How do you make the stainless moulding for side gl*** like the one pictured here or like the Hirata Merc? I was thinking stainless U channel but how would you get it to bend?
Gene Winfield makes them out of 11ga steel strips. He bends them on a brake, 1/2 x 3/8 x 1/2. Forms them over bar stock and has them chrome plated. At the Milwaukee workshop (do a search, there's a lot of photos on here) that's how he did it. Stu
Hey, Stainless steel can be formed over wood of steel hammerforms and heated, as necessary ,to conform to tight bends or curves. You can also form sweeps and archs in stainless by mitre cuts and welding after which grinding and polishing is necessary. The plus side of using stainless is you have no plating shop to contend with, the minus side is you had better be a good fabricator and welder of stainless. " Spending a nation into generational debt is not an act of comp***ion! "
Bill Hines method was to use 1/2" tubing, and bend it to shape. Then cut out your "gl*** side" with a cutoff tools, and get it plated. Maybe you can do that with stainless tubing, if it's available?
I made some stainless window frames for a convertible by "harvesting" some stainless from a '65 fairlane side windows. I then made a form from 1/4" flat steel plate and heated the stainless and bent it around the form. Worked great, but like mentioned above, you better know how to weld stainless and polish it too!
1961-66 lincolns have same chromed metal frame around all the door gl*** that would be a good place to scaveng from as they are plentifull and you could heat it , bend it, weld it and have it re-chromed
I doubt that anyone uses 11ga to make those as 11ga is 1/8 in thick. You can use a bead roller & make a die or there are some folks that pull a strip thru a die to make the shape. The book "sheet metal fabrication" by Timothy Remus this has examples of this.
Bill, thanks for the correction. My fingers sometimes go faster than my brain. The pieces that Gene used were either 14 or 16 ga. When finally shaped, they looked very professional. What impressed me, was that the top outer surface (3/8) picked up a slight radius (rather than flat) due to the final forming of the sides. It made for a piece that looked like a machine had produced it. Stu
Adam of Adam's Chop Shop in Oakland Park, FL just chopped the top on my 51 Merc convertible and had to make new curved window frames for the rear quarter windows since the OEM frames can't be welded. He bent the channel on a press brake from flat polished stainless and then "cold" formed it to the required shape with the correct "new" curve on a special custom "roll forming jig" that he also made. No heating, no hammering and no chrome plating required. Came out straight and shiny with some polishing required where TIG welded. Amazing.
Stopped by the shop today to find that Adam had just made new '51 Merc convertible door window frames from polished stainless including the bottom gl*** channel window mechanism. They are awesome and better quality than OEM as it's all stainless. Wish you could see them in person. Simply georgeous...and they fit. I am stoked!
Gene used 14 guage in the press brake to make a channel then used these patterns heated thechannel with a torch and bent them around the pattern. 1st pic shows a hook to hold the channel while it gets bent around the pattern the sides of the gl*** channel need to get shrunk as it is bent around the pattern as it opens up. I would use steel to do windows at least for a first time as it is softer than stainless and easier to work with. Dave Hitch
Can someone please suggest a person in southern California that can make some custom window moldings for a 40 merc chop top or help adjust what's sitting in there now? Thanks. -A
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