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Old 12-03-2018, 05:37 PM
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heinke heinke is offline
MetalShaper of the Month Jan 2018
 
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Prescott, AZ
Posts: 487
Question Station buck findings

I've read every thread I could find where a station buck was involved and made several direct inquiries to people. What's interesting is as new applicable technologies have become available (e.g. 3D modeling, CNC, etc.), what's involved in making a station buck has changed. So this dynamic cuts down even further the number of people with experience in making a station buck with the current technology.

I'm not in the business of manufacturing cars and so realistically this buck will get used one time. I know it's important to have it but I also don't want to over engineer it either. So this is my current direction for making a station buck.

Materials: 1/2" MDF or plywood stations spaced at 6 or 8 inches.

Station Cutting: CNC laser or router, still working out which will work best given the businesses providing these services in my local area

Buck type: free standing egg crate that will likely get transformed to be mounted directly on chassis later in project

My initial need for the buck is to get reliable surface information for the purpose of fabricating the inner body structures. These inner structures need to run very close under the body skin and be designed to pass through
very narrow places and around various obstructions. I think I can get the needed surface information via lofting/making contour gauges from a free standing buck.

The main issue I have with a free standing buck over the longer term is lack of garage floor space. In other words, I need available floor space for the chassis itself and additional cars worth of floorspace for the buck. The beauty of a chassis mounted buck is it only takes up the floorspace for a single car. But the downside of a chassis mounted buck is the conflict between chassis components and inner structures with the buck stations. You need to cut openings in the stations where the inner structures pass through. So I think I can free up enough floor space for the time it takes to build the inner structures. Then I trim down the stations to fit on the chassis and around inner structures so I can reclaim the floorspace by mounting buck stations on the chassis.

So this is my quandary and why I'm thinking of starting with a free standing buck and then seeing what makes the most sense from there forward.

Thoughts? Ideas? Feedback?
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