The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop How to make a compound curve?

I need to make a small (6" x 4") compound curve patch panel for my '51 3100 cab corner. I could buy a whole panel, but don't want to cut it all out for that small piece. And, I'm afraid I couldn't cut exactly the right piece out of the patch. Anybody know an easy way to form the curve without a wheel? I could beat it around a steel ball, I guess, but don't have one of those either. Thanks!

I have seen an air hammer/chisle set up like an english wheel to pound the steel into compound curves. Made an english wheel to do the quarter panels on my car works really easy..

gobsow, my father & I made a fiberglass patch for the cab corner of my '54 when I was in high school. We knew where there was an AD truck with good cab corners, got the owners permission and made an impression of the corner with modeling clay. We used the impression in the clay as a mold to make a fiberglass patch, using fine mesh fiberglass cloth. I cleaned up the hole where the corner had been, trimmed the oversized patch and attached the patch from the inside using sheet metal screw and epoxy to hold the patch, then took out the screw and smoothed it off with a thin coat or two of filler. It looked good and lasted as long as I had the truck.

Gobsow, I think you have fallen into the most common misundersanding about patch panels. You do NOT have to use the whole thing. Instead of cutting out all the good metal on your truck for one little rusted area, you trim the patch panel down to just what you need. That is one solution.

The other would be to make the piece from scratch of course. Take a look at exactly where you would be replaceing and make sure it is a compound curve you are dealing with. It could be a flat area or relatively flat "area" in a compound curved panel.

Thanks, all. It is a compound area, near the bottom and rear of the cab corner. This weekend I started with a piece of sheet stock, curving it in one direction, then laying it between open vice jaws and tapping in the other curve. It got to a point where the edge rippled up, so i cut some slots there with a hacksaw, then welded it in. I made a template of the other side cab corner contour, and heated and tapped out (streched) the welded in patch to match the contour. It will need filler, but very little. Thanks again!