Easy Bracket/Mounts Heres an easy way to knock out brackets, mounts and the like. Limited only by your imagination. Nice part is you get a nicely done piece with the edges already rounded and not a whole lot of time expended. This first pic shows a piece of 1" x 2" x .120 wall rectangular tubing. Its cut to length and square on the ends. Not always easily done on a bandsaw, but there are ways to set it up so it will cut square, but thats outside the scope of this article. Life is a little easier if you drill the mounting holes at this point. Drill the hole opposite the weld seam if youre using the wide part of the 1" x 2" for the bracket/mount. In fact, check for fit etc. before you go any farther. Pic #2 shows the workpiece set up in the bandsaw. Note theres another piece of 1" x 2" rect tubing at the other end of the vise because the short workpiece is hung out on the end of a couple of vise adapters which are nothing more than a couple of ½" thick spacer/extender gizmos. They do not mount to the vise proper, theyre held in place when the vise is tightened on the workpiece. Here it is after cutting off the bottom face of the 2" x 2" rect tubing. Cut as close to the inside of the bottom face as you can. Laid out for the curved end cut. Be artistic here, dont just file or grind the corners down and especially dont leave em sharp. Doesnt take much to make a good looking bracket. A little time spent here will make the overall project look good. Just slapping a chunk of metal on the car takes a lot away from the project and I dont care how much chrome and shiny paint you have, poorly fabricated pieces really bring the quality of the car down. This last pic shows the finished product. Make a point to break the sharp edges. A file or better yet a sanding belt works well here. Note the UHMW mount biscuit with bolt. The stainless bolt had the hex top cut away a bit, strictly for decorative purposes. The mount and UHMW biscuit are for mounting the body on my 31 on 32 rails project roadster. The just under 2" OD UHMW biscuit is the right size for the 2" wide rect tubing, the bracket/mount proper doesnt stick out too far and the best part is, it has the gussets already done....
Amen to the cool, it's little things like that bracket that make the difference when you build a rod.
I cut them out of a sheet of UHMW with a hole saw. Or the bandsaw if I want square/rectangular ones. UHMW comes in several thicknesses, but I usually keep only 3/8", 1/2", 3/4" and 1" in stock. I use 1/8" Teflon for some things, but UHMW is 70% stronger than Teflon.
UHMW is also found at Industrial Rubber stores. As is Neoprene which is the right durometer (hardness) for motor mount cushions. I've also made motor mount cushions from UHMW and as it hard as the stuff is, it damps vibrational harmonics quite well. If you go to a rubber house, get your UHMW from the remnants barrel. Lots cheaper that way. If you can't find it in the barrel, take an already cut piece from the shelf. When they start adding in cut prices it adds up. About 1/3 the cost of Teflon. You don't want Teflon, lots of folks think they're looking at Teflon when they look at my 32 roadster, but imo Teflon is too slippery.
Texas Rubber Supply on Industrial Blvd. in Dallas probably has the stuff. First I've heard of it though.Good post,thanks
Just for those that don't know- UHMW=Ultra High Molecular Weight plastic. Good ****, Maynard. I used it to line rock chutes and Readymix barrels. It wears forever, even outperforms scandia plate.
You can find UHMW at most commercial plastics supply houses. Redwood Plastics for one. The white is usually food grade and is sold to food processing plants. Check plastic/plastics in the phone book. As one of the other guys said you should be able to buy s****s and not have to buy large quanities.
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