A couple of pics of an insert done the old fashion way, Wheel, torch and hammer.Hope you guys find it interesting! P.S. Pay no attention to the date code on the pics, I should fiqure out how to remedy that on my camera!
Nice Thats a large panel must have been two of you running it through the wheel? Did you make some sort of gauge to know how much crown to put into it. Nice job turned out great!
Hey, Cool! Jus' looking at the tracking patterns on the underside of that top panel makes my arms hurt! Is that a Frost or Trident English wheel? Swankey Devils C.C. "Meanwhile, back aboard The Tainted Pork"
Doug, you still have the touch, man. These guys'll be wondering how all those deuce fivers got to Shelburne. Bout time I came up for a coffee, but then again I'll probably see you at Waterdown. Fireman Rick.
Your right, it takes two to wheel a panel of this size. The fella on the other end had a hard time feeding himself later that day! As far as the crown goes, I for the most part, just eye it till it looks right from a side and front plane.
The wheel is a Brown & Boggs , made under licence from F.J Edwards London England, cast in Hamilton Canada.
Nice job on that. I might be seeing the tracking marks wrong,did you just go in one direction?I figured it would take a cross pattern to keep it from curling.I'm just asking I'm pretty new to this.I might need to make one some day.
I know it takes alot of skill and practice to accomplish something like this but can you give us a quick run down and order of the procedures it took to make that?
Hello Nick Basically once you have a final trimmed out hole in the top, you then cut out a slightly oversized blank. I start wheeling and constantly fit the panel to the car until I feel the panel belongs. Once I am happy with the contour and crown I fasten the panel to the car, witness the position and scribe a trim line. The panel should have no gap once fitted to the hole as you want to tack around the perimeter with no, or very little filler rod. Once you have it tacked, you can then start fusing the joint and forge it together (hammer weld) ,controlling heat, and distortion, as you go. The final step is to blend the new with the old, and the hoop (or planishing) hammer tends to speed things up a little. It sounds a bit simple, but, that sort of sums it up! Hope that gives you some kind of idea. Doug.
wow i been wondering how these are done......how long and how many trys did it take??........not to insult you, its damn sweet job...wish i knew something about the process...i have this issue to resolve...it was a factory filled roof...coupe,,,between not having a "wheel" and years to hone my skills at it (if i could get so lucky!!) .....and no, don't want an open top or toneau cover either..
Hey Topolino This particular car was in the 50 hour range (one try), but the car had some roof issues as it had been poorly filled already and was also kind of beat up around the edges.
Hello Gary In the early stages it can be advantageous to stager start/stops, sometimes it depends on material, carbon content etc. Hard material is stubborn and you may get a crown started faster with staggering. Blending can be a challenge however. Doug.
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