Q.
I’m making new curved running boards for my 1935 Ford project from 18-gauge steel, and I’m considering my options for doing the shaping. I was thinking about screwing two 2×12 boards together, cutting the curved edge with a bandsaw, then using a grinder to shape the edge radius, and then hammerforming my metal over the wood. That would take care of the top, but I’m not sure how to shape the sides. I was thinking I could make the radius on the top edge with my Pullmax, and then get the curve by using a shrinker and stretcher.
I’m thinking of using wooden hammerforms so both sides would match perfectly. I could do the forming in either a bead roller or the Pullmax, but I’m concerned about getting the arch exactly the same on both sides. It would be easy to see any discrepancy if you stand in front of the vehicle, looking at both running boards. Am I over thinking this?
Don Oliver
Via the Internet
A.
With the right dies on your Pullmax, you can curl the edge of both straight and curved pieces, so I don’t think you need to make wooden hammerforms (although that approach could certainly work). If you cut an accurate curve in the flat metal blanks and follow that edge with a guide on your Pullmax tooling, you can create a 45-degree curl with very good precision.
I have used “Rounding-Over” dies on a beading machine to make running boards, and that works very well. The principle is the same as using Pullmax dies—you make a 45-degree curl on the top piece and a 45-degree curl on the side piece and weld the curled edges together.
It would help to put the front-to-back curve in the top pieces, but even if you formed them flat it wouldn’t take much work to get them into the right shape after the edge was formed. When you tack the side piece to the top, each piece helps to hold the other in the correct shape.
Q.
I am a certified welding inspector, and I was a welder for 30 years. After reading your article on weld porosity, thought I might pass my experience along to you. Usually porosity is caused by dirty material, which could include welding rods, tungsten, or welding wire. If it’s windy or your gas pressure is not high enough that can cause problems, too. Usually you can grind out the porosity and weld again, as long as you go deep enough. On sheetmetal that can be tricky, as I’m sure you know. One thing you can do is use a copper back-up bar. That helps absorb the heat, and prevent burn-through. I hope this will be helpful to your readers.
Lou Hickam, AWS CWI
Via the Internet
A.
Thanks for the tips, Lou. I always appreciate it when a trained professional chimes in on this column and I can share their knowledge with our readers. My experience is that copper back-up bars can be very helpful on flat metal, such as when doing chassis work, or patching pickup beds. I’ve found it to be much more challenging to use a back-up bar when you’re doing bodywork, where the metal most always has some curvature. If there is even a tiny gap between the metal you’re welding and the back-up bar, you lose most of the bar’s benefit as a heat-sink, and the bigger the gap, the less effective it is for preventing burn-through.
You can email your questions to Professor Hammer – covell@cruzio.com – or mail a letter to Covell Creative Metalworking, 106 Airport Blvd., Suite 105, Freedom, CA 95019. You will receive a personal reply. Ron Covell has made many videos on metalworking, and they can now be streamed or downloaded from his website. Check these out at covell.biz, along with his ongoing series of workshops held across the nation, or call for a current schedule of workshops and a free catalog of DVDs. Phone (831) 768-0705. Also, check out Ron’s YouTube channel – www.youtube.com/user/covellron.
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