62 bt6

[JTR70]

Great DIY metal press Neil, your design gives me lots of ideas.
Nice looking embossments!
Justin

[Jbrooks]

Nice tool, makes me want to go look for some surplus Industrial form presses. I have seen them sell at auction to 0.01 a pound. Probably a 50 ton press with a 4'x4' bed would cost more to transport than it would go for at auction.

[neilb]

so i called a friend to help making the next part of the door as its too big and flat to hold on my own, here is the man himself peter tommasini, with a shiny new door skin. i have trimmed and folded the top shape in today and will fold the edges and bottom tomorrow, ready for fitting






looking forward to finishing this door!

[JOP]

Wow, Neil U got the Meister himself
U cant get it wrong with that kind of backup...
Peter looks much more happy doing a Porsche 356 door than a full size Holden fender
Please give us more juicy shoots from the door.
Thx
Per

[JTR70]

WOW! Gorgeous!

[neilb]

thank you guys

i did take a couple of pics tonight while i was tipping the edges








just have to finish the bottom and put the indent and holes for the outside handle

thanks for the kind words and for following the madness!

[roy mawbey]

If you are mad, we are all mad Mate. I think everyone looking at these last few pages must like your approach to making 356 steel body items.

The fact you have fabricated equipment in that way makes really good sense. So you have done really well with those door bottoms Neil.

In a previous life I was a toolmaker so appreciate your efforts.

Roy

[Phil Planck]

I like the way you say
"just have to finish the bottom and put the indent and holes for the outside handle"

I would word it more like
" now I have to figure out how to get the door indent in there without screwing up the rest of the door shape, etc. etc."

Great work

[neilb]

thank you guy's

I got the indent in today, finished the bottom yesterday just have to put the holes in

marked out using a template from the old skin








thanks for watching

[neilb]

have been getting this door frame sorted, tweaking and setting the hinge brackets, gapping the window frame to the roof opening. I have a nice gap around the inside along with the window frame, the top of the old door skin is at 303mm from the 1/4 window opening, should be 304mm so I'm not far away





my lower hinge bracket needs to come out a little,I have 2 spacers in at the moment but needs a bit more.

thanks for watching

[neilb]

little update, on to the passenger side door so i can finish bracing the door openings to get the longitudinal's on and the floor in.



setting the hinges, i've measured the distance between the two

looks great to see it back on


it's not gap'd up at this point, just the window frame to put in then gap it to the roof opening.

thanks for following along

[merbesfield]

Outstanding work

[neilb]

so the time had come to make another door skin, so i called peter again for his help and we shaped one up on saturday.

https://youtu.be/Dj0pwEuX5pU

https://youtu.be/FsbR_HOe50c

you'll have to excuse me though, if i knew we were going to be doing short video's i would have sorted out my hair lol

[JOP]

Wow, nice to see you in action with Pete and the end result is just excellent!
Whish I had Pete around the corner
Thank you for sharing.
Per

[bbspdstr]

Please note the long subtle curved numbered blades hanging on the wall behind the English wheel (and the happy wheelers). Those are crucial for getting the compound curves of something like a door skin absolutely (close) in replication.

IF you have (most) of an original door that is undamaged or repaired in it's past, you can take the most representative curves horizontally in steps and mark the locations for checking while wheeling, otherwise it is very easy to go too far or too little with the wheel or get the improper curve on the opposing (unseen in the video) lower roller.

The curve vertically comes from the curve change horizontally but the most difficult part is the change from a positive crown to a reversed crown......and then you have the edges to break on a subtle curve once the oversized outer skin is formed. It is NOT as easy as it looks in the video, but thanks for sharing that!!!! (Those!)

It's all a blend of patience mixed with true art...with "old school" equipment to make it possible. It is NOT something that is totally trainable and certainly learned overnight. It's rather "you have it or you don't." It comes through practice while being overseen and the best overseers are fading fast, thus the term "lost art."

Thank you for this thread!

Bruce