Question for the sheetmetal masters

So I'm puttin' in some patches on my '47 ford truck's running boards.

The issue was, previously it had patches (apparently) gas welded in at some time. The patch material was flat stock and it looked poor. See left side of pic to see remnants of old removed patch.

After welding them in I noticed a twist in the running board (only 2 of 3 are in so far).

I TIG welded the patches in - fitted them tight - used fairly small welds - lots of tack etc. What I didn't do was hammer them as I went. Which I think (after the fact) was what caused my issue - that and not being clamped very well. I later removed the last hat shaped support so I can now clamp it better.

So long winded point - any good tips. I usually just make mistakes and go from there - this doesn't appear to be much different ;-)

I attached a close-up of the old patch and the "new" one after welded in.

At the moment - the more I straighten the top (ribbed part) I notice the rolled over edge seems to be worse for the wear. So I'm wondering if I just keep focus on the top and worry about the curved part later - I'm thinking clamp a PIPE to it and hammer it as needed - leather hammer ? heat? Suggestions?


Thanks!!!

 

Don't panic.

Grind the welds down just above flush on both sides, grab your magic hammer and appropriate dolly and stretch em out. It wont need shrinking or more heat as thats whats caused it to warp. You'll need to stretch all of it including the rounded parts too. Stretch only the welds and no more than 1/4" out on both sides of the weld.

Hammering from the bottom with the dolly on the outside will make it go faster. Once its pretty close you can use a hammer and a soft dolly (deadblow hammer) to even out the highs and lows.

Go slow and it will turn out fine. Trust me I'm an undertrained and overconfident perfessional....

 

Tinman is right .You don't have to hammer your welds as you go you can stretch the metal out cold after welding.Don't worry most anything you do to metal can be fixed, sometimes easier than you think.Work on the patched area and the side may straighten back up.Your work looks good so far.

 

HEY JB!
send me a pm or an email your pm is full! got a pick your brain on spinning! heat shrink is normal! tt

 

BTW,, patch looks great and with a little work it should be undetectable. You should be proud, its almost too bad that when its done nobody will know its been fixed.

For the record I almost never stretch as I weld. just enough to keep the patch sorta in the right place as I weld. Its no more work doing it this way over tack/stretch/weld/stretch again.

 

Thanks Guys,

I expected it to move "some" - what took me by surprise was that it moved A LOT!! So I hammered the welds some and it looks a fair bit better. It relaxed things enough to let me get it straightened out a bunch,not quite enough, but heading in the right direction.

I'm getting real encouraged at this point. My next effort is going to FLATTEN the portions where the bolt heads go. I used sections of another running board to fix this one - that's why I need to put the "flats" in. I'm tempted to use HEAT for this part - this stuff is ALOT harder to hammer than the aluminum I used to!!! ;-)

I try to post some update pics soon.

 

The beads? slot them down the center, hammer flat(ish) weld up the slots and smooth.

 

Da Tinman - yeah I was wondering about that approach too - wasn't sure which would be easier.

 

Update: I admit I am struggling a little with the outer "edge". The previous repairs combined with the new patches I put in has got the edge distorted pretty good - combine that with the size (thickness and length) and it's pretty interesting to say the least.
I think I might mount it on the truck again to make it easier (?) to work. To do that I had to remake the sheet metal supports that reinforce the running board mounting locations. Basically "hat" shaped sections of sheet metal.
Here's what I came up with so far - see pic.

It only takes about 30 seconds to make one - after you cut out a blank. Kinda cool what 10 tons of force will do ;-)

 

Good job on the making the die and parts.Is the edge just a little wavy in and out (looking down on it)or does it have a bow in it front to rear(looking from the side)?

 

The edge is a little wavy in/out - I am also struggling a little with the shape (contour) of the edge where the patches are. The original patches were gas welded in - I didn't realize how much the contour was affected. Currently I have the running board back on the truck - I figured it'd be a little easier to work on it . I'll see if I can get a good pic of it.