Making panels.......

Steveo

Ooops missed this post, can you repost photos and I'll advise

Tony

Perfectly executed Sid, and great use of a template

Looks great, hope you get as much use out of it as I do from mine

I used a Dremmel for that

Tony,
I too am one of the many, who signed up here to thank you very,very much for sharing your outstanding talents with us mere mortals. You have inspired me to "try", and to persevere, you have shown what is achieveable, with the most basic of equipment, a little inginuity, and a lot of patience.
I was going to treat another unfortunate rust bucket to my caveman welding talents, gallon of isopon and mediocre rattle can "RESTO"- but instead have decided to attempt a few little jobs on my MK3 Zodiac.( My pride and Joy).Up to now I have not had the confidance or the knowledge to tackle any such enterprising ventures, and so- as I have no garage- have sat by and watched her deteoriate slowly, over the years.
Thank you, for your inspiration. You are truely a remarkable man- God Bless Your hands.
Cheers,
Paul.

All I do is drill the hole 5-6mm smaller than needed then I clamp a large socket in the vice, lay the panel over the socket and use an socket slightly bigger than the hole and tap it through, then the next size up and so on until you get the recess you desire

Started on a new project today, and thought it might be useful to go through some of the power tools used. Apologies if its stuff you already know



Job is to replace the rear panel on a BMW E28 M5

retrorides.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=readersrides&thread=119596&page=2#1492444



So First up took my Drill with a clean and strip disc mounted on it





This is used to clean off the paint and light rust around any suspicious looking areas, these are good in that they don't clog up and they don't wear away the metal like a grinding disc would


Used like this





To Produce this





Also good for identifying where the spot welds are





You can also get them to fit a Mini Grinder







For more aggressive rust and underseal removal, its hard to beat a twist knot wire brush, again fitted to the mini grinder






You must ensure that you wear eye protection with these, and be prepared to spend an evening picking little bits of the wire out of your overalls and hair


You can also get these in a cup type, these can be bit more work to use as their not as balanced on the grinder as the flat ones, but can get into tighter spots if needed






For Lighter and Tighter work, you can use a rotary wire brush on the drill, these are available in a huge range of sizes and shapes, and its surprising just how good they are getting rid of the last bits of rust in a tight spot






One thing worth mentioning when using a drill with any of these attachments, is , if you have a choice don't use your best drill, all these tools exert a sideways force on the bearing of your drill, and their not really designed for that, so after a few months of hard use, its not uncommon for the bearings in your drill to be shot


So once thats done, its time to cut the panel off, so a 125mm (4.5") grinder is my weapon of choice



These can be mounted with the very thin 1mm thick slitting discs





These do wear down quite quickly, but can really slice through metal quickly and neatly





You do need to be careful with them as they can shatter if any sideways load is put on them, so if its any cutting that might involve a bit of twisting or gouging then I tend to use these thicker 2.5mm thick discs






Not as neat a cut is the 1mm discs, but good for cutting through old welds and anywhere that a bit awkward



this then leaves us with the 5mm thick grinding discs





Probably the least used disc in my arsenal, but used for grinding down welds or heavy gauge steel, prior to using something finer



That brings us neatly onto the various sanding options



First off is the Flap disc, these ones are 60 grit which is coarse enough to take down welds etc





These are quite easy to use, but can leave a surface that is not 100% flat


Another option would be sanding discs on a flexible backing pad

36 grit is the coarse one






120 grit is the fine one





These must be used with caution if sanding body panels or thin steel, as it can be very easy to grind through, or gouge the steel your working on


Alternatively if space is tight, my trusted power file is an all time favourite, I often wonder how I would manage without it






Belts of varying thickness and grits are available, my most commonly used one is 12mm wide x 36 grit, these are perfect for cleaning up rust and grinding down welds in hard to reach areas







All of the above are likely to leave your work piece with flat spots or gouges






so then I go over them with my DA Sander normally with an 80 grit disc fitted






This gets everything nice and rounded and smooth, ready for paint or filler







Next is not really part of this job yet, but seems like an ideal opportunity to get it mentioned now





Its a toffee wheel stripe remover for use in a drill, used like this






It removes the stripes without damaging the paint





But use it on a slow speed, as too fast can burn the paint, these are a lot quicker and safer than using a scraper or solvent to remove them


As with all of these Please wear appropriate eye, ear and hand protection when using them

Caramac Wheels, brilliant for glue residue as well

I've got a couple of the Blue Bosch ones, and they've never let me down, and their not stupidly expensive

I once bought a cheap £10 one from a local DIY superstore, but took it back a day later, it vibrated like mad, you get what you pay for I guess with stuff like this
No special features I can think of, most have spindle lock these days, so that you can change the discs without tools

Hope that helps, but they are a definite must have if your doing a restoration, so get one sooner rather than later