What are the smarter than me people using as under floor supports? I am fabbing an 18 gauge floor for the 39 Poncho. I can out smart a big sheet of 18 gauge to create the floor, but I need to install stiffeners underneath. The original bracing was hat channel per the attached pic, formed from 18 gauge. My HF box brake only handles 20 gauge at a maximum length of 30”. A box/pan brake is needed to make a hat because a standard press brake can’t get into the tight areas… So…what’s everyone using under there? I could make them from 20 gauge, but I’m thinking I need a little more beef.
Here are some I had bent up out or 18 guage. Didnt cost much to have done. Dimentions are very simi lar to yours.
Not sure what is in your area, up here I use metal supermarket. I draw it on a piece of paper and they can bend, fold, cut, drill, plasma or laser it.
I had the same pieces made for my 39 Chev, just had a metal shop use their press brake and they made several 4' lengths for me - easy peasey!
Dead simple in a press brake so long as the shop has a lower die of suitable width for sheet metal work. For example, I've got a lower die that's about 7/8" thick with a 1/2" wide v opening which would work fine. OTOH, a lower die suitable for 1/4" plate is 2.5 to 3 inches thick with a 2" v opening. Wrong dimensions for forming any bend in the part. The channel can also be formed in a manual leaf brake of sufficient length and capacity. Most common brakes in sheet metal shops are 8ft or 10ft long and either 18ga or 16 ga capacity. Any of those are adequate for forming the 5ft long channels. Depending on the type work they do, a lot of shops will have a leaf brake but no press brake.
See the link that I attached in the previous post. Not 18ga, but 16ga. I use it for flat floors, with rosette welds.
That looks like something that comes with large machinery, part of the packaging. I've thrown out lots that may be usable, but it usually comes in shorter lengths.
A couple suggestions to use a local metal shop. I’ve called and visited a bunch around here (Jacksonville FL area). I only found one that could do it and they want $165 if provide my own metal. I thought that’s a bit on the stupid side…. Metals Supermarket says they can’t make it. Really? Found some in England on eBay.uk but not in the US. Seems to me, a standard 3’, 4’, or 5’ length on eBay would be a nice little money maker.. Mine are 3’ under the floor and 2’ under the trunk.
I tried them and they said they couldn’t make it 1-3/4” wide, but could sell me some galvanized 1-1/4” wide, which made no sense. Maybe I’ll call them back and make sure they didn’t confuse themselves.
Check with your local enclosed trailer dealer. The post in the walls are usually a hat hat channel depending on the brand. Also some use a heavier material than others.
Awesome, thanks! This is the closest thing I’ve seen so far and I’m sure I could make it work if nothing else pops up.
How about these I have used them on 1937 1938 chevy floors later kb 1928 1929 1930 1931 Model A Ford Cross Sills Coupe Roadster Sedan Touring | eBay
Another possible source is places that make and sell metal roofing and siding products for houses and shop buildings. They often stock various channels, angles, etc in 16 to 20 ga for framing use. They wouldn't make custom sizes but might have a stock hat channel that's close enough to work. One such place that has a lot of locations in the southeast is Best Buy Metals. Another one to try is L&W Supply. They sell all sorts of metal framing for drywall and some of the stuff for framing cement board is thicker gauge than framing metals for sheetrock. L&W has 15 locations in FL so there should be one fairly close to anywhere in the state.
Midwest Military here in Prior Lake makes them for jeeps and WW2 dodge's. So, he has the dies, maybe will make you some straight sections. Ask for John
@AGELE55 if you are close to Tampa, or are willing to go there, PM me. We have a metal brake at our shop down there. We will bend it up for you no problem.
You could probably get someone to fold a couple of channels of the correct dimensions, then build a hammer form and tap the flanges over it. If they need a curve to them and you have shrinker/stretcher you could put the curve in it before hammering over the flanges.
I spent some time yesterday playing around with scrap 18 gauge pieces of various lengths. I found that although my brake will not even think about bending the full length, with a little muscle, it will bend an 18” piece. Now I’m considering creating 18” pieces and butt welding them to get to 36”.
I picked up a couple of 14’ tapered hat channels from my local garage door store to repair and reinforce a door damaged by snow sliding off the steel roof. Not sure if they are heavy enough, but upon picking them up, my immediate thought was that this might be a viable source for body mount channels for some future projects.
If you have the same HF break as I do it will bend the 18 at the full 30 inches. Not easily but it will. I made new rockers for my 60 F100 on mine. Full 30 inch length.
You don't need a press brake to bend 18 gauge. Virtually anyone who has a 4' to 8' manual brake should be able to bend it easily. The limiting factor on your brake is either the strength of the pivot bracket and/or the ability of the folding bar to resist bowing. On some larger professional type brakes that I owned, they had angle iron that could be bolted to the leaf to provide additional strength. Also when trying to do thicker stuff, the brake needs to be bolted down. Putting too much strain on the pivots can break them. It just depends on how strong they are. My wife and I tried to bend an 8' piece of 16 gauge in a 10' brake I had. Brake was plenty heavy and rated to do the 16 gauge, but between us we could not muster enough oomph to make the bend. Ended up hooking my overhead crane to one handle and a floor jack under the other. Going slowly, we got the 8' bend done. Sold that brake and bought a 4' finger brake rated for 12 gauge. They are expensive and hard to find used ones that heavy duty. You can get the 16 gauge ones new as cheaply as a $1000 on line. There is a Shop Fox for about $1200. I know thats a lot also, but you have a better brake and fingers that will be a lot more usable for small brackets and lots of things. They never lose their value as prices keep going up.....so its an investment not an expense......and you don't have the headache of trying to find someone and paying expense labor costs. Simply walk across the shop and bend whatever you need. 10 years from now, sell it for what you gave for it.
ekimneirbo has the right idea. We had a project that required bent metal sections. We cut the metal to size and a shop that installed furnaces and heating systems let us use his 8ft metal brake after hours for a few minutes. That gentleman retired. The local aircraft maintenance shop had an 8ft brake and a 4 ft pan brake that allowed us to use anytime we needed. That was appreciated. There must be some shop in the area that fabricates ductwork that may bend the metal for a couple bucks.
I’m WAY hesitant to lean on it that hard. I started to use a pipe over the handle for more leverage and …..thinking …nope. This thing is gonna snap the pivot point and then I’m totally screwed and PO’ed.
This will work. I made two 18" pieces, then welded them back together. I used some old 18 gauge shelving thats been taking up space for too long. Now I get to practice butt welding sheet metal . Thanks for all the insight.
I looked around my place. I had bought a metal shed kit and it came with a ton of hat sections that was used in the packaging. I did put it all out for the scrap guy it seems. Do you have a scrap metal place that sells to the public? I bet they would have something like that.
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