Rockable
Well-known member
Not a Nomad.
MP&C Shop Projects
- Thread starter MP&C
- Start date
larry4406
Well-known member
. My Chevy knowledge is limited. I’m a Mopar 71-72 Cuda guy. 
Robert was kind enough to give a shop tour to my son and I last year …it is a work of art, the paint alone was amazing.
bowtiguy
Well-known member
Thats why cars done right cost so much, you have to build them twice to get them right.
stinkity stoink
Well-known member
i Keep saying it ,but the details on the car are incredible!! The paint looks absolutely perfect!!
More console work, time to fabricate the hemmed surround for the insert. In order for the surround to be seamless, we need to do some welding.
For our corners we relieve the flange and trim the back side to about half the hem width. This gives us less material in the tucks for shrinking in the corners.
We cut a fake insert out of 18 gauge CRS with rounded corners to use as a hammer form, gives us something to hammer against when we heat up the corners.
Everything's a tool, and when the PVC pipe is the only thing in the shop that matches our needed radius, it's what we use for a radius bender.
To prevent our hem from closing during the radius forming, some 18 gauge strips were placed in the hem.
Press studs used to attach to the console and will be hidden underneath the center panel.
Insert cut out to match our poster board sample, then it gets 800 grit, then 1000 through 5000 foam pads, then buffed..
Then we cover it with frisk film to protect our buffed surface.
Test fit...
Installing the surround to the filler panel
Still have to touch up some areas with the buffer (heat from tacking the press studs) but here's the test fit.
For our corners we relieve the flange and trim the back side to about half the hem width. This gives us less material in the tucks for shrinking in the corners.
We cut a fake insert out of 18 gauge CRS with rounded corners to use as a hammer form, gives us something to hammer against when we heat up the corners.
Everything's a tool, and when the PVC pipe is the only thing in the shop that matches our needed radius, it's what we use for a radius bender.
To prevent our hem from closing during the radius forming, some 18 gauge strips were placed in the hem.
Press studs used to attach to the console and will be hidden underneath the center panel.
Insert cut out to match our poster board sample, then it gets 800 grit, then 1000 through 5000 foam pads, then buffed..
Then we cover it with frisk film to protect our buffed surface.
Test fit...
Installing the surround to the filler panel
Still have to touch up some areas with the buffer (heat from tacking the press studs) but here's the test fit.
steves_001
Well-known member
As always, amazing work! You make that stuff look so easy.
steves_001
Well-known member
The hammers are “wall art” grade. Again you’ve outdone yourself!
Modified another couple hammers with the ball ends, the first going to my buddy Rock Able in NC. I was fresh out of the crowned face BF618’s so he suggested I make one. This is a BF603 flat face that was modified in the lathe. The crown matches pretty good to my shorty 618. The 603 had a script logo that I’ve never seen on their body hammers before, must be from shortly after the Blue Point name was phased out ??
Next was a Blue Point BF611, we added a fresh Hickory handle with lots of character, almost tempted to keep this one.
Next was a Blue Point BF611, we added a fresh Hickory handle with lots of character, almost tempted to keep this one.
Ohmthis
Well-known member
Very nice Robert!
steves_001
Well-known member
When you use these hammers how often do you have to repolish them? Probably depends on the use but just curious in a general time frame.
Next step for the console, we need to cut some holes for the shifter. Using the Chevelle style horseshoe shifter, we don't have the factory style brush seals or trim bezel for the center plexi indicator. So lets see what we can come up with first to seal the shifters side arms. I didn't have any brush stock left over from the splice trailer, and window felt wasn't thick enough. But I did have some bulb seal that looked promising. To make a surround to hold the bulb seal, we used a folded piece of 16 gauge stainless, and put an offset to hide as much of the edge trim that holds the seal as possible.
To close off the ends, we used the linear stretch dies in the Lennox...
After welding the one end in place, the console was mocked up to get the overall length needed on the shifter seal.
The top flanges will be trimmed to the same width as our polished stainless edge trim surround on the console insert. This one will be used for the passenger side arm, the drivers side will have a wider flange toward the driver to accommodate the shift selector position marking.
To close off the ends, we used the linear stretch dies in the Lennox...
After welding the one end in place, the console was mocked up to get the overall length needed on the shifter seal.
The top flanges will be trimmed to the same width as our polished stainless edge trim surround on the console insert. This one will be used for the passenger side arm, the drivers side will have a wider flange toward the driver to accommodate the shift selector position marking.
John, Snap-On’s are what I had mostly for quite a while, mainly because when I was younger and nothing else to spend money on, there was this big white truck that stopped by once a week. But there are many brands that are very good hammers, Proto, Plumb, Porter Ferguson, Herbrand, Vulcan, Fairmount, Bonney, Craftsman, Streamline, etc, etc. Herbrand is about the only one that had a true ball end hammer, and they go for a pretty penny when they come available. So I started making those SO ball ends to kind of fill the need a bit. I’ve done a good dozen or so ball end hammers so far.
Got some new help (Paul) in the shop, since Jared is becoming a more full-time student pursuing his Mech Eng degree. Paul visited a local garage sale last weekend and came across a MAC tools body hammer for $2. Egad, it's pointed!!
So it was the perfect candidate for a ball-end. We added a slight crown to the face as well, a good start to his body hammer collection...
So it was the perfect candidate for a ball-end. We added a slight crown to the face as well, a good start to his body hammer collection...
pancholasvegas
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 6, 2017
- Messages
- 248
Your hammers are so cool. Superb skills and fortunate to that you’re willing to share with the group. Quick question - Do you do anything post-welding/grinding on the hammers in terms of hardening or quenching?
For the polishing only, nothing. For the ball end hammers, I do partial welds (split circumferential weld into four parts) where color doesn’t go much past blue. At last weld it gets quenched in transmission fluid. For other hammers such as the BF633 conversion, I had some red heated action going on to reshape the BF617, so that was dropped off at a local machine shop for heat treat.
This is another commission I finished today, the modification of a Fairmount No. 155 to get rid of the barrel end and add a truly crowned face. I’ve been told these hammers were good for bumping open fenders of the 30’s and 40’s and similar, but with the fairly straight barrel end, they had to leave coining marks on the ends. So this is an attempt to correct that where this hammer would perform better in that function without leave erroneous marks. The old hammer end is cut off with a 4-1/2” cutoff wheel, and a new hammer face turned out of some tool steel.
Root pass
Weld dressed
Polished, painted, handle stained
All ready to bump some fenders.
Root pass
Weld dressed
Polished, painted, handle stained
All ready to bump some fenders.
stinkity stoink
Well-known member
I never thought I would be lusting after hammers so much. 
RedRambler
Active member
- Joined
- Apr 19, 2024
- Messages
- 34
lol, for sure good advertisement. And then there was one..
What is the process you use for polishing your hammer heads? I can assume you use an abrasive such as sand paper to remove the marks and step up to finer grits with each progression. Is your final step a buffing wheel? I have a martin body hammer that could use some of that love. I normally use a roloc 120 grit on my 90 degree air die grinder to clean it up, but for fun, would like to make it shine at least once in its life.
What is the process you use for polishing your hammer heads? I can assume you use an abrasive such as sand paper to remove the marks and step up to finer grits with each progression. Is your final step a buffing wheel? I have a martin body hammer that could use some of that love. I normally use a roloc 120 grit on my 90 degree air die grinder to clean it up, but for fun, would like to make it shine at least once in its life.
WoodsTruck
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jan 12, 2013
- Messages
- 1,019
I was waiting for the stunt double hammer to kick in at the end and take out some frustration on an anvil or something.I think this is probably the best advertisement I could possibly get.
If the gouges aren’t too hateful sometimes you can get by with using roloc scotchbrite discs, brown, red, then blue. For a final a worn out blue polishes up pretty good. I’ve been using Sunmight film discs, 400, 800, 1500 then Polish on buffer. All depends on how polished you want them.
bowtiguy
Well-known member
Wasn't there a wagon being built somewhere in this thread???
PugetDude
ALLIANCE MEMBER
There was... then.... Hammer Time!
RedRambler
Active member
- Joined
- Apr 19, 2024
- Messages
- 34
Thanks much. I will look into the sunmight film discs. Look like a neat setup since it uses Velcro. It’s normally a pain getting the 3M sanding discs off my DA if they set for very long after use. I follow a lot of your work over on the 67-72chevy trucks forum. Always impressed. I have made a few Dollie’s and polished them out but not to the mirror finish you have accomplished.
We had ordered a 4 position switch for the power windows in the wagon, with plans to install in the console. Not knowing the origin of the part when it showed up, I thought some due diligence was in order and broke out the multimeter to test all the switch positions for connectivity. Wouldn't you know, one of the end switches had no contact in one position. Further investigation showed that the spring contact board was held in place with four tabs from the factory, except we only had three, which allowed the board/switch to lose contact. I sent the next picture of the damaged part (pointing to the damage with a white wire) in a message to the eBay seller who immediately questioned my abilities with a multimeter and assured me it functioned exactly as it should.
So for a more direct approach, I assured them I knew how to operate a multimeter, and perhaps they should look at the attached picture this time. To help eliminate any interpretation errors, I had doctored the original rear view picture to make things more obvious since they missed the visual cues the first time....
Oh, that. We'll send out a new switch. Thank you..
So with the console on hold to make sure we didn't have to use a different style switch (in case their whole batch was bad) we turned our attention to the tailgate, and started the fit up of the Mad Mooks polished stainless border trim. https://madmooks.com/ To preface, I will say the Mad Mooks parts are some of the nicest fit and finish parts you'll find ANYWHERE to trim out your Tri-five Chevy, as well as parts for other GM vehicles. Only the corner pieces didn't fit our tailgate. It appears that when yours truly did the rust repairs of the tailgate (before repop's were available) the replacement patches weren't exactly spot on. So yes, this is my F-up..
We had also ordered some stainless strips for the voids in the tailgate from McMillan Rod and Custom and wanted to retain the stainless border to use with these parts.
We had some 19 gauge stainless in stock, so let's give this a go. First order is to make sure we can duplicate the dimpled hole for the countersunk screws...
Next, the folded (side) flange on the trim piece is a consistent width and will need to be real accurate. So we opted for a hammer form to match the shape, used a tipping die to thin the bend location (to tell the metal where to bend) and a backstop on the Lennox to set the flange height. A paper pattern was used to capture the tailgate outline.
After the flange had been folded, the top part of the hammer form is set aside and the bottom section used to hold the part for polishing. We'll get it polished, trim the width and punch dimple holes, and then do a final polish.
Test fit looks much better to match our one-off tailgate.
So for a more direct approach, I assured them I knew how to operate a multimeter, and perhaps they should look at the attached picture this time. To help eliminate any interpretation errors, I had doctored the original rear view picture to make things more obvious since they missed the visual cues the first time....
Oh, that. We'll send out a new switch. Thank you..
So with the console on hold to make sure we didn't have to use a different style switch (in case their whole batch was bad) we turned our attention to the tailgate, and started the fit up of the Mad Mooks polished stainless border trim. https://madmooks.com/ To preface, I will say the Mad Mooks parts are some of the nicest fit and finish parts you'll find ANYWHERE to trim out your Tri-five Chevy, as well as parts for other GM vehicles. Only the corner pieces didn't fit our tailgate. It appears that when yours truly did the rust repairs of the tailgate (before repop's were available) the replacement patches weren't exactly spot on. So yes, this is my F-up..
We had also ordered some stainless strips for the voids in the tailgate from McMillan Rod and Custom and wanted to retain the stainless border to use with these parts.
We had some 19 gauge stainless in stock, so let's give this a go. First order is to make sure we can duplicate the dimpled hole for the countersunk screws...
Next, the folded (side) flange on the trim piece is a consistent width and will need to be real accurate. So we opted for a hammer form to match the shape, used a tipping die to thin the bend location (to tell the metal where to bend) and a backstop on the Lennox to set the flange height. A paper pattern was used to capture the tailgate outline.
After the flange had been folded, the top part of the hammer form is set aside and the bottom section used to hold the part for polishing. We'll get it polished, trim the width and punch dimple holes, and then do a final polish.
Test fit looks much better to match our one-off tailgate.
larry4406
Well-known member
Looks like you should have just made them to begin with!We had ordered a 4 position switch for the power windows in the wagon, with plans to install in the console. Not knowing the origin of the part when it showed up, I thought some due diligence was in order and broke out the multimeter to test all the switch positions for connectivity. Wouldn't you know, one of the end switches had no contact in one position. Further investigation showed that the spring contact board was held in place with four tabs from the factory, except we only had three, which allowed the board/switch to lose contact. I sent the next picture of the damaged part (pointing to the damage with a white wire) in a message to the eBay seller who immediately questioned my abilities with a multimeter and assured me it functioned exactly as it should.
So for a more direct approach, I assured them I knew how to operate a multimeter, and perhaps they should look at the attached picture this time. To help eliminate any interpretation errors, I had doctored the original rear view picture to make things more obvious since they missed the visual cues the first time....
Oh, that. We'll send out a new switch. Thank you..
So with the console on hold to make sure we didn't have to use a different style switch (in case their whole batch was bad) we turned our attention to the tailgate, and started the fit up of the Mad Mooks polished stainless border trim. https://madmooks.com/ To preface, I will say the Mad Mooks parts are some of the nicest fit and finish parts you'll find ANYWHERE to trim out your Tri-five Chevy, as well as parts for other GM vehicles. Only the corner pieces didn't fit our tailgate. It appears that when yours truly did the rust repairs of the tailgate (before repop's were available) the replacement patches weren't exactly spot on. So yes, this is my F-up..
We had also ordered some stainless strips for the voids in the tailgate from McMillan Rod and Custom and wanted to retain the stainless border to use with these parts.
We had some 19 gauge stainless in stock, so let's give this a go. First order is to make sure we can duplicate the dimpled hole for the countersunk screws...
Next, the folded (side) flange on the trim piece is a consistent width and will need to be real accurate. So we opted for a hammer form to match the shape, used a tipping die to thin the bend location (to tell the metal where to bend) and a backstop on the Lennox to set the flange height. A paper pattern was used to capture the tailgate outline.
After the flange had been folded, the top part of the hammer form is set aside and the bottom section used to hold the part for polishing. We'll get it polished, trim the width and punch dimple holes, and then do a final polish.
Test fit looks much better to match our one-off tailgate.
Excellent work as always.
txvwnut
Well-known member
If you hadn't told us you made that piece we'd never know.
Rockable
Well-known member
It was "made to go there"! 
PugetDude
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Literally!It was "made to go there"!