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  #1851  
Old 12-27-2021, 07:11 PM
Marc Bourget Marc Bourget is offline
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You sure will be able to travel to those "Other Things" in great style!


Wish you more, wish you the best !!
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  #1852  
Old 01-01-2022, 12:17 AM
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Jack 1957 Jack 1957 is offline
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Continuing with this stone guard, all that's needed are pictured below. A shot bag, I use a 1/2" steel plate that I keep around, an assortment of hammers including a small urethane or plastic faced hammer, a rounded dead blow hammer is useful, slapper, dollies, a sanding block, and a D/A sander. By the way, the sanding done in these beginning steps is NOT intended to take off material on the high spots.
I put a light, almost over spray coat of paint on the outside surface, just enough to make it easy to see the low spots. The 600 grit on the sanding block is only used to find the high and low spots. You can use Dychem or a Sharpie also.


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I'm using the shot bag,for bowling or slight manipulation. The steel plate will do for stretching with a steel hammer, and the dolly if I have to back the inside and hammer from the outside.


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Paint, sand, bump, repeat. The combination of hammers and backing determine what's going to happen. I had one area a little too high. Dolly in back, leather mallet on the front shrinks it back down. Low spots can be raised (Stretched) with the part face down on the plate and a steel hammer from inside. Manipulate a low spot outward with the part face down on the bag and a steel hammer, or soft hammer from the inside.
This is an exercise in patience and assessing the surface to determine what's needed.
Speaking of which, Wray has a series of videos on YouTube that go in depth about how to determine what the metal needs BEFORE you even start shaping. The series is about the restoration of a 52 Cadillac. He's making a new rear bumper filler panel. He goes deep into determining what the metal needs and why, in one of the first couple episodes. The guy is fascinating to watch. Maybe episode 2 or 3. Somebody post a link in the replies if you find it.
Anyway, I'm making progress one low spot at a time.


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If you have a set of calipers like this, they are perfect for getting an exact location on small low spots so you're not missing your target spot and making things worse with every blow. Just close them up until they're snug, squeeze them a little tighter by hand as you trace around the low spot from the painted outside and scribe the outline on the backside. Easy and accurate. At this point I'm about 2/3 through the rough planishing process.


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Making progress. In the last picture you can see a few very small low spots in the area that I've already smoothed out. I'll get them before I start the next round.
This first round is where the metal might move. When I finish this round it's back to the flexible shape pattern and fitting it up to the skirt again. In the finishing stages there shouldn't be too much movement unless I overheat it while polishing. The suspense is killing me.


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Last edited by Jack 1957; 01-01-2022 at 12:31 AM.
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  #1853  
Old 01-01-2022, 05:02 AM
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Gojeep Gojeep is offline
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Never thought of using the calipers for that purpose. Thanks for the hint.
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  #1854  
Old 01-02-2022, 07:20 PM
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Jack 1957 Jack 1957 is offline
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Before I forget, here are the links to Wray's videos on assessing what a fresh piece of sheet metal needs. From making the FSP to finished product. It's all here. They're about 30 minutes each. Well worth the time:


#1 Making the FSP & Prestretching

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmldwpp9Dks


#2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luncgP6sKOA


#3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jA0Ekvy-ahs
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  #1855  
Old 01-02-2022, 08:10 PM
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I'm into the final stages of smoothing this out. I made a quick disposable hardwood dolly and sanded the face with a very slightly raised center but mostly flat with radiused edges.



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Next, I started smoothing out the areas of the stone guard that are the flattest.
As I moved into the areas with more shape, I sanded a little more radius into the dolly face and continued with that sequence until I was unable to see any flaws without sanding the stone guard.

At this point I needed to block sand the surface with 220# on a flexible sanding block. I found a couple gradual low areas and corrected them, then used 600# on a DA sander to get a better look at it.
The tiny whitish spots you see are actually remnants of low spots that I didn't quite get flattened out. I'll bump them out tomorrow and sand with the 600# one more time.
I haven't finished the outer edges yet in case I need to use them to shape again but I don't think I'll need to. The metal moved a little during this planishing process but not much. Notice that there was no grinding involved and very little sanding. This material is only 24ga so trying to grind or sand out irregularities is not an option.


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Last edited by Jack 1957; 01-03-2022 at 01:00 PM.
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  #1856  
Old 01-03-2022, 11:55 AM
Sprint Relic Sprint Relic is offline
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Wow ! As you are winding down your project, you "Bring It" with a tour de force of shaping out and planishing, a well fitting, gorgeous, stone guard (made from stainless no less) all with just the starter tools most of us have. For me it really just drives home how spectacular your talent (and patience) is. Very gracious of you to share this with us.
Thank You !
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  #1857  
Old 01-04-2022, 09:31 PM
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Jack 1957 Jack 1957 is offline
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I did the polishing today, but after seeing the pictures I think I need to do a little more. I can still see some sanding marks. I'm still not sure I want to use these. I'll just have to put them on the car and see what I think.


This is what I use to do the polishing: on the left is a twine wheel. It has coarse twine interwoven with the cotton cloth. It's tough. It knocks down surfaces fast, even stainless. It will actually dig scratches into stainless if you're not careful. And it will gouge bulk material off of aluminum. Never use it on aluminum. Use with the black rouge for coarse cutting



In the middle is a common tight sewn wheel. The spiral stitching gives it rigidity but it's all cotton. The twine wheel will remove sanding scratches and this wheel will smooth out any scratches left by the twine wheel. It will bring the shine about 95% in. Use black rouge to improve the cut from the previous step, then use the brown (Triboly) rouge to get a nearly perfect finish.



On the right is a loose buff. This is for finishing off and removes swirl marks left by the previous step. Notice that there is no spiral stitching on the face. At rest it's floppy, just a bunch of rags. When it's spinning, the centrifugal force gives it some rigidity but it will yield and flex around the workpiece so it doesn't leave directional markings. Use the white (fine) rouge to bring up a high luster.
The blue and green polishes are special purpose for aluminum, plastics, etc..


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As I said earlier, I see some dull spots, so I'll do one more round of polishing tomorrow. Overall it looks OK.
The point of going into this much detail on making this part was that with some skill, patience, and knowledge this kind of work can be done with some basic hand tools. It would have been much faster and easier if it was done with an Ewheel and planishing hammer, but they're not required. With either method you need to know where to stretch, where to shrink, and where to just bend or manipulate the metal. It's the same process in either method.


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Last edited by Jack 1957; 01-05-2022 at 12:02 AM.
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  #1858  
Old 01-05-2022, 11:09 PM
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I finished up this stone guard and got it mounted to the skirt. I'm just not feeling it. I'm not sure what I don't like about it, but usually when I make something and see it in place, I know right away that it's right. Exactly what I wanted. I'm not getting that here. I don't think I'm going to use these. I'll keep the rocker moldings, but the stone guards didn't make the cut.
I'm in the process of making the rocker molding for the right side now. In a couple days when that's done and mounted I'll take another look at the stone guard, but I think the decision is already made.


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  #1859  
Old 01-05-2022, 11:59 PM
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I agree with your assessment. The stone guard in my eyes is too small.
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  #1860  
Old 01-06-2022, 04:10 AM
steve.murphy steve.murphy is offline
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Being so low on a low car, it would be nearly invisible if it was painted black and might help protect the paint in front of the tire if you decide to go with it Jack.
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