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Mark, the guy that runs the sheet metal shop at work was nice enough to put this 7 degree bend in the firewall on the press brake at work. It came out great...nice and crisp. Thanks, Mark! |
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When I got home, I found that my replacement j-channel stiffeners had arrived from Van's. They were nicely packed in a 1 1/2 inch diameter piece of PVC pipe. |
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Then it was time to break out the new air tool. I hate to admit it, but I got this tool at Harbor Freight. I'm afraid I'm a bit of a tool snob, so I usually don't go for the Chineese made tools at Harbor Freight, but in this case I figured it's a tool I'll use infrequently, so I don't need the best quality. |
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In preparation of making a guide template, I meassured the mandrel diameter... |
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...and the outside cage diameter. |
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Then it was some quick arithmetic to determine the correct template diameter that will result in a 2" hole in the firewall for the heater box. |
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Here's the template in position. |
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...and a bunch of duct tape to hold it from moving around. As a side note: never buy crappy duct tape. This stuff is so thin and flimsy and has poor adhesive, it's nearly worthless. If I wasn't cheap I'd probably just pitch the roll. |
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I used my Dremel with an abrasive cutting disc to cut a starter hole for the nibbler. |
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Starter hole complete. |
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The nibbler says it'll cut through up to 16 gauge steel. It certainly had no difficulty cutting through this .016 thick stainless. But, dang it spews oil everywhere. Definitely a far cry from my Sioux drill. :-) |
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The hole came out reasonably well. Only a little deformation around the perimeter. |
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That'll be covered by this heater box. Boy the finish on the heater box looks like crap compared to the firewall. Maybe I'll see if I can send it out to be electropolished. |