Builds Blender, My LX450/FZJ80 + FJ45esk + GM + Land Rover crazy concoction

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Tonight's update....



I made the last big part for the drivers front fender. Overall I am really happy with how it turned out so far. Now I just need to glue it all together and dress all the visible welds down.



I was able to fold this forward 'bill' in one part using my homemade press brake with the laminated tooling. The 1/4" wide tools let me dial in the bend width. I am also make new tooling pretty easy if I have more crazy ideas in the future.

The part got root clearance holes at the corners. I saw cut the clearance for the multiple tabs to fold together.



Not the best shot, but I also have a laminated bottom die. This lets me run the part off the end so the next tab didn't get in the way.



Here is the top die reset to the correct width for the final bend. It was basically done to match the other two folds. The machine also has a way to have a bend stop, but I haven't got that dialed in completely yet. I just usually bend with a small test part to match the angle.



Fitting the 'bill' in place. Overall pretty happy! I will be able to weld a lot of the back seams also.



I do have to add one more little part here. It will just be a little triangle. I could have added it to the 4th part, the 'bill', but I just decided to weld it in later. I am going to pay with a few designs for that last triangle by changing the leg length on the grill side.....

Now to weld it all up, dress down the visible seams, and then start on the other side....
 
Much welding and sanding today...





I still have a few details to button up, but overall the fender is basically done. I am still on the fence on what to do with the rear open corner between the cowl, fender, and hood. I think I will just do a basic fill panel that is welded to the fender, but I don't know for sure....



Sometimes you have to get a little creative to make a 5th or 6th hand. I use this little jack bolts for a few things. They are handy to make out of coupling nuts.



Shot from the rear. You can see the area I need to fill still.



Before I sanded down the welds. I think I had about two hours on the TIG to get this all welded up. I did both sides of all the seams I could. Only the outside seams got sanded to give the seams some extra strength.
 
That looks amazing man. Love it.

Can you point me to details on your DIY finger press brake build? I think I'm at the point where having a press brake would really expand my capabilities, and building one seems to be the best way to get all of the features I want.
 
The front corner looks great, real clean looks like it belongs there
 
GLTHFJ60 said:
That looks amazing man. Love it.

Can you point me to details on your DIY finger press brake build? I think I'm at the point where having a press brake would really expand my capabilities, and building one seems to be the best way to get all of the features I want.
Click to expand...

I didn't keep the best records when I was building the press, it is experimental. Here you can see the basic concept...





It uses 2x 20 ton hydraulic jacks from HF to move the bottom die UP. The top truss is designed to be collapsed so the unit can roll under my welding table for storage. I can also preload the top truss to keep the bend straight over the full 60" width.

So far so good.
 
Bottom die up, nice. Preload of the top bar via the threaded rod in the center I assume? Is it more rigid having the bottom die press up than vice-versa?

Mind if I copy that design? :D
 
GLTHFJ60 said:
Bottom die up, nice. Preload of the top bar via the threaded rod in the center I assume? Is it more rigid having the bottom die press up than vice-versa?

Mind if I copy that design? :D
Click to expand...

Nope. Copy away.

The bottom up thing was for overall space and material savings. I built this machine with a 60 inch span so I could for 'jeep' sized stuff basically. Yes. The top die gets preloaded with the center screw in the truss. If you build one, I would use taller material for the top die. I got the 1x3 for free. 1x4-6 would be better and have less deflection.

This one should do about 48 inches of 1/8 material. 14 gauge at 60 inches. I have some tie bars planned to be able to do 36 inches of 3/16 for formed bumpers or winch mounts. Generally bend force has a lot to do with bottom die width more than top die stiffness. There is a default full width bottom die that is 3/4 wide, but that is only for sheetmetal stuff basically.

I should do a little walk around video for youtube or something. The more I think about it, the more details I remember....
 
If you could do a video, that would be immensely helpful. I'm going to work on a 3D model of this press design in sketchup to plan it out. I'd love to be able to bend maybe 24" of 1/4" mild steel for skid plate brackets. Assuming the 3D model comes out well, I'd be more than willing to share it.

Do your bottom dies get clamped in position or do they just rest in the channel?
 
GLTHFJ60 said:
If you could do a video, that would be immensely helpful. I'm going to work on a 3D model of this press design in sketchup to plan it out. I'd love to be able to bend maybe 24" of 1/4" mild steel for skid plate brackets. Assuming the 3D model comes out well, I'd be more than willing to share it.

Do your bottom dies get clamped in position or do they just rest in the channel?
Click to expand...

The laminated bottom die slots into a 3/4 slot on the base bottom die. The die laminations are held together by a 3/8-16 threaded rod. The group just rests in place.

The top die set is pinched in place so they don't fall out due to gravity.

I'll see if I can get a video together.
 
Daily progress....



Part 1 and 2 are now joined. Drilled out the mounting holes. Now the fender holds itself in place....

Now to finish off the 'bill' on the front corner....
 
Today....



....I cut a big piece out of my fender and make a little piece to go back in.

Shop tip....



Spend extra time building something to hold the part where you need for tack welding. In this case I was able to use a small piece of angle iron with one leg cut down slightly. That allowed me to have a perfect 90 angle between the two parts.
 
Welp, another project within a project wrapped up....



I was able to get the rough fab done on the passenger front fender done. It was really nice out today so I was able pop the door open. That let me take a look from more than a few feet away!



Close up of the drivers side.



Close up of the passenger side.
 
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Next mini-project.....fan shroud



I was able to transfer the rough outline of the fan to the chip board fin protector while it was in the vehicle.

The shroud is going to be 16 gauge steel I think. I have some of it laying around. It is a little overkill probably, but there really isn't going to be much material in this when it is all trimmed out.

Made the main ring of the shroud. I didn't have long enough material to make the full circumference, so I had to weld in another seam. Other than that it was pretty easy. I formed it around a round thing ( an igloo water cooler ), to get it close. Then welded up the last seam on both sides....

Last thing tonight was a few little angle brackets made for the top and bottom flange. I made these in my old press brake on the 20 ton HF press. These will have some weld nuts on the back to attach to the upper and lower flange on the radiator.

I should be able to hold the ring to the flanges with a cleco. Then I can double check the fit of the ring around the fan in the vehicle.

Once that is done I will make templates for the panels needed to close in the airflow to the core. Once I have those templates done, I will transfer them to metal and mark the ring for trimming. Then everything will get welded together.

I am also thinking about splitting the flange top to bottom with a set of angle flanges to allow taking it out in 2pc and/or access the fan clutch. Thoughts?
 
Think having rollers in your press brake would have made forming that round easier?

Splitting the shroud seems like a no-brainer to me. Makes changing belts and servicing the upper front half of the engine a lot easier.
 
GLTHFJ60 said:
Think having rollers in your press brake would have made forming that round easier?

Splitting the shroud seems like a no-brainer to me. Makes changing belts and servicing the upper front half of the engine a lot easier.
Click to expand...

I think to roll stuff you would have to have some way to power the rollers. It was only 16 gauge and a few inches wide. It was pretty easy to form by hand around a mandrel. Finding something about the eight diameter with springback was the hardest part. Air compressor tank was too big. I had some big pipe that was still too small, welding tank was too small. I ended up using an igloo water cooler. Worked fine.

I think splitting it is worth it. I wish there was enough room to pull the fan clutch off without pulling the radiator, but there just isn't that much length in the nose. Pulling the radiator from the top is easy and quick so far. The shroud will help that also.

Cheers. Thanks for the input. I get tired of talying to myself.
 
Good progress tonight...



I was able to drill the radiator core flange for the adapter brackets, rough fab the flanges I needed, weld in nuts, trim the circle/ring, and assemble it all for mockup.



I had to sand down the weld nuts a bit to fit them in the flange. They are the same 6mm units I have been using through the build. When I am done, I should be able to remove the entire radiator assembly with a single tool.



This is how the transitions from the square to round shape will work generally. I will start on this after I test fit the ring placement around the fan in the vehicle.

Sadly I have to stop for a week while I travel for work. Boo!
 
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