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Old 02-23-2020, 05:12 PM
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drivejunk drivejunk is offline
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Join Date: Apr 2018
Location: Springdale, AR USA
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Practice is good and I think you'll do fine. Patch panels may fit bad enough that what you are doing would be preferable anyway. You mentioned difficulty in keeping the lip shape. Shrinker and stretcher jaws, used on the weld flange of the lip are how to manage that. Jaws look to be the only thing you lack to make a nicer piece. Of course, planishing can stretch and pie cuts can shrink but the jaws get it done right now so fine tuning is quick and easy. That being said...

I would not worry about trying to keep it one piece. The approach you took is fine with me, making the bottom rear seperate. I have made a similar panel to the bottom part where the wheel opening lip tapers off.

Just my thoughts here on how to go about it and I am just learning too...

As you have done, wheel the big main curve in the panel. Then, using a more flat than round anvil on the english wheel, tip the flared out area above the lip. Just get a good start to it.

Then with the suitably sized round bead roller but very little tension, roll the beginnings of a bead where you want the outer lip. Just make a precise, flowing bend there without actually rolling a bead.

From there, bending the lip over can be done with hammer and dolly but the flange will have to shrink a bunch along the way. Return trips to the english wheel but with rounded anvil now can continue defining the flared area above the lip if needed.

Since you are now just mainly asking about the bottom piece, that ought to fall into place fairly simply but a guy could make the whole lip that way. I'd still do the bottom section seperate. But man, doing wheel opening patches without the shrinker/stretcher makes it ten times more work. Really no way around that. The wheelhouse lip, same thing but maybe more so. If you end up with pie cuts instead, just develop the part fully before tacking so that your coatings will be disturbed as little as possible when doing the final welding.
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