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Old 08-09-2014, 03:12 AM
Charlie Myres Charlie Myres is offline
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Default Formation sign holders

My first post of any substance and not much of that. I am not new to panel beating, having done panels on cars and trucks but this small project employed lessons learnt from David Gardner's DVD; and the contributors from this site; and various others on the web and without their guidance I wouldn't have been able to make a fair-fist of it!

Australia; New Zealand; the UK and probably other countries, often have unit identification signs on their vehicles; these signs can be easily removed, which is especially useful if the vehicle is shared. A customer wanted 6 holders, so I made two prototypes in 1mm cold-rolled steel. Too easy; I said to myself but the original was 0.6mm steel so I ordered a sheet of 0.7mm CR.



Dies were made to press the dimples.



I made a short clamping plate on the lathe, using a jig and a face-plate, which allowed me to fold all three sides first - mistake no. 1! The long clamp plate was taken off the folder and two holes tapped in the top surface.



Next the dimples were pressed in the vice.



Here is the first one pressed next to a chipboard backing plate, so that it can be supported as required. The pucker was removed on a polished piece of flat bar using a planishing hammer - I recall Wray's very good advice to "corral it" as you shrink it. When I pressed the other dimple near the edge it shrunk the bend where the flange was; I didn't think that it would as it hadn't on the 1mm CR! First lesson of the day was to overcome the disappointment and work out how to fix it.



A couple went in the bin before I remembered the advice on this forum that everyone makes mistakes, so I calmed down and thought about it. The top dimension of the holder was being drawn in by about 2mm, which looked nasty and not fit for sale. I tried unfolding the flanges; planishing them flat and folding them again after the dimples were in place. This worked quite well and saved the day. The last one I made, all of the folds were done after the dimples, not before.

To bend the flanges I placed the holder on the chipboard backer; clamped them to the folder; levered the first stage of the bend up with flipper and a block of wood; knocked them over with the block and a heavy hammer onto the clamp-plate; and then squashed them down as shown in the photo. This worked perfectly, but today I did one without the block of wood and used the flipper and hammer, which was quicker.



Here I am using a spacer, whilst dressing down the high spots, so as to not overdo it. Using the flipper instead of the block seemed to dress the flange straighter and saved me having to do this operation.



The finished product. It looks rather easy, but as anyone knows who has made a "flat" panel it is almost mission-impossible. The highs and low were planished on the flat bar, to as good as I could get them. There is oil-canning but once it is fastened to the vehicle that should be overcome and the sheet metal formation signs slide in nicely.



The semi-circular cutout is to make it easy to pull the sign out; I made them with a holesaw and then cut the metal in two, to produce the semi-circles.

Cheers Charlie

Last edited by Charlie Myres; 08-09-2014 at 03:15 AM.
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Old 08-09-2014, 10:14 AM
crystallographic crystallographic is offline
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Charlie,
You tackled this puzzle very well, doing the 3 press forms and four 180 folds flat and to accuracy.

Those 3 depressions are respectable draws on a small flat surface, and you made sense of the various approaches very well. Good to see that you varied your efforts right to the end as the learning curve only gets better the more you try.

Very nice job.
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Old 08-09-2014, 05:13 PM
David Gardiner David Gardiner is offline
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Hi Charlie. I am pleased you found my DVD helpful. The parts look nice. I think if I were doing this I would pre-stretch the dimples and perhaps cut the parts to size after the dimples were formed. We pre stretched the dimples for this tractor bonnet.




David
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Last edited by David Gardiner; 08-09-2014 at 05:31 PM.
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Old 08-09-2014, 05:36 PM
Charlie Myres Charlie Myres is offline
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Thank you Kent and David; I appreciate your thoughts and compliments greatly

Could you give an example on what pre-stretching actually is? I presume it is starting the dimple but not going all the way, but I can't visualise how it would be done,

Cheers Charlie
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Old 08-09-2014, 05:41 PM
David Gardiner David Gardiner is offline
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Hi Charlie, for the dimples I showed I had James do a little stretching with a hammer. A small ball pein hammer would do if you don't have a hollowing hammer.

David.
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Old 08-10-2014, 01:57 AM
Charlie Myres Charlie Myres is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by David Gardiner View Post
Hi Charlie, for the dimples I showed I had James do a little stretching with a hammer. A small ball pein hammer would do if you don't have a hollowing hammer.

David.
Ah! I think I understand - pre-stretching will even out the stretch and shrink over the entire holder, instead of concentrating it in one area at a time?

I shall experiment,

Cheers C
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