55.2-59 Under dash Valence, Steel build along

[MD2020]

Originally Posted by dsraven

wow, that is planning and hard work. nicely done. what will you use for metal and guage thickness? do you have metal shaping tools as well, shrinker, stretcher, english wheel?

I bought a full sheet of 18 gage (.045/.050) steel when I first started, down to less than 1/2 sheet now.
Just a 3 foot Harbor Freight Brake and hand tools.

Thanks guy's
Yes a lot more work than I was thinking, but I could make more steel pieces if anyone wants them.
We are here to help each other so if you would pay shipping I would sent you some FREE, and a template for bending the long piece.
That is, if this even works????????????

[MD2020]

I think I will drill a hole in the base plate of my router and bolt a flush mount bearing to it to rout a groove and a sharp chisel to finish it.

[MD2020]

I routed a 1/4" grove in the side of the buck for the bend at the top.




I screwed a bracket to the base wit a bearing to help me get it where I want.



I used a chisel to cut it down to the bottom of the grove.


I will get a better picture tomorrow

[dsraven]

Seems like you enjoy woodworking as well as metalworking. Which one would win, if nobody was looking?

[8man]

Yeah, what he said!

[MD2020]

Hard to say, both of them I like shaping.
Wood you are taking off everything that doesn't need to be there.
Steel you have to make into the shape you want.
STEEL

I did 10 years of Ornamental Iron, that was cool but hard.
Making people happy when it's installed was very satisfying.
So STEEL again
Thanks guy's

[MD2020]

I made 2 pressure boards with some plywood to hold it down while hammering with rubber on the bottom.
Double sided tape.







I will bend a piece tomorrow and see what happens.

[_Ogre]

no cussing please

[MD2020]

Originally Posted by _Ogre

no cussing please

What, did I miss text?

[dsraven]

I seen a video awhile back where a fella made a headlight reflector from sheet stock he had clamped into a sealed form and he connected his pressure washer up to it for the hydraulic pressure source. After trimming it looked like a bought part and functioned well apparently. I dunno why but this form reminded me of that. I wonder if you could form steel into your mould with a couple of hydraulic jacks and then hammer form the edges while the main part is contained.

[MD2020]

Thanks
I have done that before.

I'm ready to bend one now.

[_Ogre]

Originally Posted by MD2020

What, did I miss text?

I will bend a piece tomorrow and see what happens.

my ogre sense of humor. my comment was for what i would say when i bent the first piece

[MD2020]

Got it Thanks ogre


I cut a piece of steel and removed the surface rust with this.
It doesn't spark so no steel removed and it makes it shinny.

https://www.amazon.com/Fokus-Strip-D.../dp/B07B6K79XH





Ready to go.
With it setting on top I hit it 8 or 10 times and then clamped it down.



I clamped this on it and started with the 2 hammers.


I chucked the long one in a drill and sanded and polished the radius smooth but it was wobbling pretty bad. I used a regulator at a very low setting and started planishing it down but it marked it up with small dents, the radius is to big.



After fighting it for a while I decided this one was for learning and kept going.

Not pretty.
I sanded it with a 120 grit roll lock disk.
I looks worse than it is.



I will try again

[leegreen]

looks like you must be close
I'd like to see some intermediate pictures of the shape progressing, it looks like you must be doing some stretching on that buck.

[mr48chev]

That is begging to be somethign now, I am always amazed at the variety and level of skills and talent that folks on here have. That and not only be able to think outside of the box but to actualy design and build the box and the pieces outside the box to make the project work.

[dsraven]

It looks pretty good. I would hammer and dolly it for a bit. Even try the air hammer planishing with a hand held dolly under it. See what you have left after that. Nothing to lose but some time and maybe a bit of time on the compressor.

[leegreen]

if you are using 18gauge and can't get it, try something lighter like 20, it moves around a lot easier.

It is hard to tell in the picture, is it not sitting down on the buck at the center bottom edge? If so cutting the two pieces apart and finish them separately might be easier?

[dsraven]

I'll second that. 1 guage seems to make quite a difference. Then you're not trying to shrink or expand a big part.

[MD2020]

While doing it yesterday I was thinking of doing in half's + a 1" past half.
It was such a pain in the back side that the clamp down boards did not want to stay in place I didn't take any pictures.

I had to pry it off so after sanding it some I laid it back on there and took the picture.
I will trim the top and bottom some and cut it in half and try more planishing today.

[MD2020]

Originally Posted by leegreen

looks like you must be close
I'd like to see some intermediate pictures of the shape progressing, it looks like you must be doing some stretching on that buck.

Once you get past half way it's all stretching .

[leegreen]

Is the material that forms lower flange supported so you can stretch it with the rest? I'm thinking that once you turn that flange over it will lock in the shape above it and make it harder to stretch further. Turning that flange needs to be the last step

[MD2020]

spring back is killing it.
It needs to be planish more before the last bend.
Like I said I learned a lot wit this one.

[dsraven]

if you leave the lower edge till last you won't "capture" the metal above that line so it will be able to be stretched with your planishing hammer against a steel backer like a dolly. if you are able to move the planishing hammer around quickly from one side to the otherin order to stretch things sort of uniformly it will keep it's shape better rather than trying to make a small bowl shaped stretched area in a more localized spot. an english wheel would really be handy to roll the steel into a tretched but uniform shape there but wouldbe pretty hard to do in a small shape like that.I wonder if a fork could be used to stretch the lower part area and then planish it to be flat. when stretched enough to fit that part of the buck then the very bottom part would need to be shrunk around the bottom part below the turned edge.
make it custom has a decent how to on air hammer planishing around a shape but he captures the metal in a pressed together form. he also has a video on making and using a fork and shows how he contains the stretched meatl before shrinking it to make a concave shape. I suppose the same could be done to stretch without containing the edge until you have the area above the bottom edge stretched enough. ron covel also has some videos on planishing. without the fancy tools i would use hammer on dolly in the area that needs stretching, with hammer and dolly shapes as close to the required shape as possible to avoid making divets. but then, I suppose, if you make divets you have stretched the metal and then you could planish the divets out to make a smooth surface that is now bigger than it used to be.
however you do it, the area above the lower edge looks like it needs to be stretched before the body line is established.

[dsraven]

if you check out the make it custom website he has a whole bunch of good videos on forming metal, making tools etc. good stuff to watch when you get a minute.

[MD2020]

Originally Posted by dsraven

if you check out the make it custom website he has a whole bunch of good videos on forming metal, making tools etc. good stuff to watch when you get a minute.

Yes I did watch the Make it Kustom video with the fork and hand tools only and he got me fired up just a few weeks ago. Awesome video. Thanks

There is a lot happening that you guy's can't see.
the hard part it the last 2" from the bottom on each side, in the middle of the last 2" want's to bend, I just need to hit (stretch) it more on each side more.
Doing it in half's should do better.
It's going to work one way or the other.