DIY body panel stamping...... Possible? (6 Viewers)

[Ambrew]

In the beginnings of taking appart my 45, and the ocd is kicking in. Thing is, no one makes the correct floor panel with the square embossments for the 45. I could just bite the bullet and get panels with the round indents, but would rather not.

So, the questions are:
How much press do I need to stamp 16 gauge? (one embossment at a time)
Is this even feasible for a diy?
If anyone has a lead/info on making dies at home (tech requirements, tolerances, hardness etc) it would be appreciated.

I fully realise this is a trade onto itself, and will take a lot of time/resources to even get one floor panel right.

I promise i will make a build thread as soon as I can find it a clever name......


Andy

 

[steffan]

if I remember correctly, there have been a few on here that have done that at home with simple, easily accessible equipment. it was slow and a lot of work but the results looked great

 

[pb4ugo]

Search maybe your friend. There are old threads in this section and i think in the body and paint section on this subject. Folks made dies out of wood and other stuff using a press or air hammers along with other creative tools.

 

[charliemeyer007]

Several good vids on youtube for metal forming with just home type tooling.

 

[thatcabledude]

There’s a fair amount of metal forming with hand tools in this thread for inspiration:

Thread '4 door Fj45 on 80 series chassis'

Jul 11, 2021

Hello,
About 12 years ago, i purchased this 78 Fj45 for a bit less than 150 bucks. It looked sad where it was dumped and i kept passing by it with my wife and one day she said :" why don't you just take it home instead of wasting time and gas passing by it twice a day ? "
Need i say that those were the words i wanted to hear...lol. See, i am a bit of a old car passionate and i built a few hotrods...... the first thing i ever built is a 1978 fj40 .... nothing extreme bit it got me addicted to buildimg s*** , so now i own everything from that first fj40 , to a 66 Bronco, a69 Mustang, a...

• Blackknight1
• Replies: 683
• Forum: HardCore Corner

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[anothernz45]

Yes, it's pretty simple and works well. I used a 15 ton press and made dies out of 2 x 1/4inch flat. If this is what you're wanting to do I'll see if I can post pics of the dies. Pretty sure I used 18ga, 1.2mm.

 

[Ambrew]

Yes, it's pretty simple and works well. I used a 15 ton press and made dies out of 2 x 1/4inch flat. If this is what you're wanting to do I'll see if I can post pics of the dies. Pretty sure I used 18ga, 1.2mm.

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This! Exactly this! Yes I did search, and my youtube is full of bodywork videos. I will keep at the rabbit hole...!!!!

 

[red66toy]

Look up oldmatesawyer on Instagram. Man is an artist with metal and busting out FJ45 beds in his shop, in addition to every other panel imaginable.

https://www.instagram.com/oldmatesawyer?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

 

[bcsteel]

Check out “make it custom” on youtube he does some amazing work.

 

[anothernz45]

Yes, it's pretty simple and works well. I used a 15 ton press and made dies out of 2 x 1/4inch flat. If this is what you're wanting to do I'll see if I can post pics of the dies. Pretty sure I used 18ga, 1.2mm.

View attachment 3976370

View attachment 3976371

Here's pics of the dies, I bonded the flat shapes to the 3/4inch plates they're sitting on with mastic and aligned them by eye. Using 18ga you want 5mm gap down long sides and 10mm at each end - radius and smooth the corners well. I just tapped the blanking plate into the female die and shortened the male for the short pressing - I stuffed up here and misaligned the dies slightly which made a good louvre punch - you can see the weld along one end. Flat bar was 50x5 mm for the female, 40x5 male.

 

[Greek Cruiserhead]

Look up oldmatesawyer on Instagram. Man is an artist with metal and busting out FJ45 beds in his shop, in addition to every other panel imaginable.

https://www.instagram.com/oldmatesawyer?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

This guy, Rob Sawyer, is incredible! Is he in the Mud?

 

[Ambrew]

Thanks for the pics of the dies and the info on the press capacity. I guess the next step is trial and error!

This guy, Rob Sawyer, is incredible! Is he in the Mud?

Sawyer metal craft in Melbourne. Havent seen him here, only on facebook. Really nice work!

 

[Ambrew]

Here's pics of the dies, I bonded the flat shapes to the 3/4inch plates they're sitting on with mastic and aligned them by eye. Using 18ga you want 5mm gap down long sides and 10mm at each end - radius and smooth the corners well. I just tapped the blanking plate into the female die and shortened the male for the short pressing - I stuffed up here and misaligned the dies slightly which made a good louvre punch - you can see the weld along one end. Flat bar was 50x5 mm for the female, 40x5 male.

View attachment 3976587

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View attachment 3976589

Thanks for the pictures and press capacity info. Gives me enough info to get going!

 

[rlong]

Search maybe your friend.

The “Search” function on Mud isn’t always a good freind. They keep secrets and give evasive answers sometimes! : ). Learn to use Google and the “site:” operator to direct your search to the mud website, it is much “friendlier”.