Repairing pilothouse fenders

[Plymouthy Adams]

as an addition, the copper coated steel weld rods can be found at places like TSC and Norther Tool if you do not have a convenient weld shop close to you or can be ordered in from places like E-bay....

 

Los Control.....I sent you a PM that may be of interest to you...

[Los_Control]

51 minutes ago, Plymouthy Adams said:

most things at this level require a bit of applied technique and skill only gained from practice.

Exactly, lets pretend I am going to build you a fine curved oak stair rail.

I prefer and use a 12" Dewalt chop saw for daily use. This job I am pulling out the old out dated 8" chop saw.

Plain and simple, the 12" saw blade has too much deflect, I can get a straighter pie cut with a smaller 8" blade.  Experience.

I very well may have my saw set to x degree, then lay it down to x degree, and have my helper holding the rail at x degree at the same time, to make one cut.

12" blade will deflect off the angles and give you a poor cut.

It may actually take me and my helper 30 minutes to setup and make this one cut, this is what we call quality.

You better believe, I cut it long. Now if it actually is the exact cut we want, after a test fit, then we cut it exact.

 

Next go to tool is a 4" makita grinder with 80 grit paper on it.

I can take your $3k pile of lumber and do tricks with the old grinder. Your curved rail has too many angles for a saw, going to take talent and a steady hand to grind in the new profile, keep it un-noticeable  by eye or more importantly feel, as you run your hand on the rail walking down the stairs.

 

Nice to have the tools we have today, we have many options and is the right tool for the job. Our Grandfathers were carving and whittling that old curved handrail by hand.

 

I feel I know the level of skill it takes to work metal, I do not have that skill. With effort I will learn it.

I think attitude and a sense of quality, is what will bring any person to the top of the dog pile.

 

 

[Los_Control]

1 hour ago, Plymouthy Adams said:

smaller torch on the top may be your better head

Purox w-200 is sold on ebay for cheap, may be good for practice.

Bottom is Victor j-100

Both belonged to my wifes grandfather, may not actually work but will not be tossed either.

[Plymouthy Adams]

while this is not a fender the process is still shape and weld 101.   The subject at hand is a 1962 Polara hood and as with some of our panels here, difficult to come by and seemingly always needing some repair so I just went with what come on my car.   It had been dinked with early by a PO...again, this process is torch welding with O/A and using copper coated steel rods.  Not only a broken stud but a hint of bubbling lead to inspecting this area close...the inner support was all but gone despite the relatively little damage as seen at first.  There is also some small damage repaired at the corner of the hinge box in the vicinity of the drain hole.  The other piece of metal under the bolt was just there to keep the metal flat during welding.   There are a total of 8 repaired section I performed on the underside of this hood...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 12, 2018 by Plymouthy Adams

[Radarsonwheels]

Go Plymouthy! I can silver solder, bend & cut, and do some torch welding but I never figured out what kind of flux to use to get a nice bead on a weld. I can stick stuff together just fine but sheetmetal work is a little scary. Complex shapes are much easier for me than big areas I have trouble with how slow the work needs to go. 

 

Structural fabrication is fun but stitching on 1/4s takes me for ever!

[Dave72dt]

Complex shapes tend to have more resistance to visible weld shrinkage than those larger, flatter panels.  Spending forever stitching 1/4s on and keeping weld shrinkage to a minimum more than makes up for the time you can spend stretching those welds back out.  I've never used flux when  oxy-wire welding.  Controlling the puddle and the filler rod will get you a bead as long as material thickness, tip size, puddle size and rod diameter all work together.  Very similar to tig and just like oxy welding, much more malleable than the mig as far as stretching the welds back out.  On those flatter panels , constantly check for shrinkage distortion and stretch the welds back as soon as you find any.

[Plymouthy Adams]

2 hours ago, Radarsonwheels said:

Go Plymouthy! I can silver solder, bend & cut, and do some torch welding but I never figured out what kind of flux to use to get a nice bead on a weld. I can stick stuff together just fine but sheetmetal work is a little scary. Complex shapes are much easier for me than big areas I have trouble with how slow the work needs to go. 

 

Structural fabrication is fun but stitching on 1/4s takes me for ever!

 

there  is no flux used in O/A with steel rod and steel panels.  the cleaner the better but as stated earlier, it is forgiving and will self clean as  you weld....you can find a rusted but solid section of metal and with the flashing of the flame to x temp the rust will disintegrate before your eyes...light scale will all but pop off like popcorn and if you truly want to descale, wet with phosphoric acid, then hit the flame, this process is excellent for hard to get to corners.....the heat accelerates the acid right before your eyes.  DO THIS ONLY WITH PROPER VENTILATION....CAN WE SAY FAN HERE......AND EYE PROTECTION...AS STATED, POPS LIKE POPCORN...IF  YOU SPORT A BEARD...WEAR A BANDANA....