Metalshaping - More El Camino Wheel Arch Repair I got a…
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Metalshaping - More El Camino Wheel Arch Repair
I got a lot of awesome interest and questions from yesterday’s post so I thought I’d share some more details on the process for this project and hopefully answer some of those questions. Let me break down the video:
Part 1: Making the lower rear quarter sections. This video was actually filmed after the repair was completed. A customer from Australia reached out and asked if I could make him some patch panels for his car, since the ElCo hadn’t been picked up yet I made him a set and got the opportunity to film the process.
Part 2: Making dies and forming the wheel arch detail. I start by making a mold using body filler thinned with fiberglass resin so it settles into the mold nicely. A light mist of wd40 on the panel acts as a mold release. After curing, I clean up the mold and scribe the profile onto 1/2” steel stock. Mild steel holds up fine, no need for tool steel or anything special. The male die is rough cut on the bandsaw, and hand filed until correct. Then the male die is traced to make the female die. All edges need to be rounded to produce nice surface finish. Test runs are done, and the dies adjusted accordingly. The power hammer I use has two different function modes: dynamic and rigid. For this operation the hammer is set to the fixed stroke rigid mode and high rpm. The operation begins with a wide die gap, barely contacting the panel. The die gap is incrementally closed over multiple passes until the gap is the same as the material thickness. The process is to form the metal, not compress it.
Part 3: Tack Welding: THIS IS NOT THE FINAL WELD lol Fit up is paramount to achieving a nice final product. After tacking everything in place it gets completely welded in one pass. Then the metalfinishing process begins, and that is too much for this post.
#industry
I got a lot of awesome interest and questions from yesterday’s post so I thought I’d share some more details on the process for this project and hopefully answer some of those questions. Let me break down the video:
Part 1: Making the lower rear quarter sections. This video was actually filmed after the repair was completed. A customer from Australia reached out and asked if I could make him some patch panels for his car, since the ElCo hadn’t been picked up yet I made him a set and got the opportunity to film the process.
Part 2: Making dies and forming the wheel arch detail. I start by making a mold using body filler thinned with fiberglass resin so it settles into the mold nicely. A light mist of wd40 on the panel acts as a mold release. After curing, I clean up the mold and scribe the profile onto 1/2” steel stock. Mild steel holds up fine, no need for tool steel or anything special. The male die is rough cut on the bandsaw, and hand filed until correct. Then the male die is traced to make the female die. All edges need to be rounded to produce nice surface finish. Test runs are done, and the dies adjusted accordingly. The power hammer I use has two different function modes: dynamic and rigid. For this operation the hammer is set to the fixed stroke rigid mode and high rpm. The operation begins with a wide die gap, barely contacting the panel. The die gap is incrementally closed over multiple passes until the gap is the same as the material thickness. The process is to form the metal, not compress it.
Part 3: Tack Welding: THIS IS NOT THE FINAL WELD lol Fit up is paramount to achieving a nice final product. After tacking everything in place it gets completely welded in one pass. Then the metalfinishing process begins, and that is too much for this post.
#industry
| 4,000 mlx | |
| 6 | |
| 0 |