Technical Zero dollar louvre press

I needed a deck lid for my coupe. I wanted it louvred. Nobody in my town had a press so I decided to make my own. I know it's not pretty but it works and it was made entirely from scrap I had around the place.
I fashioned the dyes to replicate (as close as I could) the louvres on the 'triple nickel' roadster deck lid. I made the dyes out of old axe heads because I figured they'd be pretty good steel. I've done a couple of jobs with it now and it seems to do ok.

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20220805_214102 by studecoupe28 posted Oct 1, 2022 at 10:34 AM

 

Looks good to me, that's the sort of thing us ''Kiwis'' would do down here in New Zealand..

 

Nicely done. The louvers look great. You can’t get any more traditional than building a louver press from scrap and axe heads.

 

Those look amazing...

 

Really nice work. Since I can’t reach out far enough, give yourself several hundred pats on the back.

 

Quite a few dollars of scrap sacrificed there! Fantastic job!

What was used in the vertical channels to maintain alignment and allow movement?

Chris

 

Heck yeah! Great job! I don’t even know what one of those louvered deck lids go for these days but I bet you saved yourself a couple grand.

 

Even better...... it got me a job doing a 911 Porsche that paid for a lot of my build on the coupe!

 

I fabricated a guide around the slider (3/4" ×2" I think it was)

 

You really did have an axe to grind.

 

Now THAT is traditional!!! Making stuff yourself and not buying everything on line. Great thinking out of the box. The axe head for the dies was also a great idea. And now you have a side gig to make some cash to finish your rod.

 

Excellent job both in building a tool and using it !!

Do you pre cut the slot first?

Now just gotta figure out how much to charge per louver !!

 

I don't cut the slot. The dyes are adjustable and set by trial and error to shear as they press.

 

Damn cool!

 

Good job.
That might be the coolest home built tool I've seen.

 

You have every right to feel just a little bit proud of your
"engineerinuity". Very well done. Louvering the Porsche was gutsy.

 

I’m impressed! I have built “ stuff” out of scrap before….but never nothing as precise as a cutter die! Excellent job!






Bones

 

That’s genius! Move up to the head of the get-er done class.

 

Innovation at its' finest.

 

Well I think you just won “Tech Year”! Very impressive....

 

Awesome job! True traditional Hot Rodding spirit; find a way to get the job done.

 

Great job of creating what you wanted (needed) out of what you had! Practical engineering ay its best.

 

You in Virginny? I could use some holes in my hood!

 

Excellent!

 

Put me in the impressed column, no pun intended.

 

Well done, then. How very well done.

 

Axe heads ! - who else would have thought of that………brilliant !
Very impressive machine.
To me this is what hot rodding is all about.
Thanks for sharing.

 

Great job.

 

Maybe you should post it on the homemade tools thread.

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/home-made-tools-and-equipment.235784/