MP&C Shop Projects

[MP&C]

Had a busy weekend but didn't get anything done.

Saturday I went to the 15th annual Jalopyrama, this year it was held at the Talbot County Community Center in Easton, MD. I didn't get many pictures this year as there are far too many people taking pictures with much better cameras than I had (iPhone). This year's theme was a focus on vintage race cars, and the indoor arena was filled with dragsters, gassers, etc, as well as some of the nicest hot rods to be found on the East Coast. I did get a shot of my buddy Dirty Dave's gasser, which is basically his daily driver. Odd to see it indoors as much as he drives the wheels off it! haha..

Next to it was the "Hamb Special", a vintage pickup classed race truck built for Bonneville, making it's debut on the salt last year. Owned by John Mullen of Lanexa VA, built by John and many of the members of the VA Hamb. My buddy Dave Russell gets the piloting duties on the salt, and we caught up at the show and talked shop.

It has a 262 Ford 6 cylinder, but caught the attention of many of the racer's inside the building when it was being brought in. That idle didn't sound much like any 6 cylinder I've heard:

….and I did get a picture for Joe Unger. This truck would look awesome in front of his Sinclair station in Perry..

Sunday was another car show, this one a bit more local for me, put on in downtown Leonardtown by the St. Mary's Rod and Classic Car Club to benefit Hospice and many other charitable organizations.


We set up in front of John's shop, along with his Biederman truck, and a couple tables of our fabrications. Got a bit too much Sun, but really enjoyed getting out and talking to everyone about their projects.

Last night was repair time for a dirt car. We had a severe fold/wrinkle to remove to get ready for next weekend, and with little in the means to "pull", we resorted to some MacGyver action on some Vise Grips...

That should hold it for this weekend.

 

[shortykorte]

Wow the creative use of tools keeps on coming. Was there anything slippage with that style plier?
The wrecker would definitely be at home in Perry.


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[MP&C]

I tend to tighten Vise grips where it’s difficult to remove them. Given that, there was no slippage

 

[Boosted1]

Good idea on the dirt car panel. I may have to try that.

 

[Strouty]

I tend to tighten Vise grips where it’s difficult to remove them. Given that, there was no slippage

So basically, they turn into mouse traps for your fingers, or you have the new guy undo them.

We use vise grips on towers when installing bracing with only one hole, you pound a pin to line the hole up, then put one, and sometimes two, vise grips on the tabs so you can remove the pin and install the bolt. Hopefully you tightened it enough so the friction holds it. When those pop you better be quick to grab them, the floor isn't so close.

 

[xtremek]

Always fascinating to see what you come up with for solutions.

 

[joe49]

So basically, they turn into mouse traps for your fingers, or you have the new guy undo them.

We use vise grips on towers when installing bracing with only one hole, you pound a pin to line the hole up, then put one, and sometimes two, vise grips on the tabs so you can remove the pin and install the bolt. Hopefully you tightened it enough so the friction holds it. When those pop you better be quick to grab them, the floor isn't so close.

I use rings on my vice grips adjusting screws and tie them off when the floor is to far down to reach.

 

[MP&C]

So last weekend I went to Ron Yeager's shop in Kingsville, MD for a metalshaping workshop. Reconnected with some old friends and made some new ones.. Thanks to Ron for opening his shop so we could all learn some new tricks and methods..

Today I got another speaker trim ring put together.....this one for the sub in the cargo area of the wagon. We planned on a recessed crest in the stainless mesh, so the mesh was aligned in our aluminum plates and pressed in the Diacro press brake using flattening dies.

Video Version....

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[larry4406]

Excellent execution and attention to detail with the emblem!

 

[xtremek]

Wow!!!

 

[BORING HOP YARD]

Wow! very nice work!

 

[shortykorte]

Very nice eye candy.


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[Redwolf947]

That looks ******** unbelievable.. Great job!!

 

[Keyblazer]

Like it a LOT!

 

[MP&C]

Thanks for all the comments guys!



Spent last night getting an assembly line going to get the rest of the speaker grills assembled. Just say no to plastic speaker grills!

 

[mharmon]

I'm not an audiophile but if it were my car I probably would've spaced the speakers out a little better.

 

[MP&C]

But you should hear it from here....

 

[shortykorte]

But you should hear it from here....

Orchestra


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[xtremek]

I'm not an audiophile but if it were my car I probably would've spaced the speakers out a little better.

Of all of the tens of thousands of comedians out of work, look who they send us.

 

[Keyblazer]

Ignore him, and his brother Kardon...

 

[MP&C]

Well it's been rather hectic around the home front as E is nearing graduation. Seems like yesterday she was showing me how to properly wet sand bare foot..

For shop activity, Mike has been working on a sign for a "Drummer's Lounge", since we had the wire edging tool already made up for the Biederman, he used that to give the outside bands of the arrow the beaded look...

CAD drawing:

Parts is parts:

Video:

Meanwhile, I've been block sanding, and priming.... here the rear kick panels are now ready for upholstery...

I did break out the Meco torch again the other day to get the dust off....

This first coupon shows how Peter Tommasini teaches tacking in gas welding. Tack a spot, then the next is placed where the HAZ (blue ring) touches the seam between the halves. And repeat. Note how this method leaves an almost perfect HAZ for minimal distortion..

And we had a blowout. Don't stop, keep going and come back to it.. This is fusion welded, no filler, front side shown first, then back side

Stephen has been mocking up the power windows in the front doors so we can side step all the components and find a good location for our speakers. No pictures yet, I'll get some this week...

 

[Ohmthis]

Congratulations on your daughter graduating and starting a new chapter! I always think of her as the power for the bead roller

 

[gofastwclass]

Graduate?! Has it been that long? Wow. Congrats.

Nice sign.

Excellent work with the Meco torch Robert. Would that technique work with a TIG? Looks like it would if the fit was right.

 

[MP&C]

Thanks guys. The Meco is more forgiving with slight gaps that the TIG would have blown into a hole... as well as more tolerant of dirt.



This Saturday (June 8th) is the date for the St. Mary's County Crab Festival, sponsored by the Leonardtown Lions club. This is one of their main fundraisers for all the charitable contributions they make throughout the year. This includes Lions Camp Merrick, which offers summer camp programs to deaf and vision impaired children and adults, and children with diabetes. I can affirm first hand that the summer program my daughter attended was instrumental in helping her to achieve her independence in managing her Type 1 Diabetes.

For anyone with an open schedule for this Saturday, this makes a fun outing for the family, we have a car show, tractor pull, live music, as well as crab picking contests to challenge your skills. Please come out and support this very worthy cause.

https://lionscampmerrick.org/about/

https://www.facebook.com/126961264018190/photos/a.387921917922122/2196950457019250/?type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/Leonardtown-Lions-Club-126961264018190/

 

[gofastwclass]

I didn't think of it from that angle. You're making more compelling reasons I need to buy one of those torches.

Sounds like a good fund raiser.

 

[MP&C]

We had issue fitting the round speakers into the square holes in the door, so we used some 18 ga CRS to form some rings, the seam was gas welded.

Then some flanges were tipped to form an adapter ring.. Stephen's first time using the Lennox..

These will get welded into place...

John is tying up the loose ends on the Biederman, the running board skirts were installed the other night.....

The dump body has been painted and he expects to get that installed tomorrow evening.

He will get it loaded up next week for the trip to Macungie PA for the truck show next weekend.

 

[Bears Fan]

These panels are awesome! Great job

I really like the sign and can't wait to see it finished, very creative! I was wondering if you had posted something on how you done the edge rolling on the sign. Love the idea

 

[MP&C]

Thanks, the wire edging for the arrows is the same process as we used on the hood sides for the Biederman truck. Find that on this page....

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=182565&page=136

 

[MP&C]

Had some questions about how the rings were formed, here's additional info. The outer ring is started on the Fasti-werks bead roller using the tipping die and the lower die we made last week.

Once it started to resist the tipping (needs stretching of the flange) we changed to using the linear stretch dies in the Lennox TE250

Originally we were looking at using the area below the power window motor, but in order to clear the power connector it would be too close to the bottom of the door...

With not much else for room in the door, we opted to open a hole at the rear area of the inner hinge brace.

With space above for the tweeter, this will closely mimic what we have in the rear kick panels..

The rings will get TIG welded in place, but before that we'll add a bit of structure back in the hinge brace.

 

[MP&C]

John has the Biederman loaded up and is headed up to Macungie PA today for the truck show this weekend.

This is the "tow" vehicle with Ian Watson, who is visiting from Melbourne Australia.

Anyone going to the Macungie show this weekend, stop by and check out the Biederman, a pretty rare truck..

 

[jjeffries]

I look forward to anything and everything you post here. Just 100% Real American Wholesome Goodness. Thanks for taking the time wnd effort to share you world with us. John/CT

 

[HOTFR8]

These Aussies do get around. Great looking set up with the tow rig.

 

[MP&C]

Simon, I figured you knew Ian, he is regional VP with ATHS in Melbourne.

 

[HOTFR8]

Simon, I figured you knew Ian, he is regional VP with ATHS in Melbourne.

I do not know him personally but he has been to a few events I have been to.

 

[MP&C]

Mike is still plugging away on the Drummer's Lounge sign.

Saturday he started fabrication of the insert panels. One side will be plug welded in place, the other will be removeable to access the wiring for the flashing lights.


Tracing the first pattern onto some 19 ga crs, and adding mounting flanges.

The bend lines are run through the bead roller with a tipping die into the skate board wheel to better mark the bend location. Makes it easier to locate the upper press brake die as it will fall into the indent.

Since everything is a tool, and we needed to fold down a bit of metal in the inside corner, a piece of angle is chosen for it's inside radius match and a body hammer with a nice barrel roll on it does the trick...

Side #2....

While he was busy with that, I continued on our speaker mount modification to the doors. Since we had cut away at the hinge mounting structure, we needed to add strength back in that surrounded the speaker. We chose a cone shape over cylindrical as we thought that would have less chance of collapse under stress. Our pattern is cut out and transferred to some 14 gauge cold rolled, the same thickness as the hinge structure.

I forgot to get pictures of us rolling the cones, but basically as shown here with the pattern, the bend line was kept aligned with the vertex of the outer angle cuts, and slightly pressed, move and repeat, and continued until we have a good roll where the ends met up.

We plan on wire edge on the edge inside the square opening, so let's use gas welding for a more pliable weld area.

The cone is then trimmed to fit the structure profile...

Flange is left for our wire edging of the open area...

The flange is tipped on the bead roller and then used the linear stretch dies in the Lennox to both stretch and tip the flange over to flat.

Then we use this modified Craftsman punch to hammer over a rounded void for the 3/16 wire to lay in..

Then we have some modified vise grips that have a relief cut into the top so it won't slip off the wire when clamped.

The wires were left long so they could better tie into the hinge structure, here the VEE relief is where the wire will weld to that structure.

Tacked in place with the MIG, then TIG welded....

All cleaned up and then primed with some epoxy primer before we weld the speaker mounting ring in place.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Very impressive. I love your techniques for rolling sheetmetal over round stock.

 

[Crusarius]

Do you spray that primer on or brush? Does it come in a rattle can?

 

[MP&C]

Do you spray that primer on or brush? Does it come in a rattle can?

Robert doesn't do rattle can primer.

SPI epoxy was mixed up, allowed to incubate 30 minutes, and brushed on with disposable brushes. 3 coats, observing flash times just as if it were sprayed..

 

[Strouty]

Robert, how do you fit all these tools into your shop, I feel like I keep seeing more and tools and equipment. Do you have a TARDIS or something??

 

[MP&C]

The radius brake? It hangs off the front of the shear, so cheap real estate... see here:

But I have seen things go missing for days on end, only to reappear exactly where you've looked 10 times. We blame it on the resident ghost having a sense of humor..





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