Check out that "hard" body...
I was excited to get started on the body for the tender. Don't know why. It was a pain-in-the-ass. My fingers/hands were sore for days doing all the drilling. I started by cutting 16 gauge sheet steel to an approximate shape.
I decided to bend the 1/2" radius corners before I started drilling. A jig was made for the jagged rivet pattern on the sides. Here it is being held on by clamps and clecos.
Made another jig for the outline of the oil tank.
And here it is. One side done. One more to go.
Both side are drilled and the corners bent. Copper rivets (3/32") are going to be used and are only for looks. Drive screws (#2) will be used on the bottom to fasten it to the frame. Again, I could have done this a hundred different ways but this is the way it will be.
Had to mark out what needed to be cut out on the end where the curved radius needs to be welded to.
I then set up the jig to bend the 5" radius. I had to use 4-1/2" diameter PVC as it was the only thing I had in the shop close to what I needed, I had a 3" diameter pipe on the inside to keep it from bowing in the middle when I clamped down on the bolts.
Almost there. Took a couple tries at getting the bend where I wanted it but at the end, it turned out nice.
Here's the left side temporarily fitted to the frame. The triangular cutout is for the radius corner.
Saw this on a web site which said that this is how they used to do it on the real ones. I turned some metal to a 5"diameter and hollowed it out. Then I cut out the 108 degree "pie" piece.
It was then fitted in preparation to be welded.
Here's the right side welded up. A 1" diameter tube was cut and welded in place next to the "pie" piece to continue the radius.
Next step was to grind away until it looked like what I wanted it to look like. Still need a bit of sanding.
What a Riveting Experience!
Well, it was time to try some riveting. Never did that before. What I came up with was backwards from what I saw on ways to peen rivets, but it is quick and does the job. Basically, I installed the rivets in a line of holes (long ones on the right) and used masking tape to hold them in place so I could flip it over without them falling out....
The rivets were too long so they were snipped (top row)...
I modified one of the tips from my air hammer. A Dremel tool was used to make an indent in the tip to match the profile of the rivet head. A heavy hunk of steel was used as the backer plate, the body panels were placed on top of the backer plate and peening was done from the outside. In order not to destroy the copper rivets, I ran the air hammer at 25 psi. The tape was peeled off as I went along so the rivets wouldn't pop out from the vibration. This worked great and was fast. I could set the the piece up and do a group of rivets with one setup.
Well, here is one side, one more to go.
Here are both sides done. I have to figure out the wiring for the battery, air compressor, switches, etc. first, then it will be time to weld the body to the frame.
After welding things up, plans are to sand blast it clean, give it a coat of primer and then coat the water tank with "bed-liner". Once that's done, a fresh coat of paint will be put on, then to re-install all the piping, trucks, hoses, Then..... It's time to test it out.
Well, need I say that this will "still" take a few more months.
