch die?

You do it by hand.

My buddy Jim Roepke made the dies, for his model A sedan hood sides.

He let me borrow them for my 34 deck lid.

The dies were made from cold rolled steel, and shaped using a 4 1/2 inch grinder, and a die grinder with various bits. The guide plate is a piece of 18 gauge. NUMEROUS test fittings were done, along with test louvers, to get the dies dialed in.

This is the male die.

 

This is the female die with the guide plate.

 

This is the fixture that I built to hold the female die, and position the part at the proper height.

 

Keep going you got our attention!

 

Take your time with the layout, it is very time consuming, but everything depends on it.

This is for 4 inch louvers, spaced vertically 1 3/4 inches apart, and 3 inches horizontally between.

 

Cut the slits with an .045 cutoff wheel (perfect for the 18 gauge guide)

 

Thoroughly deburr the backside, all the work will now be done on the back.

Position the female die against the guide, and hammer.

I used a 4 pound sledge hammer, multiple hits across the width of the male die.

 

Hammer, hammer, hammer...

And take a look at the front side to check the progress.

 

Hammer, hammer, hammer...

and check progress.

 

Yes, it is very time consuming.

If you have a guy with a louver press and the right die in your area, DO IT.

But if you're patient, and take your time, you can end up with great results

After all the hammering, there will be some need of dolly work.

This is my results with no hammer/dollying, that will come next.

Good Luck!

 

Dang Dude, You really wanted 4" louvers. I have stamped many many with a Louver Press. It's layout, set up and stamp, done. I would have never undertaken that job just due to the Labor involved. My hat's off to ya pal. My arms hurt just thinking of all that work. And your not done yet.

 

Friend of mine builds hot-rods for a living ended up driving all the way to Texas to buy a louver press. Once it was set up the guys in the shop just had to try it out; the first victim being the decklid from the bosses' model-A coupe which of course came out perfect, the next victim was a spare '32 Ford roadster hood they had laying around which also came out beautiful then a customer came in wanting louvers punched in the hood on his gorgeous chopped '55 Ford. Things were going great until a dog barked or the phone rang or somebody sneezed and the hood got moved moved ever-so-slightly so the last few louvers at the end of the very last row got punched crooked.
Lessons learned;
Don't get in a hurry.
If you're tired, stop.
You can't have enough light when punching louvers.
If you can, lay the louvers out and set everything up the first day, then wait until morning to stamp the louvers so you can go over everything again.
By the way, the-rodster, you did good.

 

Where there is a will, there is a way...super cool!

 

Rich, are your ears still ringing?

I got to admit you did a great job. HRP

 

Great tech piece!

 

I did this trunk lid during the winter. It took me 4 days and all I had to do was line things up and push a button. I can't imagine doing it the way of the rodster. KUDOs to you man!! You are definitely the definition of perseverance ( continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties,)

 

Great tech thread! Fits what the HAMB and tech week is all about.

 

Inspirational tech thread, just shows what you can do with a bit of patience and know how,
Even if it’s not perfect,(and not saying it isn’t) it’s all yours, I be proud of those results.

 

Kool !

 

Wow

 

That’s amazing work! Well done, Rich!

 

Talk about old school! It’s like the post someone did awhile ago in a build thread about making beads without a roller.
Great tech!

 

Soooooo cool! I love seeing things done the "old way". An added benefit is you can make about any size/profile louver you can dream up. Sometimes, and I mean sometimes, things that show a human touch are so much better than a textbook perfect job. Yours are just the nuts!

Great work.

 

View attachment 5066252

 

Awesome job Rich

 

Consider me extremely impressed! Wow!

 

Your hand pounded out versus using a press? I'm impressed!

Sent from my SM-G988U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

You guys think Rich does it the hard way---you should see the pile of metal he started with and turned into this car!

 

When I was just old enough to play in the dirt in my short pants, I spent a lot of time with my grandpa on his farm and in his shop while he "projected" on his cars. I watched him louver a hood using this exact same method. I have the short handled sledge he used, but not his louver dies. They have been lost to the annals of time.

Amazing tech, and I can say from experience that you are an expert at swinging a hammer after all of those strikes, or at least you have put in the hours to be one. There is nothing quite like hand hammered louvers!

 

Several people have messaged me that they didn't know where to vote, sooo... here's the link.

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/vote-here-for-tech-week-may-2021.1230244/