We are getting together on the 20th for the 2nd of three wintergatherings at my shop. These gathering are free, any professionals in attendance are requested to refrain from any active self promotion of products or services. This session will include basic metal shaping by Robert McCartney (metal shaper of the month, All Metalshaping web site), Robert will demo what you can do with basic hand tools, tech will include shrinking, stretching, planishing. Tom Mancuso, an old school metalman, will demo joint leading. John Herold (corvette restorations) will discuss surface prep for paint, inclu different etching & epoxy primers, filler primers etc. I will demo some basic welding with the tig and those interested are asked to bring a shield and they can try thier hand at it. I'll also demo fusion tack weld and **** seam welding without filler as applied to body panels and how to minimize distortion. I'll open shop around 8am, people show up 9ish for coffee and donuts, the demos begin at 10ish, we'll have a deli style lunch and continue until we feel like going home. This is all about a bunch of deliquent hot rodders getting together, share some knowledge and have fun doing it. I hope you can make it, my shop is Clarke Co. Speed, Berryville VA, about 15 miles of rt81 near Winchester. Shop phone is 540-955-0479 email is ojh4@verizon.net We are looking for an ignition guy for the March session. Thanks, oj
A little update, i spoke with both Robert and Tom today and they are pumped up! This is really going to be a good time. We are going to start with Tom at 10am, he is doing the leading demo - we've got 3lbs of lead, a pound of tinning ****er and some other goodies for him to mess with; Robert is going all out and wants a white board for illustrations and all mannor of stumps and paraphanilia - we might be on to something here. One thing he needs is questions and input from us, ok? My shop address is 607 E. Main St, Berryville VA 22611 shop ph 540-955-0479
For the night crew. I believe this gathering is going to be vidoe taped and will be made avaiable on a web site. Really excited!
Hi- Do you want RSVPs so you can plan food, space, etc.? A couple or three of us in Charlottesville will probably make it but I'm not sure yet. I'm a driveway mechanic but my friends do full restoration work. Looking forward to it...
I would love to come but unfortunately it is a bit far for me..... This is a great idea and opportunity to learn.... Good luck.
Wish I was closer, that's a very generous offer. Have some fun and learn some new skills and ideas? Thanks OJ
I think thats pretty awesome what your doing,wish I was closer. its very nice of you to spread valuable information and serve food.
That would be a good idea for those planning to come. Hit OJ up with a PM, and number of people, it will help out with the planning. The 20th (this Sunday) is coming up quick! Thanks to OJ for opening up his shop for others to come and learn. Don't forget your safety gl***es, and if you plan on welding (or watching to learn), bring a hood/borrow a hood. It is a shop environment so we should plan accordingly.
I'm RSVPing for 2 for this Sunday's Gathering. Charlie and Ian. We're coming up from Charlottesville and plan to arrive before 9:30. Need us to bring anything? (besides what you recommeded. Like, food/drinks/etc). Thanks.
If anyone is going to the Gathering and they live between there and Charlottesville, maybe we can caravan up there. We'll be going up in a 60 Chevy so it's always good to have a car of friendlies near by.
FUXL- I'm not sure what route we'll take...up 29 from Cville, to Madison, and then backroads up to Berryville seems the most direct...but maybe sticking to some bigger roads might be faster. I don't think I would go through Waynesboro and up 81. But goingfrom Waynesboro, I guess 81 is fastest. If you wanted to hook up near Cville and caravan that would be cool.
I was getting worried but ups showed up today with the leading stuff for Tom, now I better do something about some of the junk corners around here and clean up - this might be video taped and put up on a web site for others.
Bring a lawn chair! There are way too many people coming to stand in a group. If there is something you need to see go up and have a close look or take a hammer and try it yourself - don't be shy. Remember to bring a shield if you want to try the TIG stuff.
OJ, how many people coming so far? If you have room to spread out we may want to split the group up and have multiple demos going on. Of course, that would mean having to give multiple demos as well, to cover everyone.
OJ, thanks again for opening up your shop for the day. I got these pictures of Tom doing the lead demo, and Dave doing the shrinking disc demo, but I missed getting anything of that guy making metal s****s. Two flanged panels were tuck shrinked to form a radius. This was to simulate the leading edge of hood halves being welded together and leaded. Tom using tinning ****er on one half and plumbers flux (liquid) with solder on the other, to demonstrate the differences.... The liquid flux tends to get down into cracks better, for a better flow of the body lead. Adding the lead, pushing it into the joint... Rather than use a wooden paddle and tallow, Tom prefers a vintage soldering iron that uses external heat (the torch in his other hand) It seems to do a better job of controlling the heat. Even though he claimed he hasn't leaded anything in ten years, it was like old hat to him. After our "hood" had a chance to cool, he demonstrated leveling the area with the vixen file. Our completed sample I think Tom enjoyed another crack at flowing some lead.... Got some pictures during the break of some of the vintage tin outside.... Back inside for more work on metal, Dave gives a demo using the shrinking disc. Thanks to all who showed up, you guys made it a success!
Big thanks to OJ and everybody involved! Especially the guy who showed up with the brownies in the morning! Had a great time learning something and meeting new people!
Thanks again for the shop gathering and everybody involved.Great chance to get out and shake off the cabin fever!
I had a ball! What a great bunch of guys. And it wasn't all greybeards talkin about the good old days either, probably a third were in thier twenties and they asked the most questions. A genuine desire to learn. A very satisfying day of metalshaping and discussions thanks to Robert McCartney (MP&C) and Tom Mancuso, they did a tremendous job! This just might be the 1st Annual 2nd Gathering!
Awesome day, A big thanks to the Oj for making this happen as well as the great information from Tom and Robert. I had a great time. I'm looking forward to anything else you put together Oj. Martins right, The brownies were killer!
Thanks again OJ, Tom and Robert! Had a great time and learned some cool stuff. All I need now is to order up some leading stuff and make a pair of Roberts door skin vice grips.
Some good news, i spoke with Ted, one of the spectators, he is friends of the guy that made a video and Ted has the equipment to turn the demo into a high quality DVD. We will see about making it and getting it onto a place where it can be downloaded. I have yet to speak to Tom or Robert but i forsee no problem. I'll post it when i know anything more, oj
To expand on the pictures from OJ's event this past weekend, here is an online friendly tech thread on shrinking that should have prefaced the lead demo. I didn't get as many pictures this past weekend (too many hammers in my hands) so this will be supplemented with some diagrams and previous pictures so we can make a good tech thread. Prior to Tom showing the body lead demo, I needed to make some panels for him to work from. We decided that a curved surface, similar to the front end of a 38 Chevy and its hood halves, would be a better fixture for showing the need for flowing lead up a slight incline. I started with two equal sized panels, and bent a flange on the long edge. Then discussed some of the issues faced when shrinking a flange. For demonstration purposes, in the following example we have a 12" long panel with a 1-1/2" wide flange. If we were to look at the same panel with a radius, formed by shrinking the flange, we would note dimensions similar to as follows: ....where the 90 degree bend at the flange still retains its 12" length, the centerline of the flange in this case is shortened by almost an inch, and the outer edge of the flange shortened by almost another inch. In working with the Lancaster/Eastwood style shrinker-stretcher machines, it is important to note that they are a linear device, the movement they introduce into the metal is in a straight line. So that once a radius starts to form, and with the shrinking device still moving in a linear fashion, the outer edge of the flange will be put into tension as the centerline shrinks. Anyone who has used these devices will have seen this as the machine starts to lose its effectiveness. To counter this effect, we need to shrink the outer edge of the flange more than the inner. By simply alternating the depth of the shrink as shown, you can provide more shrink to the outer edge and the device will become more effective. Another method of shrinking is with the use of tucks. Looking at their shape, the tuck has a wider "gather" at the edge of the flange as compared to the inside bend of the flange, so this eliminates some of the tension issues seen in the mechanical shrinker. Where the demos this past weekend were supposed to concentrate on using only hand tools so that the participants could readily duplicate the results without the need for a major purchase, we did find the use of the Shrinker a good comparison, and by chance the tuck shrinking did prove to be faster and more effective. For the tuck shrinking, one can use tucking forks, rounded jaw pliers (by design or modification) or special designed devices. As an example, here is a set of tucking forks I made out of some s**** metal and 5/8 bolts turned down. And a pair made from needle nose pliers.. Probably the biggest challenge with their use is producing consistent tucks. To produce a flowing, consistent radius, we should start with consistent tucks, both in size and the spacing between them. I decided to make a pair of tucking pliers out of Vice Grips, as the jaw adjustment on them would prove to give repeatable sized tucks. We'll start off by finding a pair of vise grips suitable for the job, which in this case means the jaw serrations are starting to wear and round off and won't grip much of anything else. Finish what has started by removing the serrations to produce a nice flat jaw on the bottom, and cut the top one off at about 30 degrees from its original position. I had some extra long shouldered 3/8 bolts, perfect round stock for the job. Three of them were cut off to 1-1/2" length. Here's my economy model lathe made by Dewalt... To set the spacing for the "fingers" the first is clamped in the vise grip jaw, centered. The outer is placed next to it and then welded down the outside, center finger removed, and then welded down inside. Here we should leave a slight gap of your sheet metal thickness to prevent any binding, which will allow a deeper tuck. Repeat for opposite side, then weld center finger. Note in the above picture the 30 degree cut of the upper jaw positions the center finger at an angle compared to the bottom fingers. It is this angle that will help to form the tuck's shape.
Of course I took my favorite anvil along to the meet, here clamped in the vise.. Again our object in this case is consistency, so equally spaced marks are placed on the flange, identical tucks made at each mark, and you can see the consistent radius along the panel. I use a O/A torch to heat the tucks prior to hammering them flat. Others prefer to not use heat, and can capture the tuck and flatten it very effectively without it. I am still working on this proficiency, so in the meantime, I use heat. We're looking for something like this, prior to hammering. Here OJ ***ists with torch duties... Another point to mention is that the hammering action tends to also spread the tuck back apart if not captured effectively. Where the picture above doesn't show it well, a good means of overcoming this would be to clamp a strap of metal across the ends of the newly formed radius prior to hammering, similar to this: Then the hammering force will be more effective in flattening the tuck back into itself. Once each piece was completed separately, the flanges were aligned back to back and the two pieces tacked together. Each had an identical radius, for a good fit. Consistency pays off!
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