Hi all, I'm going to fab up some new floor boards for the Econoline and have a question about hammer forming. I can get 3/4 MDF fairly cheap and was considering using it as a one time only hammer form to make some of the rounded strengthing grooves in the floor. I am working with 18 gauge steel. in the past I have made steel forms and a steel punch to make shapes in panels but after I am done I have these pieces laying around taking up space. the question is do you think that if I router the design I want into the MDF it would hold up to forming one panel or would it give to much and cause me problems?
I don't know how deep or wide your strength beads will be but i would renforce the plywood. After routing out the beads it will be thinner, maybe some 1/8" plate screwed to the back of the plywood in the bead areas?...I would like to see some final pics also as i'm considering this too.
MDF will hold up for a one time job with no problem. It will help if you use a chalking/chasing tool out of some hardwood to hammer the beads and you do not hammer on the hammerform directly. I always use MDF for forms up to 3 or 4 pieces depending on how complex forms are. Mario
plenty of old chisels to make a chasing/caulking tool out of. Chasing tool diameter should be bead minus 2 times the thickness of metal Hammerform need to have relief made into it, will make your hammering easier!!! tt
Thank you for the input, I'm gonna give it a try and post the results/pics here. OLDGOALY: BTW, I am a big fan of Marty Feldman
Looking at your Econoline photo's, your going to eventually need a bead roller to complete your project, there are many low cost units available, if it is out of the question to get one please disregard, most of the Econoline beads can be done with parallel strips of steel and your hammer of choice, as they are straight lines, Wood is good for a patterns or light metal, but for 18 ga. steel your asking for trouble.
I'd love to see a few photos when you try this. I was thinking of using the same technique to fab a couple of model A floor pans. Seems like just having a second piece of mdf behind and working on a solid surface should be enough support for the form.
Lazee : I bought a HF bead roller and of course am now sourching the angle iron to strengthen it, the spider gears and a wheel to make it easier to operate for one guy and something to solidly mount it to. chances are it will not be able to roll most of the shapes I need to make in these floors as I am trying to make them look close to stock. with a mat over them, nobody will see them anyway. but thanks for the recomendation
here's some shots of the form I made to make the raised ribs in the door step on the econoline. there are some ripples in the finished product due in part to the squared leading dege on the chasing tool. I should have tapered it. after I was done making this step I realized I did not need the end piece because the tool formed the ends just like the factory without it. I also realized this thing would last through about 100 stampings and I will probably never use it again...
If pic 4 is the trial run.... dang that's sweet! I had a 64 van that I got T bones in, still driving Econolines..... better not say but I might be burried in one!
ok, here's my shot at a chasing tool for the strengthening ribs. the round bit is a piece of a weight from one of my son's airsoft guns, he'll never miss it I used one of the remaining good ribs in the floor to set the depth of the side shoes, please note the last pic shows the reason why I am on this quest please pay no mind to the weld beads thanks for the tip on using old punches and chizels, I am a ****er for a garage sale junk tool pile and have alot of unidentifiable tools laying around.
Well I learned about saving old steel from a few oldtimers punches, chisels, and files were the best steel for many years. you find some old worn down files you have the making of a ******* for metalshaping. tt
CL Your tools are doing a great job, you are ahead of the game, congrats. when using the hf bead roller make one offset then do the other side it will look like one bead, but with much less force... you are on top, I won't bother you any more, unless you ask. I love seeing another Econoline! BTW I have mine shown in my albums.
the bead roller has turned out to be more of a project than a useable tool right out of the box so it goes on the project list for now. decided to try proof of concept tonight cause I need to get moving on this project. a piece of 3/4 MDF, homemade chasing tool, 1/4 inch radius router bit and a quick off-hand groove cut. a few dozen hits with a sledge... some planishing and this is what you get. the MDF held up, the grove is a bit smaller than I wanted so I may go to a larger bit on the router. I am concerned that I won't be able to setup and do the whole panel (3ft wide) at one time due to the distortion to the sheet while forming. the MDF definately absorbs alot of the energy of the hammer blow, I had to switch from a medium hammer to a hand sledge to drive it to the bottom of the groove it is what it is
I find that MDF will usually last for about a half dozen pieces if you don't use too heavy a metal to make your parts. Also real heavy hammer blows will shorten the life of the form. Frank
thanks Frank, it only has to survive one part so I'm gonna go for it and post some pics when I get it done
Routers in the night dah dum da dee dum routers in the night..... this is one of those times I wish I had continued to pursue my interest in building a CNC router table, it would have taken about 10 minutes to make this where as manually it took 2 hours Econoline eyes will pick out that this is about 3/4 of the floor piece that crosses the truck right in front of the engine house. the engine house flange will be attemted in a seperate operation
I like your idea and the tool you made is too cool. I saw somewhere here on the H.A.M.B here where a guy simple took some round stock, 1/4" I believe, and made the shapes that he wanted and tack welded it to the sheet metal he was using and wacked it with a hammer and made the impression into the metal. I don't remember if he used a form or not. Just thought i would p*** that idea on to you in case you could use it.
so then it was Bang bang bang bang bang what's all that racket?! bang bang bang bang bang Hey, keep it down!!! bang bang bang bang can't you just collect stamps??? bang bang drop, bang drop drop had to put it away because it started to rain. not visible in the pic is a 1 inch steel plate under the hammer form being used as an anvil. I don't have a solid surface large enouth to hammer on without it. man were my arms tired
that's one I hadn't thought of, I may try it on some of the other panels, thanks. I'm going to have to make a new tool for the curved sections between the branches and on the last one, the straight tool leaves too many hammer marks in it. I also realized while I was hammering that an air chizzel with the tool attached would make really short (loud) work of this. may try that yet
I thought that soon as I saw what you were doing, then got to the last post. If you use an air hammer, use a short barrel. They hit fast vs hard like a long barrel.
well... here's what came out of all of the hammering. I still have the round recess for the emergency brake bolt and the master cylinder cover as well as the "x" for the other side. it is a p***ible job in my book but if I had it to do over i would increase the size of the groove a bit
The Jalopy Journal
