 Allot
of people think that building your
own parts from raw material is too
difficult and costly in the long run
and can only. It's not like you're
building an engine-there is no set
way to accomplish the task but some
basic techniques are used. The materials
, how to bend and shape the pieces
and the ability to use math to find
the dimensions and basic welding.
Tri-C Engineering was highlighted
to help show these basic skills to
create this chrome dashboard for this
'53 Buick convertible. |
A
sparkling chrome face plate custom
built is hinged to the dashboard that
folds down to access the controls
of the radio. Since it is chromed
a 1/4-inch-round 1018 cold-rolled
steele will be used instead of aluminum.
More than 50 feet of steel into 10-inch
lengths and then the ends were ground
to a smooth surface on a belt sander. |
 |
To
bend the steel a fixture was welded
together using some scrap metal. (Saving
pieces of scrap metal is very convenient
and shouldn't be thought of as throwaway
scarp! |
 |
Tri-C
used a 1x3-inch piece of 0.090-inch-wall
1018 rectangular steel tubing to create
this particular piece. A stop was
made from a 1/4-inch-thick strip of
steel plate and to get the radius
a piece of 3-inch-diameter 3/8-inch-wall
steel tubing was used.
The fixture Tri-C created was used
to bend each piece of 1/4-inch-round
steel and bent to the point shown
above. Since it springs back to a
90-degree bend the location of the
bend isn't that critical because a
grinder will be used to match the
ends after the insert is made. |
 |
The
next step was to compare the bent
pieces and then run through a slip
roller twice to approximate the shape
of the stock insert.
The photo to the left was run through
the slip roller.
To keep the steel rods from heating
up a Hobart TIG Wave 250 welder was
used with 1/16-inch steel filler rod
to weld the 1/4-inch round pieces
of the framework. |
 |
 In
most cases intense heat could warp
small pieces like these beyond the
point of straightening. The TIG welder
eliminates this problem by allowing
more precise control of the heat.
We
here at Tri-C Engineering would like
to thank Hot Rod magazine for this
product profile and tutorial.
|
 Once
all the raw materials were prepared,
a fixture using 1/4-inch-thck aluminum
plate was fashioned to use as the
base. 1/4-inch round tube bent by
hand was used to match the bottom
shape of the stock insert used as
a guide and 0.40-inch-thick pieces
of aluminum sheet were used as spacers
giving this old '53 convertible a
custom sparkling chrome dashboard. |
