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Old 03-16-2018, 01:11 PM
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pplace pplace is offline
MetalShaper of the Month March 2018, August 2021,November 2023
 
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Hector, MN
Posts: 294
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kerry Pinkerton View Post
I agree, this is REALLY impressive work. A lot of folks get all excited about the skin but the inner structure is where the real skill comes in and you nailed it!

Talk a little about the tools and techniques you are using. That is, how are you shaping the panels and what are you doing the shaping with. There are lots of was to accomplish the end result and it's always interesting to novice and pro alike to see how others do things.

One question that comes to mind is how are you cleaning the old panels down to bare shiny metal? And what will you use to kill any surface and inaccessible rust as you move forward?
Thank you very much for the kind remarks. I’m taking a break for lunch and can do a quick response now kind of...

My metal shaping tools and equipment are fairly basic for the most part. Nothing fancy or big like power hammers, or a pullmax, etc.

I do have a homemade English wheel, deepthroat and regular shrinker stretcher, bead roller, magnetic brake, as far as equipment goes. The rest is all handwork, hammers / dollies, etc.

I PROMISE on my next build starting in a month I will share more of my building as “live” as I can per say as I progress with the build as long as the customer is fine with sharing it. (It’s going to be a FUN project). I’ll try to show more of the steps rather than just highlighting over what I’ve done. However!!! Even though I do this for a living I don’t claim to be a pro, in reality I’m learning and refining my techniques and methods each and every project.

As far as the bare metal. These doors, for instance, were blasted with crushed glass (skins) and sand (structure) typically I have real good luck with them staying clean in our shop. If I do get done surface rust from hand prints, or humidity I take a fiber wheel (I’ll try to take a picture) and buzz over the surface. This doesn’t remove any metal, just scuffs the surface s bit.

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Edited to include stock photos of the purple Clean & Strip wheel (I also use the Norton orange ones) I also use a nylon cup brush to clean and even the bare metal surface. Again this has basically zero impact on the metal surface.

Edit: This Mercury did get some surface rust / moisture damage as it was out of our shop in our storage area for a while (non conditioned area) but it's just cosmetic and will all certainly be cleaned up when necessary.

The seams and hidden areas are either prepped with weld thru primers or sprayed with epoxy if there is no welding nearby that would affect it.
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Rush too much trying to get to the end when the end is closer when you take your time.

Dane

Last edited by pplace; 03-16-2018 at 09:36 PM.
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