Cockpit liner mounting bracket

With laser cutters taking a long time just to get quotes back to us some of us have started to do things the old fashioned way.

Errol needed a bracket for the cockpit liner to mount to so this is how he has gone about producing it.

1. Model it in solidworks
2. Print it out on paper            (very high tech)
3. Cut it to shape
4. Glue it to appropriate sheet steel (a glue-stick can be a handy thing to have in the workshop at times)
5. Gut to size with angle grinder   (used a cutting disc, worked a treated, rough shaped first then neaten)
6. Clean edges with bench grinder and sand paper    (just to get rid of burrs and sharp bits)
7. Centre punch marks for holes
8. Drill holes     (all the holes were basically the same diameter, made life very easy)
9. Bend edges with Magna-bender    (often can't bend certain edges because not enough materail exposed to the magnetic strip for a great enough force to resist the bending motion, will often just lift off the bed, can become a hge pain in the butt)
10. Bend other edges in vice with hammer and large amount of skill slash luck
11. Test fit in chassis
12. Hammer the bends some more
13. Test fit again
14. Mark position for welding

That all may seem a little silly but it got the job done and we don't have to wait weeks for the part, all in all only took 3 hours from thought "....I should make that bracket " to " I just made that bracket " so that's not so bad.

Cut and paste: The paper template glued to the sheet steel for cutting, cut the shaped pretty close 1st go but not too close then I went back and tidied up the tricky bits and fish mouthing on the ends all with the cutting disc. About 15 - 20 mins work

Bending my way around a problem: The magna-bender wasn't being friendly so I resorted to alternate methods, not pretty way to do it I know but it got the job done in the end, only had to go back and forth twice after my initial gues at the bends. Surprisingly the end product fits almost as designed, definately close enough to be deemed in the " GOOD " range of work.

The part is now mocked up in the chassis ready to be welded in place on Monday, I will upload a picture later of the final product, I seemed to have forgotten to take a happy snap of it at the time.