Cool thread! Thanks for taking the time and effort to post it. If you didn't have an english wheel could you have gotten away with annealing the area for a bead instead of prestretching? Are you able to reuse your MDF hammerform, or is it done after one round? I love doing this stuff also, that's why most of my projects start out as basket cases.
Thanks for the comments guys. IMO annealing is more appropriate for aluminum than steel. You could also prestretch by using a low crown body hammer with the sheet steel on a nice flat anvil, but would take much more time. As the part is "loose" when it goes through the forming process, it tends to gather the metal in from the sides. Without prestretching, this would especially be noticed in buckling of the metal at the end of the bead. The bead could also be produced using MDF or other hammerform. The hammerform method, when the part is clamped to prevent movement, will lean more toward stretching the metal as the bead is formed, so it would help to eliminate the need for prestretching. The hammerforms can be reused, but depends largely on the quality of the MDF. They do fill up with holes rather quickly
As always im blown away by your skills .I followed the work you did on the roof of the wagon on another site when i was working on my 56 Chevy a few years back .Your ability to make your own complex panels from scratch is amazing man ...
Thanks for the kind words fellas... Got some work done on the other corner today, but only after some shelves were put up in the pantry. A quick trip to Lowes this morning, and most of the afternoon was spent making sawdust... Back to metalwork, this is about my favorite "vise mounted" anvil. 2" diameter works well for hammering around most radiuses. The hole relief for the other side is tackled, I'll show a bit more detail on the high tech tools used.... Rounded tips on some punches... 3/4 round stock.... Test fit..... And after numerous times of hammering, tweaking, fitting, t*******, not all in that order, this corner is starting to take shape.....
I appreciate the comments guys. Doesn't look like much to show in progress, but I did get some good forearm exercise in using the snips today. Just about ready to tack in the top part there, and then check the crown of the outer skin once more with the radius sweep before the final trim between the repair pieces.
Hey Mac, If you keep this up, the Nomad guys are gonna start showin up at your door like Amway saleman, I'm jus sayin! " Humpty Dumpty was pushed "
That's looking really good. Keep the photos comming this is better than watching TV. How are you going to weld the but joints, gas tig, mig?
Rex, you got me rolling here, too funny. 3ott, Some of the gaps are a bit wider than I prefer. I'll be using the Mig. The Tig I have is the Miller Econotig, which is not very "manueverable" on the lower end heat settings. One of these days I'll find a replacement for it...
very nice work indeed (do you make house calls? ) what do you suggest for protecting the new metal against further rusting? por15? also does it take place before or after the welds?
The old outer skin will be coming off, it is still only there to help shape up the inner door. They actually make a new skin for the tailgate, but not the innards. So we'll remove the old skin, sandblast the inside of the inner gate and epoxy prime everything (Including inside of outer skin), then install the skin to the inner gate, align and spot weld, then pour a bit more Epoxy primer inside to slosh around the inside of the seam to seal it up nice.
Got a bit of welding done tonight, one step closer. The top repair patch was tacked on first, aligning flat to the original surface. Needed a profile gauge for the tailgate opening, so the top of the tailpan location, and tailgate "gap" was marked, and a leftover piece of MDF used to make the gauge. Once the lower repair patch was fitted up, the profile gauge was checked to the tailgate skin and the side section tacked. And the #10 radius sweep verified the bottom radius and the lower setion tacked Once everything gets tacked together, the outer skin will be removed so the welds can be planished as we go to try and keep things straight.
Very nice work. I just went the lazy route and bought a good one for my 55. I lucked out and picked up a good one cheap.
Rick, you lucked out to find one in decent shape! To catch up on the updates, all of the inner gate was tacked in place so the outer skin could be removed.. The new skin was prepped and epoxy primed on the inside while some other parts were bring sprayed. Before removing the old skin, some reference measurements were taken at various locations...... Then a 50 grit disc is used to sand the edges until the folded flange is separated from the skin. Although the amount of pinholes from the outside looked to be minimal, the inside shows that it would not have been long before another found its way through front side, risking a fresh paintjob. I think the new skin was the right choice. Sandblasted ajacent to the weld area and test fit the support brace.
Thanks guys. A bit more progress, some connect the dots... The rear side of the weld.... Getting closer... (slowly but surely)
Well after a couple weekends of spring cleaning distraction (took three loads to the dump) I can walk around in the shop with less trip hazard, and the welding is finished on the tailgate. Now need to dress the welds, sandblast the inside, and mix up some epoxy primer. Inching closer.
wow what amazing craftsmenship u have, the talegate is turning out awesome , i had to do the same thing to the talegate on my wagon . keep up the great work and keep the pics comming .
Great stuff! I can only imagine how many of these were dumpsterd because of rot. You've shown that with some time and patience (and nice skills), you can fix things correctly! Good job! Thanks for sharin'! Jim
I haven't tackled any of those (yet).... All the welding on the tailgate done, time to clean up the inside to get it ready for Epoxy Primer... ....and UPS brought this little goodie for the wagon. (thanks Dennis!)
The Jalopy Journal
