Let's see some sheet metal shaping

Working on some Caddy engine bay panels

 

Damn, I drool all over myself every time you post.
Very smooth panels.

 

@cornfieldcustoms WOW! beautiful work!

 

Well, not to Mike’s quality of work, just something to keep this thread going to throw out a little hope for those of us with a little less talent. Removable front floor with transmission hump, sheet metal interior panels, battery tray over the fuel tank mount in the trunk, customized 32 style dash, and some mild firewall mods on a 31 A roadster.

 

What are you all using for DA sand paper on bare metal? I've just been using 80 grit nortons from the paint store and they have a very short lifespan. Got anything better?

46 chev I have been building for a customer.

 

I haven't had a chance to use it yet but I have read really good reports on 3M Cubitron abrasives. Check them out.

 

https://www.harborfreight.com/9-amp-surface-conditioning-tool-58079.html

 

about 1/2 that $ for an import on ebay

 

Isn’t all of HF stuff imports?

 

Eastwood bought most of the metal working equipment rights from HF.

 

I needed a little more clearance between the firewall and the distributor cap,on my 35 Ford. An air hammer and a radius anvil head did the trick. Lower pressure is a must.

 

I had a customer bring in a "Patent Idea Display". This had a battery pack inside that powered the headlights (headlight bezels not shown) and featured a rod down the bottom that would oscillate the left headlight, and I believe would flash that headlight as well (based on linkage tied to a relay inside). The control switch is actually the left half of a Model T instrument cluster.




















It has obviously had parts (hood) that went missing over the years and an aluminum flashing replacement had been added. He wanted a hood fabricated that looked more period correct, so we offered to do louvers and a faux hinge at the top.



For the hood we used 19 gauge AKDQ, and for the louvers we are using the Diacro press brake. The louver dies weren't tall enough for the Diacro, so an adapter was used at the top to make up the difference.






Our practice punches worked fine, but the machine did not have enough depth to the vertical supports of the press brake for the size of our hood. We would need to get sketchy. Real sketchy.


With only about half of each die in the machine, and two set screws holding on for dear life....



















With louvers punched, we used the highly technical argon bottle radius brake to add our hoop. next on the list was to make our hinge using a piece of 1/4" stainless tubing.















Next, our hood needs the beltline bead to match cars of the era, and to simulate the hidden hinges for the hood sides.







Our "hinge" was plug welded in place...











Media blasted for better paint adhesion, and ready for delivery..

 

Excellent work as always, Robert. Is this supposed to be man cave art?

 

Yes, I think this will be part of his collection.

 

Since I was on a road trip Sunday, I popped in and visited the patent display that we made the hood for. The owner has it re-wired and reflectors installed. This video gives a better idea of what it was used for..







Back in the early 20's there were lights that would attach to the bumper and a cable driven mechanism attached to the front steering so that the light would follow the direction of travel. Advantageous for the limited brightness of the headlamps in those days. So this was likely a salesman's prop for selling such a lighting accessory.

 

Did you find the tooling marks on the anvil head helped it stay on target while moving the sheet metal in?

 

Been working on some HAMB friend metal shaping projects.

new a pillars i am making for a chopped shoe box


33/34 roof insert
stretching out some brass a guy brought me to make a carb stack out of

little more Cadillac engine bay work

 

Nice work!!

 

That A pillar is incredible!

 

Amazing skills

 

as everybody else thinks--that pillar looks better than any factory piece!

 

I’m looking for a lower tool holder for Pullmax.
Plan is to adapt it to my bachoven Meyer machine and use available tooling.