How to put the round back into a bent up running board edge

[lostviking]

In order to fix a running board I "damaged", I needed to do a bunch of hammering and bending. That involved a sledge, several large C clamps and some pieces of wood. Oh, a rubber mallet  For a more gentle approach. With those tools, I was able to take my running board, with a side edge that was in places bent almost completely flat, and get it to a fairly close to original shape. More shaping is needed.

To get the edge restored, means putting two curved surfaces back where only flatish metal exists. I designed a tool. I had a set of dies/anvils made and I'm getting ready to weld up my new 6 ton press.

Here is what the die/anvil look like, and what the press will look like.

Edited July 26, 2023 by lostviking

[lostviking]

Yep, 6 ton bottle jack that I will drill and tap a few holes in the base off, then bolt it to the press. It is possibly over engineered, but it will serve me for more than this single use. The only things that are not clearly shown are how the die and the anvil are held in place. IDK yet  Picking up the metal this Saturday. It's made from 1x2x3/16 A36 steel U channel, and 1/4 inch A36 steel plates. I will cut everything up next week using some saws at work, then weld it the following weekend.

[Lingle]

nice work!  always fun when you get to make your own tools

[lostviking]

Picked up the metal this morning at Industrial Metal Supply. I need some of the saws at work to cut things. Welding as said next Saturday.

 

Since I was up off the couch, took the truck on another short jaunt around the neighborhood. Sure is nice to be able to do that again. I also picked up a 10psi and 2psi residual valve. I'm going to put those in and see if that shortens the pedal travel. It's firm, but longer travel than I'd like. The master is well below the wheel cylinders and calipers.

 

[Tooljunkie]

When i started fixing up the frame rails on my 51 i used my ball joint press. Also provided a way to pry and twist the frame into submission. 
this old body metal isnt as easy to manipulate like later model stuff. 
i have yet to make up some dies,but its on an as needed basis. 
 

your press idea should work well, i would have made it with deeper jaws for other uses as well. 

[lostviking]

Put both valves in today. Refilled the master and started pumping just to see. I've had pretty good luck with this truck doing that. I ended up with a firm pedal, and much less travel. I'll still bleed it, but I'll let it sit for now. For whatever reason it seems to purge most air if I just let it sit. Weird.

[lostviking]

I bought a power bleeder and used that today. Barely any bubbles, seems to be firm and less travel. I'll see after I drive it.

 

Welded the two bottom U-channel pieces together for the 6-ton press. Either I'm getting better, or my standards are getting lower. I stacked some dimes this time. Only blew the circuit breaker once too :). Looking at the ends, the metal is blue to the other side, so I'm thinking good penetration. I have a 140A welder which I was running around 120A on 3/16 metal. But I think at the corners of the metal it's thicker than that. Only did one side, the wife came home. I'll weld along the mating open edges next time. No pictures, but these are easily the best welds I've done.

[lostviking]

Been some delay due to a family emergency. But found time to do some more welds today. Stitched the U-channel side where the two pieces meet, and closed the ends where they meet. Before you say anything, these are welds from someone who has less than a dozen welds under his belt

 

I think it I could hold a straight line, they would look pretty good. Flux core, 140A 110AC welder. I'll take them.

 

That was not a continuous weld.

 

Edited August 12, 2023 by lostviking

[billrigsby]

23 hours ago, lostviking said:

 Before you say anything, these are welds from someone who has less than a dozen welds under his belt

 

Looks good, I would never criticise, ony applaude,

mine would not be any better!

[lostviking]

Moving forward, slowly. We had a little rain and I weld outside...not that day. I was able to get the "tool" part of things welded together. No, not by me Those beautiful welds were done by someone who knows what he's doing, and used TIG.

 

Just need a sanding roll or two on my Dremel to get the surface flat across the weld line.

 

 

Edited August 28, 2023 by lostviking

[Los_Control]

I sure enjoy this thread. I like to see what is involved in repairing these running boards.

 

The welds in your first photo actually looked pretty good.

I do not remember or know if you said how many passes it was to get the bead you showed. .... you were well on your way to getting it done.

I would expect it would take several passes with a mig welder .... grind it down to shape & size .... then run another bead .... eventually getting it to where you want it.

Just takes time and wire from the welder.

 

 

I bought a 10 piece set from amazon .... this photo is a 15 piece set for $20. Works great in a dremel tool ..... you build up the weld, carve it to shape, then sand it smooth with paper.

I have more larger bits for my mini die grinder that runs off of air .... The die grinder is a beast, the dremel offers more control.

 

The way I see it you need to shape the welds on the dies to match the existing running boards.

I would not get that in one try, I would expect a few tries while I perfected my grinding & welding skills. To get exactly the piece of art you are creating.

This practice could make you a really good welder  

 

I just suspect your tig welder did a really nice job, when you shape it you will find defects in it ..... porosity, one area is to low, the edge is not straight or you made it not straight when grinding .... you will need to weld it again until you are satisfied it is correct.

Your welds were just fine for this job.

 

I'm glad I'm the type of guy that looks at a dent in my running boards ..... I will call it character ....... even make up a story of how the truck saved the world from a nuclear explosion & got dented ..... Would be destroying history if I removed the dent. ..... I can live with the dent 

Knowing the previous owner went night fishing, got drunk & ran into a log on the way back to the highway.

[lostviking]

I ground the edge everywhere there is a weld, so once it's flat there is still lots of weld. I like using sanding rolls for this, because they move a bit slower, like me I only need to work on the "faces" of the two halves, so the metal is shaped without defects. Those parts were laser cut, and they weren't perfect. I'll hand fit them a bit to the undamaged running board as I go. I don't intend to reweld anything after the beads are ground down. The final amount will be taken off with a file. Slow but steady wins the race.

 

The first  u-channel parts was a single weld. I moved around, so I was only welding an inch or so continuously in any one spot. The section to the far right, you can see a kind of dot in the middle, which is where the two welds meet.

 

Taking a couple extra days off next week after Labor Day, so I hope to get all the welding done.

Edited August 29, 2023 by lostviking

[Los_Control]

Well I still say your welding on the practice piece was very good .... So I was just a bit disappointed when you had someone else weld it for you   

You would have done just fine.

 

The little carbide bits are just something I use, by all means use what you are comfortable with. As a retired carpenter ... my first career was retreading semi truck tires & I was the repair man. Using carbide bits on the sidewall of a semi truck tire is delicate work ..... Think about a dentist using carbide bits working on your teeth .... you can do very delicate work with them. ..... I spent 15 years at work using them so I'm comfortable with them .... Just a very useful tool to have when you come up against different challenges.

 

I can't wait to see your finished product, you are doing fine ..... I will sit & watch now.

[lostviking]

I don't have a TIG welder, just a MIG. Those aren't practice pieces, it's the base of the press.

[lostviking]

So, ground the weld bead down to put the two vertical U-channel pieces on. That's the side the die sits on, not the jack. Welded them together, cleaned them up and chamfered the edges. Got it all lined up just perfect, then laid down some really nice looking welds.

 

It was on backwards.

 

Metal blade on the saws-all...welded it on the correct orientation. I need the welding practice anyway. Enough success for one day.

[lostviking]

Goofing around a bit on Labor Day. Mocked the parts together, just for grins. I did weld the top parts on the correct direction, like I said, and I put the short bottom plate on. The jack is drilled and tapped, but I need to put the clearance holes in the base. When I was trying to "fix" the backwards top section, I cut a piece to fill in the open end. Unfortunately I wasn't thinking, because that was the bottom part (under the jack). So, I had two extra 4 inch angles, welded them together...problem solved. Lots of welds to either finish or clean up, but I wanted to see it, so here goes.

 

Still missing are two angled supports on the bottom to keep that 4x4 plate from folding over.

 

 

Edited September 4, 2023 by lostviking

[lostviking]

Moving along. I drilled some clearance holes at the top and tapped a 1/4 inch plate to mount the die for the inside contour. I'll weld the die to it, so I can remove it when I'm using this for something else.

I started to weld in the angled supports for the 4x4 inch base plate (that the jack is bolted to), at first my welds were looking pretty good, but then they started to not fillet...LOL, ran out of wire. Will have some more today, but might not finish the welds. Believe it or not, it was raining a bit in San Diego...I weld outside.

Put a couple pieces of cardboard from a legal tablet to simulate the running board thickness. I'll weld the bottom die to that piece you see in the picture, and then figure out how I'll keep it in place later. Almost.

 

[lostviking]

Unfortunately, zero progress. Life is funny sometimes. Multiple plumbing issues took over the whole weekend. Maybe I'll get time next weekend. I'd sure like to finish the tool and end this thread.

 

Hope you all had a better weekend.

 

Tim

[lostviking]

Finally got the last of the welding done today. Only screwed up once I was finishing the two angled supports from under the jack, and I forgot I hadn't finished the tack weld on the inside at the top. That's when I ran out of wire last time. I did a pretty darn good looking weld all the way down the outside, and then I noticed that the metal had expanded as I was going Nice warp towards the inside. I'm leaving it as a lesson to myself.

Taking it to work tomorrow to media blast the whole thing, then some primer and paint. Only final work is to weld the dies to their mounting plates. I need the whole thing together and the running board to line it all up. Then a couple tacks and I remove everything to finish weld. I have a plate that the top, stationary die is welded to, and that gets bolted to the stationary side of the press. Not sure what I'm going to do on the other side yet. I might just tack the plate to the top of the jack...the part that unscrews on the top of the jack. We'll see.

Almost ready to put some round back into my running board. It's been kind of fun building the tool.

[lostviking]

Painted the weldment. Drilled and tapped the center of the jack to accept a 1/4-20. I'll add one to that sides die, after welding another 1/2 piece of stock to the die. After that it's time to pull the running board off and use it to locate the two dies. Once I know exactly where they need to be, I can weld the top die to the plate I have setup for it. That bolts to the top of the press. But before that I'll need to locate where the 1/4-20 hole for the bottom die. Not much really to do, but I need to get it right. I'll get the bottom one done and attached, then tack the top one so I don't have to be exact with that 1/4-20 bolts location.

[lostviking]

Can't leave well enough alone...put a thick washer a bit thicker than the running board into it and bent it Enjoy your Sunday.

[lostviking]

I'm ready to do the final mounting of the dies and go at that running board, but...I've only been driving it a few blocks at a time. Then I recheck all the lug bolts and everything else I can see. Today I took it on a 6-7 mile trip to the gas station in Bonita. I was going about 45MPH at the highest speeds. On a small two lane country style road, that's getting close to as fast as I really want to go with the stock front end.

Rechecked everything one final time, nothing has been loosening, and put the hub caps on. That's my way to telling myself, it's OK.

[lostviking]

As always, life gets in the way. This weekend I finally had time to pull the running board off the truck. I used it to line up where the two dies will be mounted, then tacked the inner one to the plate I bolted to the top of the press. I have a 1/4-20 hole tapped in the top of the jack. I marked the location as closely as I could in the outer die, and drilled a pilot hole. I'm going to pop a 1/4-20 bolt in the lathe at work and remove the threads on one side so it fits loosely in the hole. Then, I'll shim the distance between the dies the thickness of the running board metal, and epoxy the die onto the stud, while under heavy compression. I'm still thinking about a couple tacks between the jack round contact and the sides of the die. If I do it will be just enough, so that I can easily cut it loose with a cut off wheel. That way the jack is still usable for other purposes.

 

Should be able to squish something next weekend. Hope the darn thing works

[lostviking]

For better or for worse, the device of correction (or destruction) is complete. I welded the outer die to the jack today. Just three tacks. I've had the jack a long time, and it has lost some oil over the years, so I need to top it off. I'll get a bottle of jack oil asap, then on to the running board.

 

Fun times

[lostviking]

After using the press, it's very difficult to use properly. I knew it was going to be awkward, but I think I need to hand the running board from a rafter so it doesn't need any other support. Also, I need to remove a sharp edge at the top of the inner die. It can leave a mark.

 

Otherwise, it will put the round back. Not sure if it is the best idea or not. I might try some rods that I grind the curves into to do a little hammering also. I really messed this running board up badly