The last 55 Chevy I did I had 2000 hrs in body and paint. I seamed like the metal work was never ending. All I had was a roof and a cowl and they were not rust free.
Best wishes to everyone for a healthy and prosperous New Year! Some wagon updates, we've been tying up loose ends to get parts ready for upholstery and the roof ready for paint. With the arm rest details ironed out, E is unbolting the kick panels so we can cut out the speaker holes. Mike is getting the roof skin blocked out.. Here's the last detail for the console, we still need our latching mechanism. To keep a minimalist approach, we're going to flush recess some rare earth magnets in the lid, so here's our "pockets" that will be welded into the lid. Starting with some .065 wall tubing the end was faced on the lathe, and the end plates turned to a welding diameter of slightly undersized than the tubing, which allows for a good fusion weld. Tacked: Fusion welded using the TIG: 10-32 hex nut for magnet attachment is tacked on.... Trimmed to size... The material scraps shown were to simulate what will be covering the console and lid for the "pull test". Three magnets appeared to work too well, so we are going drill holes and weld in our recess pockets to use two magnets but leave a space in the center for a third, just in case... Once welded and fitted we'll do one more pull test just to make sure the third one isn't needed.. We also had some parts water jetted out of stainless for our seat belt escutcheons, this should help us get better consistency between parts.....and save time..
We got the holes added in the console lid for the pocket recesses..... A bent fender washer and 3/16 rods serve to hold the pockets in place while tacked in with the TIG.... Test fit of the magnets... Video of the console lid, testing the magnet pull for our latching method.. .
The owner of this car has the deepest pockets I have ever seen. Your work is exceptional but really beyond my budget and about 95% of the HAMB. When do you shoot the final color??? If you did and I missed it I apologize.
Robert, I just discovered this thread after being away for a while and spent a lot of time this week going through it. I have visited Metal Meet and other metal shaping forums and they all have some pretty good information there and a wealth of talent. However, a lot of it is about making things from scratch, not repairing and fixing old cars like this 55. This is by far the best tutorial I have seen on car restoration metal techniques! I have bookmarked it and will use it as a reference when I start my '49 Buick project. Thanks for creating this thread and for taking the time to document and explain every detail You are obviously a patient man. It impresses me that you stop to make a tool or devise a way to make a part without "plowing ahead". The ample amount of scrap you created on some things, show you won't stop until you get it right. Bravo!
Robert, great job as always. But you know I have been following this build and talking with you since the tri five .com days back in 05 or 06 and your skills keep getting more fantastic all the time. The problem is the better you get the more you go back and redo stuff you did on it years ago! lol You got to stop improving your skills, or you will never get it done! lol Happy New Year my friend . Larry { formally L&L Custom Performance}
Obviously not enough, still plugging away at it... soon, I promise... One more evolution :fingerscrossed: of blocking the roof and we should be painting the top side.. Thanks guys, yeah, more than once I've redone something to get the outcome I was looking for. Practice, practice....
Dotting the i's, crossing the t's... The insert for the bottom side of the console lid will be held in with a couple of 10-32 screws into a rivet nut. To insure the rivet nut is flush on the outside for the installation of upholstery, we want to provide a slight recess for the rivet nut flange. Here's the punch and die we made for the occasion, the bottom die is machined on the side to keep things from moving when clamped in the vise. South Bend milling machine: action shot: inner parts installed... ready for powder coat / epoxy primer, whichever comes first...
Picked up the console from the powder coater, the outside was done in satin black and will be covered in upholstery, the inside parts were done in wrinkle finish, this will be their "covering" Tonight we worked on some stainless for our seat belt escutcheons.. Some measurements and geometry from high school should get us the correct size from the onset... Using the mag brake and a 3/4 tube to bend our radius... Tacked together using the TIG Got running late and missed some pictures, but here's the part welded up and polished.. .
Thanks again for a great compilation of advanced metalwork techniques Robert, I never miss a post. I finally "took the plunge", predominantly driven by your incredibly educational contributions here and elsewhere, and had Santa bring me a Miller Syncrowave 200 for Christmas. I've been practicing every chance I get and have a technical question for you. I used to be heavily involved with high purity piping fabrication and remember when TIG welding stainless pipe it was critical to establish and maintain an inert purge on the backside of the weld to avoid "sugaring" the inside of the pipe. I've been attempting to join scraps of 20 and 22 gauge 304 SS sheet and the backsides of the welds look terrible because of this sugaring/carbon oxidation porosity. I don't see that you have that issue with these beautiful escutcheons. Any thoughts on what I am doing wrong? Do you setup a backside purge during the full pen weld? Thanks again!
A full penetration weld will require a backside purge, I cheated on these and did not do a full penetration weld to better eliminate the sugaring issue. I didn't see these as structural, so was looking more at cosmetics in this case.
Thanks Robert. Got any tips on backside purging sheet in general, and butt welds on lite gauge sheet in particular? Or is that another situation to avoid whenever possible like patch panels with no access for planishing?
I'm not familiar with any fixtures that you would use on thin sheet, if you're talking about stainless. I know the companies making stainless kitchen counters for the commercial market would have to experience this. Perhaps look up sanitary stainless welding and see what that turns up. There are I believe dual port regulators that would let you have the option of purging the backside/inside...
Thanks Danny! More progress, Mike installed the driver seat so we could mock up the lap belt for locating the lower escutcheon. Then we contemplated vertical or parallel.... Remaining escutcheons were welded up... Ideally the inner opening of the ring should rest on the midline of the sleeve. This provides for a good fusion weld and starts the formation of the radius we're looking for around the inside opening. Here's the various stages of welding the escutcheons: Mike got the remaining openings cut in the arm rest and kick panels for the escutcheons... Test fit... …..and JB got started on the speaker trim rings for us... The recess on the rear is for the stainless mesh...
You can also use Solar Flux Type B if you don't want to back purge and it isn't going to have to be food grade or some other reason. I am doing a stainless exhaust right now and the flux works well to avoid sugaring. Some Google searches will give you more info if you're interested.
Thanks for sharing those details for the flux, may come in handy! Last night I tried to tackle the wizardry of filming the gas welding with the goal of better visibility of the weld puddle. This is about as close as I can get with using a iPhone camera and a welding helmet lens. Also made use of a Milwaukee LED light to brighten things for less of a change in light. These are filmed through the Miller Digital Elite, Weld setting 9, delay 2. sensitivity 6. I think I still need to come up with something better, especially for showing any TIG welding. Are there any Photography guru's that can steer me in the right direction for filming weld processes? Tacking: Weld pass:
Planishing and done . Love it Robert , been AO welding since I was 13 . My dad was an old body man before the war and that’s all he did . Should have seen him on chrome molly . Blue
Thanks Blue, I still need plenty of practice! Did some mockup of the fuel lines so we could get the required fittings identified.. Finishing up the polishing of our seat belt escutcheons.. after using roloc scotchbrite pads to clean up the vixen file marks, we then used 320 dry, 1500 wet, and 3000 trizact damp. Then to the polishing.. Here's the comparison between the 3000 and after polishing.. That should do for us..
Thanks Don! Some progress, doesn't look like much until you look at the floor... Sometimes these louvers can be a challenge to sand. In the spirit of "everything's a tool", a strip of 18 ga steel and a wrap of PSA paper does a good job of getting in the tight spaces. Another shot of the scrap pile before I clean it up, this is what went into fabricating the escutcheons.. And now for the reason we didn't post earlier this week, had to make a speed run for Taco Tuesday.. even saw a full rainbow in the process. Back in the shop this weekend, but we had a distraction in another Meco torch that showed up for sale not three miles away. So needless to say about the only thing accomplished was more welding practice!! After planishing... .
The Jalopy Journal
