I am thinking of making a custom roll pan for my '62 Ranchero. The question is where can a person by sheet metal that is not a small piece. I need a piece atleat 65 inches by 6 in. What thickness 16 or 18 ga? This is not the same metal that you buy at heating air place is it? Thanks Ken.
i buy all my metal from the heating and ac place. its cheaper then the actual metal supply house . just ask if they have cold rolled 18gauge . ungalvanized of course.
I tried a Google search for sheet metal fabricators in your area, and found 25. I would think that a few phone calls would locate a shop that could accommodate your needs. And I'd try the heating and A/C shops first. If they don't deal with 16 or 18 gauge, they can refer you to someone who can.
My local sheet metal shop has made me all kinds of things for me. From rockers to bed sides. Take them a templet or good drawing and they can roll or break it for you.
As GeezersP15 said hit the sheet metal fabrication shops and better yet a fab shop that also sells metal. I buy most of my metal from a shop that builds farm equipment for dairy farms (primarily feed and shit trucks) and they have racks that they keep partial sheets in or will cut you off a piece to your measurements for an additional cut fee. You don't have to pay cut fees if you get it out of the rem rack though. How far is this outfit from you? http://www.shewbros.com/ They are the kind of outfit that you are looking for to get your steel from as they should have remnants and as Tinbender says they probably can do some of the things you don't have the equipment for like shear it to the exact size you want and do a bend in their brake or make the roll with their rollers. That all costs extra but a few bucks to get the right bends in the right spot and make the basic roll of the pan might save you a lot of hours of figuring out how to do it your self if you don't have or have access to the equipment to do it.
I used to work in commercial hvac, sheets come 5' by 10', have an hvac shop order a sheet of 18 ga non galvanized, 16 ga is too thick.
WOW! thanks for being so helpful! Looks like find a few places and spend the afternoon findind what I need. They do not make a roll pan for my Ranchero and I do not want it flush. Thanks again, Ken.
try to buy "pickled & oiled" cold rolled sheets ... usually a little more $$ , but a lot easier to work with then the mill scale covered stuff
I go to my local sheet metal fabrication shop and just have them shear me off a piece the size I want. If I need any special edge they can do that for me also. When I did the roll pan on the front of my '63 Falcon I had them roll a 70 degree edge on top to butt to the grille, and a full lip rolled tight un the bottom edge to finish and strengthen it. Saved me a lot of work at home, and since my sheetmetal brake will only handle 30" or smaller metal, I couldn't have done the 60" piece anyway. 16ga. is pretty heavy for the pan, and I went 18 ga.
Can't help you with where to buy where you are at, but I do agree with the others, cold rolled eighteen gauge, sixteen is too thick.
Metal Supermarket will cut to size, bend, whatever. Easy to deal with and reasonable pricing IMO. http://www.metalsupermarkets.com/
A bigger HVAC shop that does a lot of specialty work should have cold rolled mild steel sheets.I worked in one for many years and we carried cold rolled mild still in 16 through 22 gauge.I used 18 and 20 gauge on a lot of car related projects.If most shops have a piece big enough in their 'drop off' pile,you usually can buy it by the pound,if they have to cut a new sheet to get a size for you,you usually pay for a full sheet! ROY.
Mr. 48 Chevy thanks for the link to shew brothers welding. I had a piece of sheat metal welded by them 8 years ago the weld was two pieces together straight foward 10 inches long $110. I took the to their shop. That is the charge from the owner. My son now own a mig welder! 1971BB427 I wish you had a pic of the roll pan. Ideas woul be good. I thought about covering the (gravel gaurd?) the metal behind the bumper.I do not want it FLAT, I want it to a smal point in the middle like the grill.Thanks everyone for the replys!!
For most body panels you will need 19 gauge cold reduced steel. If you want to make a rolled pan how are you intending to roll it? You may be better off getting it rolled as well. David
I was going to jump right in to this. But now I want to understand more about this project and check in to getting it rolled. When I decide how I want the roll pan.I have been checking out pre made ones that do not fit my ranchero and was going to modify one. Now need to see ideas on how other people did one. Thanks Ken
I ordered my floor pans from Dearborn the right one showed up the left one was on backorder after about a month I took the one I had to a tin shop and He made the left one $50 less then Dearborn
My rollpan is probably much different than what you might be doing for your Falcon, but it works for my gasser style.
1971BB427 thanks for the pic nice gasser. But not what I'm looking for. I will get there. There is lot of help here, Thanks!!
local ac place is the way to go I have a place near me the guy will drop it at my garage for a reasonable price! shop around
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