I wasn't trying to excuse some of these panels. I know some are really bad, I've seen first hand what Chuck had to deal with. I just brought up the point that to buy a panel and expect it to fit like a charm is asking an awful lot. Back in the 70's when I started working at Caterpillar Tractor, the majority of the factory was still entrenched in 40's and 50's technology. Myself and another employee used to assemble the blades for the D9 tractors. Granted this was heavy steel,3/4 to 1 inch plate in most cases, but they were all cut out on those old tracer burners and formed on manually operated brakes and presses.We use to spend more time getting those supposed identical pieces together than actually welding up the blade.The most used tools were a torch,16 lb. sledge,and lots of wedges.Still ended up with lots of gaps,alot of times at least 1/2 inch to fill. Turn up the wire speed on that 3/32 dual shield and fill em up. I've often wondered how some of those blades held up.Of course the whole time the foreman was on you wondering why that blade was takin so long.
