Beau from Minneapolis, MN

[BeauDirt]

I was led here by a fella on The H.A.M.B. I have been learning how to form metal on my own, and have made and purchased some tools to help me out.

Hopefully I can gain some knowledge by joining the forum. I look forward to searching around.

I will be using what I learn to form panels for a Hot Rod project.

Thanks for having me.

[route56wingnut]

I dont know if you have seen posted on the HAMB that we are having our Spring metalshaping event the last week of April in Dennison ? Dont get much activity off the site but most of the shapers are on this site anyway .Stop down sometime and check out the shop there are usually some interesting things happening . Dan 507-263-7411

[BeauDirt]

Hey Dan. I must have missed it. Things move quickly on that forum.

I'd love to check it out. My busy season is about to fire up, but I will try and get to it.

Thanks.

[HEATNBEAT]

Hi Beau and welcome!
I would try real hard to go to Dan's if I were you, you will not be disapointed.

[Peter Tommasini]

HI Beau welcome to the forum
Peter

[Mark Fox]

Hi Beau. Glad to see you made it here, welcome. By the way I love your build thread on the H.A.M.B. very cool looking rod.

[BeauDirt]

Some familiar names!

Peter, I chatted with you a while back abut your relation to the bicycle company.

Mark, thanks for the comments on the car. I'm a little over a year into it. I didn't know a thing about Hot Rods before this. I have had a ton of fun learning and building so far. Now it's time to learn the sheetmetal side of things.

This was my first patch panel. I learned a lot on this little piece. I had to relocate the bend at the bottom and also shape it to it would fit the contour of the cowl panel. I used my MIG welder to do it. I have an O/A set-up, but I have not gas welded since high school. It took me about 8 hours to do start to finish. But I was happy with the results. A bit of filler and it should be fine.

I have spoke with some of my friends today and it seems a lot of them have been to Dan's place, or have wanted to go. It looks like five or six of us are planning on going. I'm sure some of the fellas in the car club would also want to go.

Dan, your place isn't the shop with the red Model A out front is it?

Here's a post I had with what I did and posted on the H.A.M.B.-

I spent the whole day in the shop. I have spent countless hours here, on youtube, and on metal shaping forums learning how people form metal. I had an absolute blast! This is my first shot at it. I'm really looking forward to more. I'm going to use the gas welder next time. The MIG was horrible.

I bought cheap patch panels from a local shop. They had the general shape, but I soon learned the Mr. Ford didn't make these panels anywhere close to flat, in any direction. It took a lot of hammering, twisting, shrinking and stretching to get them close to the shape of the panel.



I don't know what this line is called, but it was bent in the wrong location and was thicker than the stock width. I have to bend in flat, then I put in my brake and made a new bend that corrected the width. This turned out to be harder than I expected.



Here's the panel. I drilled out the factory spot welds and removed the panel. It made it easier to hammer weld and smooth.



After the cut and tacked in. The shape was almost spot on.





...and this is after a bunch of hammer welding, grinding, more hammering, some slapping and media blast. It's not perfect, but it's real close.






I also patched in the hole where the factory gas tank filler was.



I really like working with sheet metal.

[Dyce]

Looks like a fun little car!! You need to set aside a little time and get to Dan's event in april. You learn from the best and the best are so nice and willing to help and answer any questions you might have. I hope to meet you there....