View Single Post
  #18  
Old 05-08-2009, 08:29 PM
Kerry Pinkerton's Avatar
Kerry Pinkerton Kerry Pinkerton is offline
Administrator
 
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Near Huntsville, Alabama. Just south of the Tennessee line off I65
Posts: 8,321
Default The Art Deco Imperial Project - Part 17

THE ART DECO ROADSTER PROJECT
3/09/08
I'll definitely be building a dedicated yoke for this approach. Not everyone has 20-30 ewheels they can set up for specialized uses but it sure is handy to just walk to another machine instead of having to switch things back and forth.

I use my big monster with the 3.5x3.5 Edwards anvils for most things but sometimes I use a 26F with 8x2 Hoosier and 3x2 anvils (and some others). Another is setup with a gokart slick, and another is setup with a Hoosier tipping attachment. I'll probably pull out another for this concave upper...

I didn't use the thumbnail machine at all on this. Only the linear stretch dies and, because, I screwed up and overstretched, the big kick shrinker (and the stretcher a bit) with Eckold dies. I don't think you could get a decent surface with a Phammer alone. The aluminum is too soft and Phammers are not enough of a finesse tool.

I've had a couple PM questions about this panel. You do NOT have to have the tools I have and used to make this panel. It could be done all on a good ewheel, or on a bag and ewheel, or with a planishing hammer and ewheel. The big tools just saved me time. If I hadn't know what to do to the metal, the tools would have just helped me make a mess quicker. Don't fall into the tool trap. Learn how to move the metal first! All the tools in the world won't make you a metalshaper.

Sorry for the sermon, it's Sunday and I'm feeling preachy.

3/11/08 This is what happens when you get cocky...

Ok, started on the next piece:

Name:  RRtransition6.jpg
Views: 9469
Size:  41.0 KB

Should be a snap...just more of the same, then bend the top lip over....right?

WRONG! It's a double reverse and it kicked my a$$. That top lip really, REALLY complicated things. First it has to be stretched...a LOT to the the transition piece done...then it has to be shrunk...a LOT more!

Name:  RRtransition7.jpg
Views: 9448
Size:  32.4 KB

Life's too short!

Name:  RRtransition8.jpg
Views: 9429
Size:  39.0 KB

After about 4 hours I gave up. Tomorrow I'll cut the flange off and do it in two pieces...

Humility...it's a good thing....


3/11/08

To wheel all these reverses I've decided to modify my P.O.S. Horror Fright top wheel into a concave upper with a 3/8- 1/2" contact flat. I'm running into the yoke and even running into conflicts with the anvil I'm using for an upper. The HF thing isn't good for anything but a doorstop without remachining anyway. This will be a better longterm solution for reverses than making specialized upper yokes. This way I can just swap out uppers as needed.

Today I drove out the 20mm bearings and epoxe'd in some 3/4" bearings.

3/12/08
Progress but slow.

One thing I did a couple days ago was reshape that worthless HF upper. That thing was FIFTY FIVE THOUSANDS out on the original bearings .055!!!

The steel was pretty good though. Took me about an our to cut it the the profile I wanted and polish it smooth. Works REALLY, REALLY well and I can swap back to the standard upper or slick in just a few seconds. I probably won't need it too much as I don't plan on doing many double reverses but I need it to wheel out Moniques 6 pack abs.

Name:  Convex-upper3.jpg
Views: 9342
Size:  27.4 KB

After I cut off the extra reverse it took about half a day to finish the short panel up...I'd have been better off starting over...

The "hole" you see at the top will be capped by an aluminum piece that is welded at the edge you see sticking up, bends over and goes into the interior upholestry.

Name:  BurtBuck18.jpg
Views: 9396
Size:  40.1 KB


Name:  BurtBuck19.jpg
Views: 9357
Size:  37.4 KB

Started on the back part. Dutch doesn't do many reverses and said he fights with them when he does have one but he had a suggestion I thought I'd try. Reverses can be made by doing linear stretches on the sides OR by shrinking the center. Shrinking the center is really hard. What Dutch suggested was cutting the center removing appropriate material and welding it back to together. Nothing wrong with a little fabrication to help the metalshaping so I'm going to give it a shot.

A paper pattern was cut and sliced in the center the overlapped until it laid fairly tight in the reverse and then marked.

Name:  Dutch4.jpg
Views: 9350
Size:  32.7 KB

You can see from the line how much material will be removed.

Name:  Dutch3.jpg
Views: 9322
Size:  28.8 KB

So I cut some aluminum, figured out the cut lines and had at it.

Name:  Dutch2.jpg
Views: 9324
Size:  37.7 KB

And here it is tacked together. Tomorrow, I'll finish welding the fabrication, grind the welds and wheel, then proceed as normal shaping to get the reverse.

Name:  Dutch1.jpg
Views: 9298
Size:  35.2 KB

We'll see how well this works. That was a LOT of metal that would have had to be moved to get this configuration.
3/18/08
Quote:
..To make a reverse compound curve the long ways cut like you made is wrong any way. you need to shrink the center the other way if it is to be done that way...






Richard, in steel I think I would agree with you but with the .063 3003 it appears to work fine with just the lengthwise cut as you can see in the following photos. The aluminum is soft enough that it seems if you have the right surface area, moving the arrangement is pretty simple.

This was the largest reverse yet and it went the fastest....about 4 hours including the welding of the center piece.

Here is the fabricated panel after welding but before any metalshaping.

Name:  BurtBuck27.jpg
Views: 9228
Size:  24.0 KB

After some linear stretching on the edges and smoothing the V on the wheel it quickly got close.

Name:  BurtBuck26.jpg
Views: 9317
Size:  38.8 KB

About an hour of tweeking had it done. It's sitting on the metal ribs so it won't lay perfectly flat yet.

Name:  BurtBuck25.jpg
Views: 9228
Size:  39.1 KB

I wanted to try and tie some of these smaller panels together so I could blend the lines. The center one was the obvious choice. I scribed a line, cut it and put some copper under it so I could tack it while it was held in position.

Name:  BurtBuck24.jpg
Views: 9202
Size:  42.2 KB

Worked really well. After cleaning the weld and some metalfinishing it's awful close.

Name:  BurtBuck23.jpg
Views: 9146
Size:  34.0 KB

The fabrication shortcut worked so well I decided to do the same approach on the next piece which will be at the back of the car all the way down until the reverse goes vertical before it rolls under.

Here is the welded fabrication.

Name:  BurtBuck23.jpg
Views: 9146
Size:  34.0 KB

Name:  BurtBuck21.jpg
Views: 9121
Size:  26.4 KB

Turned out I took too much out and had to work the panel a bit more than expected. This one was a couple hours. Tomorrow I'll do the final piece.

Name:  BurtBuck22.jpg
Views: 9145
Size:  28.5 KB

And then I'm going to have to decide what's next. I can't weld everything together because I won't be able to work them... Basically I wheeled things lengthwise with a 1/2" contact flat. A little work was done crosswise and it was done using the convex upper. I forgot once and used the flat 4x9 and proceeded to put a couple lines in the panel. I was watching TV and not paying attention.

It's really hard, at least for me, to get my head around reverses. To make a bowl you can either: Stretch it all from the center, shrink it all from the edges, or do some of both. I normally do both. To make a reverse, it's just the opposite. You can shrink the center (pretty hard to do), or do a lengthwise stretch on the sides (Make the outer edges LOOONGER). This makes the center go down, the sides come up and the whole thing BOW over backwards.

The fabrication technique has the same effect as shrinking the center area. 3/14/08
Quote:
... Does aluminum hammer weld nicer then steel? I would think being softer it might take less time, or am I drinking my bathwater on that assumption?






DEFINITELY! If you read back a few pages when I first started on the fender, I wrote about my learning to weld aluminum. Another 1950 hours and I'll be able to say I'm fair I think.

What I do is grind most the pride off with a flap disk, then wheel a bit. Wheeling stretches the metal and pushes things in arrangement. The high spots get shiny which shows me where to grind some more. A couple recursions of this process usually takes care of it.

I'm using some 1100 aluminum rod that I got from Steve Hamilton and it's great. VERY workable. I've not yet had a weld crack in spite of a lot of shaping directly on the weld seams. 3/18/8
Interesting day.

Started out spending a while making the amazing reversing dies that Terry Stolarski showed me back in 2006. WOW!

Then got to work on the remain piece on this series of reverses:

Name:  BurtBuck20.jpg
Views: 9072
Size:  32.5 KB

Interesting thing about this panel is it LOOKS like it fits two different ways and nearly does but it really only fits one way... remember this.

So I used the new reversing dies and quickly overshaped it...again. Being stuborn. (Who? ME?), I shrunk and shrunk until it fit, then scribed the interesection with the panel beside it, cut the line and proceeded to TIG it up. About 1/2 way through I suddenly forgot how to TIG. Welds looked like crap. Wasted 15 minutes regrinding tungstens, stainless brushing the panels, etc before I realized I was OUT of argon. It was 4:15 on a Friday afternoon. My welding supply place closed at 4. GERRRR

I've been planning to switch to another supply place anyway so I called them and they agreed to swap out my bottle (which I own). They stay open till 5...another reason to switch...and they're 15 minutes closer. Of course I got caught in Friday rush hour traffic so it was nearly 6 before I got back.

Supper was about ready so I took the gas bottle in and hooked it up. The panel was laying there so I picked it up and laid it in place...humm...it's way out of arrangement. OH CRAP! I welded it in wrong!

Humility is a good thing....right?
__________________
Kerry Pinkerton
Reply With Quote