Making panels.......

Just found out that the guys over on the mig welding forum have been using my Bender design to create their own, I am pretty chuffed with that, so decided to create this as an Open Source Design, meaning anyone can copy it, and if they come up with any new ideas or attachments they then feed them back into the forum.

So to start the "TBMW Open Source Bender" I have attached some pics of a couple of attachments that I also made for it, but to date have never used, to get the creative ideas flowing



Here are the photos of the 2 additional pieces I made








The idea behind the first one was to allow me to create return bends, so I welded on a piece of 20 x 20 bar, so after creating the first fold with the standard angle, it then goes in with the bar peice







then over








as it is not clamped at higher level, the bend is not formed as tightly, so definitely that could be improved with some additional high level support








The second one is obviously for creating radiused bends, and is a bit of 32mm dia pipe welded to another angle.


So again, first bend created with the standard angle fitted, then swap for the radiusing tool






then over







quite a nice detail, just shame I have never had a use for it yet.






Any thoughts or ideas welcome

Can't say thanks enough for sharing your obvious talent with us all. So many tips etc that will shortly be used on my rebuild - thanks again.

Thanks Dave

and a pleasure to meet you

Thanks Jonny, thats a great tip, and I can see how that would be quite easy to achieve. I will definitely try to mock something up like that.

Yours is a cool car by the way, but you must be mad to use it as a daily driver in this weather, it must be freezing.

Robg2 - I used a mini grinder with 1mm thick cuttings discs for that bit, but generally will use a good pair of Gilbow shears to cut out my parts, pictured along the top of this panel






the bigger the snips the better, its a leverage thing, and I guess the more expensive the better too, I have seen cheap tinplate types that don't work, the Gilbows have forged blades

I do use a jigsaw a lot too, but I have a Bosch one with a pendulum action on the blade, if you put it onto setting 1 if really wizzes through the metal

Hope that helps and glad that you found the thread useful

Tony

Rob

I actually meant an electric 4 1/2" angle grinder with a cutting disc in, but the air tool you mention would be just as effective

If you have Gilbows that are not cutting and if you find that they fold the metal over rather than cut it, I would suggest that they perhaps need sharpening or adjusting, although a friend of mine cannot cut anything with mine, so I guess there might be a technique to it also, but try sharpening and adjusting first

Glad to hear that you are going to persevere, and your right it can be a very thankless task at times, but a very important one none the less

Tony

And this slightly (very) trickier one if you woul dbe so kind as to advise.



The face on the left is lower than the face on the right, if that makes sense. So the folded over flange tapers.

Would I be better of making a hard wooden "buck" and handforming/beating the steal over it?

Hi Tony,

I need to repair my vauxhall nova floor how would you recommend I create the ribs on the car floor ? some pics below







keep up the good work regards

stew

Stew, to create the ribs that you need you will need the following 2 bits of angle or something similar to create a step







Then you need these tools, I use a big mash hammer and a 2" chisel, the weight of this hammer means you don't have to hit it too hard, and the 2" chisel makes quick progress across the sheet, obviously you can use a smaller chisel for more detailed areas or curves.







The Chisel has a slight radius on the top, we are only trying to bend the metal not cut through it







Then lay your metal over the top angle as shown








I am sure you can guess what you do next, but not too hard, and work along the piece, you are not trying to form the full depth in 1 hit







Then back along a couple more times








If you need the rib to have more definition, then angle the chisel more tightly into the angle











And then turn the piece over and add definition from the other side, this might need 2 or 3 turns dependant on definition









And here is a full 8mm rib, each bend at 90 degrees








So now just turn it round and over and create the other side, at whatever width you want







And repeat as before







This time I am just driving the chisel straight down for a more gently formed rib









And here we have this side, I have purposely done them differently so that you can see what can be achieved








Now say that you wanted a shallower rib in the middle of the panel that did not go right to the end



Position as before, but only hit up to where you want it to stop, I have also not driven it right down on the base angle, but you could just use a thinner top angle, to achieve the same affect







that gives you this, dependant on how near the end of the sheet you are you could end up with some puckering like this







And dependant on what finish detail you want you can just dress it with the hammer








This can give a more gradual stop end








Or use the chisel to create a more flat stop end











And to add more definition, use a bit of 10mm dia bar to dress from the inside







Which should leave you with this