[Adrenalin540]

I need someone that knows how to fabricate trim strips. The strips are for a 1965 colt tractor that are no longer made...I do have one that I can copy but the pieces are very hard to come by and I would like the ability to make some for other collectors and not exactly sure how to go about it. If anyone here has experience in this, and I am sure someone here does please let me know.

Here is a link,
link to chrome strip so at least one of you pros has some idea as to what I am after...really any advice would be greatly appreciated. If you need more specific measurements or other specs on this to give me advice in this regard let me know...but I am kinda stuck, I need several of these and it would be worth my time and effort to be able to make them...obviously send em out to a 'chromer' or make them out of stainless is another option.

Thanks a million

[ogre]

make them out of 304 stainless, weld on tabs to attach them and polish
a straight strip like that could be cut with an angle grinder with a cut off wheel

[OneMoreTime]

The polished stainless will be the way to go..Chrome is hard to come by due to EPA rules..Most chrome i know of these days is done in Mexico because of this..

Sam

[Adrenalin540]

Appreciate the input, the piece is kind of curved (convex) with a slight indent that runs the whole length down the middle. it is about 1/2" wide with edges that are bent over to hold 'clips' in place.

[35WINDOW]

Would either of these work?

http://www.claytonmachine.com/products.html

[Adrenalin540]

In fact it is similar to both, but, not exact. I will have to get a very detailed photo so you guys can see, it is nice to have the experts here willing to help...I knew if anyone could help resolve this for me it would be you guys.

How does one go about making pieces like these?

[OneMoreTime]

Several methods come to mind..perhaps with a bead roller and some shaped dies one could make strips of the desired contour..probably will take several passes to get to the correct profile..a bit of hand work on the ends to finish..

Sam

[Adrenalin540]

Thanks and this is the route I was headed, not sure about the end dies or whatever they are. Do you think that a particular 'roller' could be configured with CNC so I could just Roll the length, and already have the middle section with the rib in it then ??? on the ends? One is square, and the other end is 'arrow pointed' kind of comes to a point with the sides rounding in...

Thanks and this is what I thought I was going to have to do, but not sure if the custom dies for the bead roller are a problem or? and of course the ends...

[DanTwoLakes]

Is this what you're looking for? This stuff is called landau chrome and is a little over 1/2" wide. You attach it with the little black plastic pieces which are screwed on to whatever you're attaching the chrome strip to. The chrome strip is then slid over the clips.

[TubeTek]

Does your trim strip have a raw edge that goes against the body panel? Or is there a bit of material turned back underneath the corner to bear against the panel? Sounds like a minor detail I'm sure, but the fact is that detail can make a 2 or 3 to 1 difference in the cost of tooling to produce that piece on a limited run basis.

Its unlikely you could roll that piece with a bead roller and get acceptable results. A roll formed draw that deep on a piece that narrow will likely cause the part to end up in an arc that's near impossible to straighten, and you'd still have the ends to deal with even if you could straighten it.

The piece could be die formed in a press brake using a male and female die set machined to the profile. This approach allows you to design the dies such that the ends would be closed in the forming process. Using pre-hardened 4140 for the dies and forming the part from Type 430 stainless which is the most commonly used stainless for automotive trim, should allow several thousand hits before die wear becomes noticable. Dropping down to a softer mild steel for the dies might save $100 on material, but nothing on machining costs, and wouldn't be a worthwhile tradeoff IMO.

You'd probably be looking at 2 to 3 thousand dollars for the die set itself, including material, design time, and machining time, for a die set to produce the part with straight bottom edges. The big unknown is the cost to create tooling to fold the bottom edges back if that's required. It would have to be done as a secondary operation because trying to do it in a single hit would capture the part on the male die. There are a number of ways to do it, but none of them would be cheap. It'd be a case of having to balance the cost of a higher priced but less labor intensive option against a cheaper but more labor intensive solution. Projected production figures are normally used to decide which way to go on this type thing.


Another solution, and possibly the cheapest, would be to have an extrusion die made. Extrude the part from aluminum, do a bit of hand work to finish the end details, polish the piece, and have it bright anodized if necessary. If the tractors are used primarily for show, the anodizing could be skipped since a polished finish would give more shine and would hold up very well on anything that's not left out in the elements.

As with all reproduction parts, it comes down to the size of the potential market and what you'd have to sell the parts for to recover the tooling costs, labor and material costs, and generate a reasonable profit.

[Old Fool]

Originally Posted by Adrenalin540

I need someone that knows how to fabricate trim strips. The strips are for a 1965 colt tractor that are no longer made...I do have one that I can copy but the pieces are very hard to come by and I would like the ability to make some for other collectors and not exactly sure how to go about it. If anyone here has experience in this, and I am sure someone here does please let me know.

Here is a link,
link to chrome strip so at least one of you pros has some idea as to what I am after...really any advice would be greatly appreciated. If you need more specific measurements or other specs on this to give me advice in this regard let me know...but I am kinda stuck, I need several of these and it would be worth my time and effort to be able to make them...obviously send em out to a 'chromer' or make them out of stainless is another option.

Thanks a million

www.metalmeet.com

[bobj49f2]

Originally Posted by DanTwoLakes

Is this what you're looking for? This stuff is called landau chrome and is a little over 1/2" wide. You attach it with the little black plastic pieces which are screwed on to whatever you're attaching the chrome strip to. The chrome strip is then slid over the clips.

Where did you get this? Do you have a web site?

[DanTwoLakes]

I got it from one of my suppliers, DLT Upholstery Supply in Milwaukee, WI. If you'd like, I can send you a strip of it and some of the clips that hold it. The strips are 6 ft. long, but I can cut one in half for you. They call it M-5000 mock top chrome. It's not expensive, but you have to buy the clips in boxes of 500. There are also end clips, but I don't think you'll want to use those. Send me a PM.