Slippery Anne update

[Mark Atkinson]

Hello Steve, 

It was good to see you on Friday, what a glorious day we had. Hopefully, by the same time next year she will be up and running.

Regards, Mark.

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Hello Mike,

Thank you for your kind comments, but, I am very much the amateur, what you see is my considered approach to making something and following a processes. As Ian has commented here, it is not a black art and you can think your way through it. The problem I have is that it takes me quite a long time to turn out these parts, whereas a skilled man would probably be much quicker and more assured.

All the best, Mark.

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Hello Greig,

Yes, she does have a purposeful stance, looking at the extant car it has a real presence sitting here in the corner of my garage.

I did not find the original car, only the odd surviving bit, like the remnant of her bonnet with the name still painted on, this car is derived from period pictures, of which I have a sufficient spread to give me a detailed picture of the original. However, in some areas I had to join the dots between known parts of the car.

Regards, Mark.

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Hello Bob,
Yes, I both anneal the metal before working it and again as it begins to harden during the processes. It does depend on what grade of aluminium used as to how much annealing is required.

I remember seeing an engine cowling from a crashed WW1 rotary engined aircraft which was recovered from the ground in modern times, and, without annealing, it was quite quickly teased back into shape from its crushed state. but that appeared to be a very pure aluminium, perhaps akin to a modern T1000. 

I have used both 1000 and 2000 grade for bodywork here, but for the seats, floor and transmission used T6000, which is very hard taking a considerable amount of energy to form, it is more like working steel!

All the best, Mark.

[Bob Culver]

Thanks all

I no longer have the energy or time to much utilise the few skills I have so not now so keen to add more!

With all the discussion about metal stretching  it is perhaps timely to mention that when repairing damage the aim is usually the opposite ie to not further stretch the metal.  Where things cannot be bent or pulled back to shape blocks of lead cast in jam tins, pieces of hardwood etc form useful instruments with low risk of stretching. Most amateurs resort immedately to ball pein hammer which hugely complicates proper restoration. (With the thin panels on moderns can push many dents out with fingers!)

[Erich]

Mark, this is very nice work. I assume from your description, you are gas welding the aluminum rather than TIG welding it. Is that the case? Regarding the comment about wheeling machines, they were in common use in the UK in the 19th century. The French had a similar machine since the late 1500s or so where it was used in making plate armor.

Erich in Seattle

[Mark Atkinson]

Hello Eric, 

Actually all the aluminium welding on this car is T.I.G.

Regards, Mark

[Erich]

Truly beautiful work, Mark.

Erich in Seattle

[AllAlloyCup]

Hi Erich

And I must add that Duncan Grimmond must be very proud of ALL his students
but Mark is surely top of the class!!

Kind regards

Bill G

Aka AllAlloyCup

[Duncan Grimmond]

I'll say!
I can't take credit for Marks work, he has gone much further than anything I taught , I'm very impressed.

[Mark Atkinson]

I have taken forward the offside rear spring fairing and added the mounting flange and bulge/fairing for the passengers hip.

Starting with the annealing of a suitably cut piece of 1.2mm T2 aluminium, I firstly scribble some lines onto the metal and begin heating the material, once they disappear the annealing is finished. In this picture they are just begining to fade.

   

After hammering the rough shape over the shot bag and some rudimentary wheeling, the new part is offered up to the car, and te processes of evolving the shape progreses

   

   

   

Once the new panel looks to have the correct shape, it is trimmed to size and the flange added by marking it out then simply lining it up against the edge of a wooden block and gently introducing the bend with a small hide mallet over the hard wooden edge.
It is then offered up to the car again making sure the flange fits the curvature of the body

   

At this point it is important to stand back and asses if it is the correct size and shape, I sometimes have to go outside of the worshop to get the correct perspective on the car.

   

Then the delicate job of welding the two together, which as described in a previous post is done using T.I.G. with a rod, this time on the inside surface of the joint, then again welding the joint on the oposite side without a rod, which makes for a very strong weld. it also results in a very clean joint with minimal cleanup required

   

After all that heat and abuse, the newly welded panel is offered upto the car to see if it still fits. Remarkably this one just went stariaght in place without argument.

     

Next step will be to fit the new fairing to the body. which will be witha mixture of brass round head BA nuts and bolts and wood screws. 

Regards, Mark.

[Ian Williams]

Lovely stuff Mark, she really is looking good now!

[Charles P]

I love to see someone building a car in a room that looks more suited to a dinner party.
Class.

C