The MGA With An Attitude
Body Sill Replacement - RT-614C
The Simpler Formed Box Panels, Pictures
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Following on from the prior page, this is what happens when an MGA owner in the middle of an MGA restoration is in charge of a modern stainless steel sheet metal fabrication shop. He and a CAD designer and a machine operator can tinker a little after hours in evenings and weekends, and a little modern magic can produce a precision part. This is the result of following up the the idea of a shallow angle bend to divide the twisted lower surface into two perfectly flat triangles. The prototype part shown here was produced on a production machine using the modern standard programming and numerical control automatic forming.
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Here are pictures from the computer screen showing how the box is formed by the numerical control (automatic) forming machine. For a larger lot (about 50 pieces) it makes sense to program the machine limit stops. Then the fabrication time for one box is about 3 minutes. The time to laser cut it is about 1 min. The drawings for the boxes and the gussets are in process in mid April 2012 (give it a couple of weeks). If a company has a bending machine like Trumpf or Bystronic or Amada they can manufacture it for an acceptable price.
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