Getting hard into the panel reproduction game.
Bought a 20 ton press not long ago and have been thinking about how to reproduce these cab mounts/floor panels. It sure is nice to have the radio going and use my metal shear and press rather than endless grinders and hammering dulling my ears to the outside world.
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So we start with our rusted out, but largely in shape cab mount.
I picked it apart and took some measurements. Can gladly confirm the dimple die I made prior is a perfect match
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I pin some sheet metal between two ply bucks and use the die and about 6 ton of pressure to make the dimple.
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The metal ends up a bit stretched, but a few go rounds with a planishing hammer shrinks those down
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I can then check to see if I'm making the right depth
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I can then trim the floor panel to size (edges oversize for final fit, cab rear overhang and inner sill flange cut to size, overhang bent)
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I found that if I used a steel plate with a matching sized hole in it I could get a nicer crisp edge on the dimple, so I used that on the next piece and the floor piece at the same time to make sure the dimples are the same shape and depth. In the future I will press two panels at once.
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I also fitted a tubing offcut to punch out the bolt hole dead centre.
Learning for next time
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Nice fit between all the panels.
Luckily the passenger side was in better shape than the driver's, so I was able to get some good measurements and a better idea of the shape details. Like the kick in the upper strengthening plate at the B pillar.
So I marked and cut out the upper plate
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I opted to cut and weld to get the kick this time, I'm short on steel stock. It doesn't take much time but I could also make something to press it in.
I radiused the corner and welded the cab back corner and hammered in the raised bead (I will probably make a tool to press this in next time, it would be quite basic and take 30 seconds instead of 5 mins)
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And the panels fitted together
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