Pattern Progress

 

I was out running some errands yesterday and had my cowboy music playing in the truck. It's been quite a while since I've been in the heart of Texas, or anywhere for that matter. But we're having a beautiful fall here in Indiana. The trees are having one of their better years for color. Of course in a week or two you won't be able to go out of the house due to all the smoke from people burning their leaves. Apparently the "Green" memo has made it around to everyone in my neck of the woods yet. But a beautiful day yesterday to be out in the country blasting some old cowboy tunes just the same.

I finished repairing the part for the bender. There's a 1/8" strip welded on to each side now for reinforcement. I didn't have any gray spray paint so went with blue. I don't really care what color it is, just don't want it rusting. The paint is Rust-Oleum that's primer and paint in one application. The label mentions priming prior to painting, however. Have to see how well the paint holds up.

Half pattern for the dash hood - at least that's what the auto sheet metal book calls it. Since that book has now become my bible for skinning out this rig, that's what this piece will be called from this date forward. It also has a bit of the side attached where yours truly will be climbing in and out.

Half pattern for the seat back. In the auto sheet metal book, most of the seat backs are listed as having an angle of 78 degrees. I used that as my number as well and it looks good . The seat will actually line up with the back edge of the particle board and I'll have a seam on the sides where it will over lap the sides of the dash hood. I'm debating if I should rivet the two pieces together, use some Dzeus fasteners or weld it. It might be prudent to be able to remove the dash hood to access the wiring, etc. 

My plan is to roll a bead near the top edge of the seat back and the top edge of the dash hood then trim the sheet flush to the outer edge of the bead. The bead will be bumped to the outside. I can then drop a piece of aluminum round bar into the inside of the bead to reinforce the edge and eliminate the safety hazard of having an unprotected straight edge. I need to make a sample piece to see how it works but I think it will work just fine. I'll probably make the dash hood out of two pieces since that will be a bit trickier to get to fit snuggly on to the frame. Especially since I want to curve a bit of a lip along the top edge. The seat back I should be able to make out of one piece. However, I need to finish making the roller. I dug the plan book out. I'll figure out where I left off on that and see about finishing it up. Between the roll and the motorcycle project, I've got enough to keep me busy for a while. 

The auto sheet metal book and the plans for the slip roll both came from Lindsay. He retired several years back but the business was taken over as Your Old Time Bookstore. According to their website, they were going to call it quits as well but have continued operations. I checked out a few of the offerings and most things seem to be on sale. I'm guessing they aren't going to stay around too much longer. I'm going to see if they have anything that I didn't already purchase from Lindsay and place an order if I find something that catches my eye. If you're a tinkerer like I am or just interested in how it used to be done, you might want to check them out while you still can.