GeoTracker90
Adventurer
Update 7-12-08 Part 2
After the dimple dies arrived I decided that I needed to test them out. Oops, I have a 1" hole saw and a 1-1/4" hole saw and a 1-5/8" hole saw, but not the correct 1-1/2". Never the less I decided to do a test piece on a scrap using the 1-5/8" hole saw.
Murphy strikes! I loaded my 1/2" drill with the hole saw and arbor and begin the cut when the drill makes an un expected twist. That's not right. It turns out that the shank of the arbor, which had been turned down in a lathe to fit in a 3/8" drill, finally gave up the ghost. I made a temporary fix by inserting a chunk of 1/4" drill rod into the hollow cavity of the arbor shank. It ended up having way too much run out but worked for the test piece. I picked up a new arbor and a section of 2" square tube for the trailer tongue before going out to the work shop Saturday morning.
The first picture shows a completed dimple and the dimple dies. The second picture shows how the two dies are used to sandwich the sheet in order to form the dimple.
The center sheet has 14 holes drilled in it in preparation for the dimple dies and the press. The flat sheet with the holes in it really is not all that impressive. After a trip to the press and 14 turns with the dimple dies the sheet takes on a whole new look. This is really going to look cool.
Just a close up of a couple of the dimples.
I've heard that once you have a set of dimple dies they get addictive. I'd have to say that I think they are right. I was able to get five out of the six panels cut, bent, drilled, and dimpled last night. I would have completed that last little panel but my sheet metal shear had broken down and I had used every scrap of a cut off disc that I could find in the shop just to get done what I did. Just to save you the bother of counting each of the dimples in the shhets I let you know that there are 38 of them so far.
I also completed a lot more of the finish welding on the main storage box as well as welding the Lock-n-Roll hitch piece to the 2" square tube (1/4" wall thickness) for the tongue of the trailer. I din't bother taking pictures of that stuff, it just seemed too boring by comparison.
Mike
After the dimple dies arrived I decided that I needed to test them out. Oops, I have a 1" hole saw and a 1-1/4" hole saw and a 1-5/8" hole saw, but not the correct 1-1/2". Never the less I decided to do a test piece on a scrap using the 1-5/8" hole saw.
Murphy strikes! I loaded my 1/2" drill with the hole saw and arbor and begin the cut when the drill makes an un expected twist. That's not right. It turns out that the shank of the arbor, which had been turned down in a lathe to fit in a 3/8" drill, finally gave up the ghost. I made a temporary fix by inserting a chunk of 1/4" drill rod into the hollow cavity of the arbor shank. It ended up having way too much run out but worked for the test piece. I picked up a new arbor and a section of 2" square tube for the trailer tongue before going out to the work shop Saturday morning.
The first picture shows a completed dimple and the dimple dies. The second picture shows how the two dies are used to sandwich the sheet in order to form the dimple.
The center sheet has 14 holes drilled in it in preparation for the dimple dies and the press. The flat sheet with the holes in it really is not all that impressive. After a trip to the press and 14 turns with the dimple dies the sheet takes on a whole new look. This is really going to look cool.
Just a close up of a couple of the dimples.
I've heard that once you have a set of dimple dies they get addictive. I'd have to say that I think they are right. I was able to get five out of the six panels cut, bent, drilled, and dimpled last night. I would have completed that last little panel but my sheet metal shear had broken down and I had used every scrap of a cut off disc that I could find in the shop just to get done what I did. Just to save you the bother of counting each of the dimples in the shhets I let you know that there are 38 of them so far.
I also completed a lot more of the finish welding on the main storage box as well as welding the Lock-n-Roll hitch piece to the 2" square tube (1/4" wall thickness) for the tongue of the trailer. I din't bother taking pictures of that stuff, it just seemed too boring by comparison.
Mike
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