Chopped 55 F100

Nothing new to show here but I had the doors open on the garage and thought I would take a couple of pictures. This is my favorite view of the truck hands down.

After not being able to find exhaust clamps that fit 3.5" tubing, I ordered a rotary table then built my own (man I wish I would have gotten this mill a long time ago). I made this first one start to finish as a learning piece. Then I hammered out four more that are ready for drilling and tapping then sanding and polishing.











Sectioned in two prior to sanding and polishing.


After sanding and polishing.






Also, the male cutter piece to my louver die has finally been machined. I will pick it up tomorrow and hopefully get both cutters in for heat treat this week.

Nice Work...

First I have a question. Do you get your polished aluminum pieces anodized tom prevent later oxidizing? If so where do you get it done???

Yep, the rotary table is a great addition to a mill. I bought one at a surplus equipment place about four years ago that weighs about 75 pounds and is a bear to handle but for $75.00 bucks it was well worth it. I have considered rigging up some kind of power feed on it to make the rotation run at a constant speed. I need to find an angle vice for the mill next.

Later Man...



Darkside Dave

As far as coating polished aluminum in the past I have used regular automotive clear and Eastwood's aluminum wheel clear. I have heard clear powder coating holds up real well and can withstand more heat then regular clear. Before I top coat the stack clamps with anything I am going to start the motor and see how hot they get.

I got the male cutter for the louver die and it looks pretty dang good (amazing how a little piece of metal can get me exited). I am taking the cutters in for heat treat tomorrow and they said it will only be 1-2 days. Hopefully, I will get the sheet metal ordered tomorrow also so I can get it marked out and ready for pressing ASAP.

The idea of pressing louvers on the tonneau cover has been floating around in my head for over 9 yrs (when I first drew up the bed design with louvers for my dad while I was slacking off in one of my college classes). I don't think my dad ever really thought we would pull them (or the bed) off. One of the first things he said was no way, I want to get this thing done and drive it some day (so I bought all the metal for the bed for his birthday and this is when the project really took off). So needless to say I HOPE LIKE HELL THIS WORKS.

Well after a couple hours of set up and a bunch of trial and error, it works. The dies punch louvers out flawlessly. Now if only the operators could do the same. We got through the first ~65 louvers no problem then finished the last 20 louvers not knowing we had a problem until we got closer to the end of the sheet. In the last 20 louvers the sheet started drifting so the louvers were not running parallel with the edge of the sheet (off about ~.006" per louver). You couldn't see a problem with the naked eye but once a louver was punched close to the square end of the sheet you could tell it was a little over 1/8" off. Obviously it gets hard to control a sheet that has less than 1' sticking out of the front and about 7' floating around in the back of the tool

Here are some pictures early on in pressing. The 1st on you can see the 200 ton 12' press brake.







Can kind of see the louvers from the bottom side.



I planned to take a picture of the completed 85 louver sheet to post (because it looked amazing even if it was not perfect), however, when the owner of the shop found out that I was not going to use the sheet for my project, he asked if he could have it and he would not charge me for the half day of work we spent making it (so I gave it to him prior to taking a picture).

Hopefully next weekend I will get to try again but this time I plan to not be so careless and hopefully it will come out flawless.

Regardless, I feel good about how the dies performed and had a good time.

Cool Man !!!
Until I saw you post I hadnot considered the size press you would need for that job. Did it really have to be that big or was that what was available?

BTW, on another subject, machining aluminum, a good machinist friend of mine turned me onto something interesting. He said he has been very successful at using 1/2" shank Carbide router bits to machine aluminum on his Bridgeport mill. I had a few and tried it. It works. The point is that they are cheap and you can get about any style and shape you want from Grizzly.

Later Man...



Darkside Dave

Darkside Dave wrote:
Cool Man !!!
Until I saw you post I hadnot considered the size press you would need for that job. Did it really have to be that big or was that what was available?

BTW, on another subject, machining aluminum, a good machinist friend of mine turned me onto something interesting. He said he has been very successful at using 1/2" shank Carbide router bits to machine aluminum on his Bridgeport mill. I had a few and tried it. It works. The point is that they are cheap and you can get about any style and shape you want from Grizzly.

Later Man...



Darkside Dave

I definitely did not need a press this big. For 18 gauge steel it take 1.8 tons per inch of shear, so about 22 tons to press my 12" louvers. A 22 ton press is easy to come by but one that can accept a 4-5' wide sheet with precision placement of the dies is not. The smallest precision press brake I have seen is a 6' wide 50 or 100 ton press. Prior to locating this monster press I was seriously considering building my own press to get the job done (glad I found one to use instead).

As for using router bits on aluminum I hadn't thought of that. I will definitely dream up a couple of uses for them. Thanks for the idea.

If I remember correctly, you use a mist type coolant. I can't say if that will work well with the aluminum and the router bits as I use liquid coolant. However, that may not be a concern as you have used the mist system to machine aluminum. As for building a press, I think you are better off doing it the way you did. A one time use would probably nor justify building one.




Darkside Dave

True Mom and Pop shop. The first picture shows me the owner of the shop and his wife pressing louvers (great people). There are 85 louvers each spaced 1" apart. All the other pictures show the sheet setting on the truck.

I'm guessing the nerve racking part is bending it down over the back and hoping something doesn't bow or kink.


Darkside Dave

3 months later and no progress on the truck. I feel bad for not posting so I will post what I have been doing. I decided to stop working on the truck to finish my shop. I was in the process of building the shop when my dad passed away, then I lost all ambition on the shop and decided to finish this chopped 55 for him. Originally I planned to use my dads shop to paint the truck but after thinking through the project I decided the number of trips I would have to take to his shop that is 2.5hrs away was just too much. In the last 3 months I have completed the wiring, insulation, siding, hanging drywall, ran water/power and started mud and taping (also put in curbing and sod between my house and shop). The shop is 44' wide x 32' deep x 11.5' ceiling it has 2 10x10' and 1 10x12' overhead doors. I framed a 15x26' semi down draft paint booth in one of the bays. Other than that, I picked up a Logan 11x36 Powermatic lathe that I am just starting to play with. Definitely anxious to start working on the truck again.

Hey Man...

I too have not done a damn thing for three months. I just haven't been in the mood I guess. However, I'm starting to get the itch. You'll get no criticism from me.

Later Man...





Darkside Dave

I to have been busy with other peoples projects,So mine has been lacking also!!
I have been watching a few of the builds and this one is going quite well.
Thats the thing about this HOBBY we forget sometimes that it is, and when it becomes a job it is time to take a break!! I still have plans to have my 65 running by the end of september will see how it goes lol!!
Later Andrew

Finally worked on the truck for a day and it felt good. Yesterday would have been my dad's 56th birthday, so it just felt right to work on his truck. I picked up some 2.75" aluminum bar stock to make some new center caps for the wheels. This is what I came up with.







I still need to make the mounting plates for the back side and sand a polish them, but I think they fit the truck well.

I need to find 3-4 good days to work on my shop then it will be ready for paint. After paint i need to install the electrical fixtures, finalize the ventilation system on the paint booth, install the gas furnace and plumb the air lines. Never a dull moment.

Shop and paint booth are finally finished, truck moved out of the garage and into the shop and I am back working on it (this took much longer then I ever expected, but it is going to be nice).

Few pictures of the semi-downdraft paint booth:

Exhaust filters in front wall



Intake filters is rear ceiling



Recessed wall lights behind glass



24" Tube-axial exhaust fan



Outside of booth front wall, exhaust ducting/mixing bench



Front wall of work bays



Front wall of work bays



I then designed and built a metal roller to roll some angle iron for the paint booth ducting and the square tubing needed for the tonneau cover.





One of the completed rails for the tonneau cover



The original tonneau cover frame



Modified tonneau cover frame for louvers



Modified frame and louvered panel primed.





Tonneau cover panel tack welded in place. It rolled very smooth with no buckling at the louvers.





First paint job out of the booth. I built it for my daughter for Xmas and gave it a lace paint job (fabricated everything except the door).







2nd paint job 2 days later (7 degrees outside and no issues keeping the booth warm). Shell for my truck.





Sorry for the long post, but I think I am all caught up now and will try to post more regularly. Also, did'nt want anyone to think I have just been slacking off.

To see the latest progress on the truck click on the following link.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=183844