'68 Coronet R/T wrote:I bought a cheap (read: Chinese Junk) metal break About all it was good for was slightly rounded 90 degree or less bends, and that was after I adjusted, tweaked, hammered, and took an oath never to buy HF stuff again.

Oh make no mistake I in no way am Trying to promote HF Junk as I feel the same as you do about it. But I am in a Rock and Hard spot about necessary needed tooling at the moment.

I understand, that's why I bought that break.
Right now what I need is SPACE. My 1200 sq foot garage ain't making it anymore.

peter tommasini is great, i have his 1st 6 dvds, they are a great investment and you will learn heaps, i also bought some of his tools a while ago, a big blocking hammer like he uses in the wheel arch and some post anvils, yet to use them tho but very soon i hope
get on his website and get some dvd's, hes a great guy to deal with, i called him up and told him what i had in terms of hammers and dollies, how much i wanted to spend and what i wanted to do, he sent me wat he thought i would be best to start with!!
another fella to look up is wray schlene, i have his shrinking disc and dvd, thats also an awesome investment, he explains things so well,
david gardiner also has a great dvd, it shows how to do some pretty cool stuff with simple hand tools, make a 90 angle in sheet with a vice and 2 bits of angleiron, goto his site, metalshapingzone.com
there are aheap of great clips on youtube and in metalmeet there are links to dvds and clips
pls stay away from the "steve auto restorations" series, the only good dvd they have is the cut and buff, the rest are plain crap!!

tuck shrinking is hard and frustrating and also leaves marks in the metal, the marks from tuck shrinking and also shrinker marks do planish out and grind off, DO NOT BUY A CHEAP NO NAME shrinker/stretcher set, i saved a whole heap of money buying a cheap set once, wont do it again, they are ****!!!!
check out some clips of the names i mentioned, and buy some dvd's if you have some spare cash, they do get expensive after a while, especially peters, they are around $130 for a set of 3, but **** worth it, davids dvd was around $30 i think and also well worth it!!
krem

Krem thanks for the reply

I wish I could do the videos actually I wish I could do one of Ray schlins three day classes.
I have Kevin Tetz video collection maybe perhaps we could exchange?
loan me yours if I loan you mine?

There is a lot to know and learn about sheet metal and most all of it is learned in the shop not watching videos, Its starts with good oral visual instruction yes but after that you got to start making some scrap metal to learn anything.

Just pulled the pulled trigger and ordered 6 sheets (48"x60") of AK 1008 from stock car steel
in 24 gauge would have rather gotten 22 gauge but for playing around and making simple patches it should be ok if not well I will use it for something else.

If I ever get a title for my 48 Plymouth (and time to work on it) I will need to fabricate some floor pan patches for it.
So I'll be looking more closely at equipment then.

'68 Coronet R/T wrote: I need is SPACE. My 1200 sq foot garage ain't making it anymore.

I know what you mean I have 2400 sq feet and it aint enough not with the Paint booth in there Kinda wishing I had set it up out doors now.
Been looking at metal 5000 sq ft buildings just a lot to swallow especially when you start thinking about adding all the little things like concrete, elect, lights, doors, insulation, heat and air not to mention plumbing.
Been thinking about doing it but a two story with whole down stairs the shop 1/2 the up stairs house. other half storage and what not.

It wouldn't be bad in my shop now if I wasn't storing car parts for three different restorations going at once. One at a time is what I want to get back too then I will be fine I think.
Still I got a lot of equipment in there that I have to continually have to walk around.

Doright wrote: . . . One at a time is what I want to get back too then I will be fine I think. . .

I was just saying the same thing to my wife. Too many projects going all at once. The Miata is leaving Monday, the 85 Dodge Truck I hope to have done by the end of the week, then there is the 55 Chevy custom truck, the 89 Bronco (mine), the 48 Plymouth (mine), the 97 F250 (mine) and I have a guy who wants 67 Chevy PU repainted, another with a 67 VW Bug, and the Lord only knows what will show up in the mean time.
All my projects are lined up in the driveway waiting till I finished the other vehicles.
Then I saw a 69 Mach 1 project for sale in Tucson and the insane thought of buying it entered into my mind.

'68 Coronet R/T wrote:

Doright wrote: . . . One at a time is what I want to get back too then I will be fine I think. . .

Then I saw a 69 Mach 1 project for sale in Tucson and the insane thought of buying it entered into my mind.

OH I wouldn't have Thunk it TWICE! I wanna do one of those! CAR POOR!

Got the Floor welded in from the bottom gonna start on the Top side tomorrow before work.
Starting to make some progress on the Bird now.
Ruffed out a new window channel for the right side rear in about 15 min with the new shrinker stretcher Its no where done or ready just ruffed out needing more work but dam that was easy.

I am burned bad on my left hand wearing cheap welding gloves not a good idea when welding overhead with a Mig, Probably finish up Top side with the Tig gonna be a Bear to do it but I like how the Tig welds better than the mig just a lot more control and less splatter.

Doright wrote:Krem thanks for the reply

I wish I could do the videos actually I wish I could do one of Ray schlins three day classes.
I have Kevin Tetz video collection maybe perhaps we could exchange?
loan me yours if I loan you mine?

There is a lot to know and learn about sheet metal and most all of it is learned in the shop not watching videos, Its starts with good oral visual instruction yes but after that you got to start making some scrap metal to learn anything.

lol, bit far for a loan, im australia, but let me think about it, as they are expensive, around $260 for both sets of 3 of the peter tommasini dvd's
krem