hi all anybody got any tips on making ally rear panel for standard ron book chassis
cheers
colin

Card template made from lining paper..
Cut Ali over size to this templates, allowing enough matarial to roll over the edges.
Fix pannel to back of chassis temporarily.
Bend around vertical sides.
Re-trim as required.
Use rubber hammer+mallet to SLOWLY bend
panel around tubes (this is final you will not get it off arfer!
Drill and rivet.

Take you time is the best advice, it's a lot of ali to waste..

Dan

Do all that Dan says, plus:

As you slowly shape the metal around the top corners (i.e. the hard bits) the metal will start to work-harden and get all springy. At this point you will have to anneal it - you find that you will be doing this a lot...

The back panel was the one bit of the bodywork that I didn't enjoy doing - it took 2 attempts...

As above really, did it when we built the car and again last year. We didn't anneal the ali but then again we didn't bend the corners all the way round.

More pictures on my website, page 24. HTH

<-- First attempt ended like my avatar



[Edited on 7/2/09 by RoadkillUK]

As the posts above.

Vertical radius.

When rolling or bending metal to a radius the hardest bit to get is the middle.
The ends tend to look after themselves.

I found it beneficial to clamp a length of wood down where the bend starts. (see pic)
This keeps the back nice and flat.

To bend, push mainly in the middle of the sheet.

I used 1.5mm thick so this might not be quite so relevant if using thinner sheet.


Hope this helps

Paul G
Rescued attachment vert-bend-s.jpg

thanks for your reply guys
made paper template last night cut the ally this morning just going to start to fit it now
fingers crossed
cheers
colin