DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

Over 2 days while it was hardening properly I cut out some plates and using my bead roller made 2 x closing plates for the pedestal underside.
The plan is to attach them with 4 x M4 countersunk bolts using M4 nuts welded to the back of the plates. The swage make everything flush

So with the plates roughed out I took the hardened form tool out the "mold"
With a little fettling and some small filling of air bubbles etc it was ready.

Next I VERY carefully rolled the stainless sheet for the RH pedestal around the form tool clamping as I went to form the perfect shape
Once made, I trial fitted it and worked out the best place for the 4 bolts to fit the closing plate without hitting the spring loaded mirror arms.

For the purpose of the build, I drilled 3.5mm & riveted the plate in place so that I could cut the contour in the closing plate ends and file fit it to the mirror Bullet Cone as a solid object.

So....following a lot of thought, a post earlier Hollow v Solid, and now that damn bloomin 991 speedster mirror copy

I opted to make my pedestals hollow.

Not because it was easy....but because it is hard

With the pedestal body made I worked out the clearances & angles in combination with the LH cardboard template I made earlier in this thread, tweaked it a bit and took the plunge and cut out my RH pedestal.

I folded up the infill plate and shaped it to suit, making certain the pedestal didn't spring out of shape.
So it's all ready for Tig welding up later this week

Thats after doing it ALL again to make the LH one.....oh, deep joy

Deep Joy indeed fantastic work Darren

Thanks Berny

So this last week I've made the second pedestal for the passenger side using the same method.

Using the second Aluminium prototype as a mold
So I had two mirror image (no pun intended) bend form tools

Next I manipulated the Stainless Steel around the form tool carefully so as not to distort/damage or mark it.
And again fitted the closing plate to the underside

On to the cut-out section next. VERY carefully making sure it was a mm perfect reverse copy of the drivers side
Cut, folded & fitted ready for welding.
So, the next thing to do is weld the insert section into the pedestal so it all looks seamless & appears as a solid stainless block

Now the cool bit.....Invisibly Micro Tig welding the 1mm stainless plate without distortion.
And on close up
If you really, really zoom in you can just about see the weld pool forms But now it looks like one solid part

Next job is to carefully hand polish out any remaining working marks which will be a slow boring task, ideally done while sat watching TV

My flabber is well and truly gasted.

So is that just completely amazeballs welding or is there something special going on there?

Just Plain olde Tig welding Sladey

Heres an under arch shield I made for my Aston, pretty awful as the weld width varies between 1.2mm & 1.8mm in width, but hey its only a wheel arch liner (must try harder)
This corners more consistant at about the same width as the rim edge on a 10p without the dots
No magic here

Okay, who just rummaged in their pockets to find a 10p to see how thin that is?

this is exactly the sort of detail i get tied up in - spending hours making it just how you want it vs. purchasing something with 5mins of searching and one or two mouse-clicks that does 85% of the same thing

I LOVE IT!

Darren C wrote:Just Plain olde Tig welding Sladey

Heres an under arch shield I made for my Aston, pretty awful as the weld width varies between 1.2mm & 1.8mm in width, but hey its only a wheel arch liner (must try harder)

Aston weld 9.JPG

This corners more consistant at about the same width as the rim edge on a 10p without the dots

Aston weld 17.JPG

No magic here

Okay, who just rummaged in their pockets to find a 10p to see how thin that is?

Flash bugger. excellent work.

Can't see your second pic though

Suitably impressed here. Lovely work.

Thanks for the kind words guy's

Thought I'd post a few pictures this evening to update the progress.

The Passenger door Mirror pedestal was made & welded as per the Drivers
I spent a good deal of time making them perfect reverse copies of each other