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How to make a '32 Grille
If you want to see how a pro makes a aluminum grille from scratch check out this Street Rodder article by Ron Covell. If you wanna see a metalshaping newbie atempt to do the same thing... read on.
This is the first bit of metal I've run through the english wheel that I recently made. I have only previously made a gas tank for a motorcycle and I've never welded aluminum before. Following Ron's example I made a hammerform. I cut out the outside grille shape out of MDF (medium density fiberboard). To make sure the left and right sides match, I tack welded two sections of bar together and bent them at the same time using some heat from a torch and a bench vice. Then I separated the bars, trimmed and tack welded them back together to form the inner bar structure. The inner bar structure was then tack welded to steel stanchions. Nuts were welded inside the stanchions and then bolted to the MDF form. Building a hammerform takes a bit of time up front but will save you time in the end. Brown paper was used to create the general shape. Template was then transfered to aluminum. Be sure to leave enough overlap to allow for shrinkage. I trimmed mine out with a Harbor freight metal shears. These shears actually work pretty good and are only about $30. A baseball mallet and stump were used to create shape. The aluminum shapes really fast. I got lost in the moment and forgot to get more pictures of the shaping process. Bottom piece after wheeling. Side pieces didn't require alot of shape. A rubber upper wheel was used to add some curvature. Side and top pieces mocked onto the hammerform. Don't use a sharpie marker for this, the fitment needs to be precise as possible to allow for a tight gap. A scribe was used to mark the cut line. Trim to the scribe line. (If you would like to increase the difficulty use wrong handed tin snips like I did.) To learn how to weld I rented a gas welding video from TM Technologies for $9. If you have the extra cash get a pair of the TM2000 welding glasses too. Aluminum is tough to figure out. Make sure to remove the oxidation layer with a wire brush and use plenty of flux. This weld is definitely ugly, but easily fixed. Evidence of the ugly weld is gone after a little metal finishing. The inner flange was tipped on a bead roller. Then mounted to the hammer form with screws. To keep from marking the aluminum, a plastic teardrop mallet was used to pound over the inner bar. The aluminum was annealed at the corners due to the tight radius. The inner flange and outer shell were scribed and trimmed for a tight fit. Then welded together... and metal finished.
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Rick |
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A close up of welded and metal finished welds. After mocking up the grille I decided that it was 3 inches to tall. Someone's about to get some more welding seat time... A bullseye pick is used to raise low spots after welding. A vixen file is used to remove the high spots. Low spots are again raised with the bullseye pick. and vixen filed again. This would be close enough for paint with a layer of high build primer. The finished grille. and a couple of shots of it in the car
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Rick |
#3
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Hi Rick,
looks great thanks for posting this. Ben |
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Nice pics and Nice freekin Job . Really enjoyed your fine explanation.
Gerry
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Gerry Miller |
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HI Rick the grille looks great
Peter
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P.Tommasini Metalshaping tools and dvds www.handbuilt.net.au Metalshaping clip on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEAh91hodPg Making Monaro Quarter panel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIpOhz0uGRM |
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Very nice work. And thanks a lot on posting all the process pictures.
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Best regards. Santos |
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GREAT post Rick! And the metal shaping is great too!
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Kerry Pinkerton |
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Nice work Rick, I like what you used it on too. A lot of good work if you look at it close.
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Mike |
#9
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Very nice Rick! and your first time gas welding aluminum even better!
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Rick Scott The second mouse gets the cheese! |
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That looks great Rick. Thanks for posting.
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Keith Daleen Sedalia,Mo. |
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