Project Fuggly - No Longer Fuggly And Splashed!!!!!!

[Patfromny]

I was just browsing the "Wurth USA" site and it brought back a flood of memories. I suddenly recalled that all my customers were crazy for their sand papers and cut off wheels. Perhaps a bit too late for you Arch but a good place to look if building a boat. They were pretty expensive when I worked for them but the quality of all their items seemed to trump the price with the 150 or so body shops I called on. There were certain things like roloc discs that were made by 3m but twice the price through me so if you're going to place an order be wary of this. I can say that their chemicals where all first rate and some were unlike anything else on the market and everything else was top quality. I haven't worked for them since 92 or so so this isn't benifiting me any but thought they might be worth mentioning in this forum as a source for hardware and chemicals including body shop stuff. Also a good place to look for odd ball stuff from rivets to linkage balls and hardware.

 

[archbuilder]

Hmm Interesting site Pat. At this point Im pretty stocked up on abrasives. I buy mine at a local tool supply, they have pretty decent prices and carry 3M. Next time I will give Wurth a try.

 

[gm280]

I found out the costly way that cheaper sanding paper and disks are not worth the money you pay for them. Now I only buy top notch 3M sanding disk. While they do cost a bit more, they last so much longer that they actually cost less in the long run. But I too went for the cheaper syndrome until I proved it to myself. Some times penny wise is pound foolish. JMHO

 

[Patfromny]

I agree. It was awful tough selling the 3m stuff for twice the price but their own line of chemicals and abrasives were the best around (according to my body shop customers). I stopped selling the 3m stuff unless the customer just wanted one supplier. They had a sanding disc line that was coated with something that would wear off instead of clogging the paper and would effectively extent the life of the disc by three or more. I have never been an auto body guy so I'm just going by the customer reviews. It was one of my favorite jobs because of the tremendous and diverse amount of stuff they sold but unfortunately it was not a big money job so I moved on. I learned a bunch about the auto industry though as many of the clips and chemicals were OEM on German vehicles. I was the guy to all German dealerships in my territory. Everything from chemicals to wheel weights and even things like wipers and body shop supplies and tools. Too bad there wasn't enough money there. If I ever planned on moving out of Mom and Dad's house I had to move on.

 

[archbuilder]

Pat I do a agree with GM, but if it is good quality I am always open to new brands. When I worked in the body shop they would always try to buy cheap tape. It would either not stick to anything or it would turn into goo once it was painted.....then was a night mare to get off! So after about a week of disasters we would go back to 3M tape. Once they tried another brand of DA disk. But the adhesive on them sucked and more of them were shot across the shop than actually sanded anything, lol.

 

[edgepa]

Great thread and awesome boat (spent most of the holidays reading about fuggly). Thanks so much for sharing your process! I am amazed at all of the knowledge in this community and the willingness to help each other out...

 

[Patfromny]

There is some carp out there. It took a long time and lots of free samples to get into body shops. Even if they were using the low grade stuff...they were used to it and didn't want to change. I find that even today with house painters. Whatever Paint they use is the best and everything else is carp.

 

[mickyryan]

so true about house painters, lol they get to liking something and it takes a team of mules to get em to ever change

 

[Pcolafisher]

Arch, Happy Birthday, belatedly! And, congrats on the football results. Cheers

 

[archbuilder]

Thanks Pcola! I had some time tonight to work on welding. I got the last of the frame rails boxed, forward of the new bunk brackets. That leaves the two crossmembers that the tongue is welded to. After that I just have some misc. Hole filling and the rear tie down brackets.

 

[archbuilder]

Oh and a lot of weld grinding......

 

[Patfromny]

Looking good Arch. It's almost there.

 

[proshadetree]

I think you could load a tank on that if the tires held up. I know its much heavier than my car hauler frame. Looking good though

 

[gm280]

Arch, I did box in areas like you have done when I was building/changing my trailer. Then I grind everything to make it look nice. Amazing how nice things can look with grinding. My winch tower was built that way. But I drilled a few small drainage holes underneath so any water that could possible get in would have an exit out as well. Did you buy the flat sides to size or cut them yourself? Wow, seems like a lot of cutting if you did cut them yourself. Looking good though. You have to post your grinding results. I want to see it for sure. :thumb:

 

[archbuilder]

Shadetree, I think the thing that has been the biggest issue is how long the tongue is and how far back the axle sits. It is just a really long span, I need to measure it and compare it to my tandem trailer.

GM I bought the plate the same height as the channels, wouldn't even thing about cutting it to height! Of course I had to cut it to length, but that isn't a big deal on the cut off saw. Every time I use one of the cut off saws, I swear I am going to build a collapsible stand with extension wings on each side. I am tired of cutting on the ground! I want to use the roller I took off the trailer on the extensions wings, more or less roller tables. Guess that is another project, sigh!

GM I will cheat, grind, then bondo. At least on the top and sides of the boxed sections. Otherwise it would just bug the hell out of me! I'm hoping to get a little more done tonight, then hopefully get most of the welding finished this weekend. After that off the the sand blaster and paint prep!

 

[gm280]

Shadetree, I think the thing that has been the biggest issue is how long the tongue is and how far back the axle sits. It is just a really long span, I need to measure it and compare it to my tandem trailer.

GM I bought the plate the same height as the channels, wouldn't even thing about cutting it to height! Of course I had to cut it to length, but that isn't a big deal on the cut off saw. Every time I use one of the cut off saws, I swear I am going to build a collapsible stand with extension wings on each side. I am tired of cutting on the ground! I want to use the roller I took off the trailer on the extensions wings, more or less roller tables. Guess that is another project, sigh!

GM I will cheat, grind, then bondo. At least on the top and sides of the boxed sections. Otherwise it would just bug the hell out of me! I'm hoping to get a little more done tonight, then hopefully get most of the welding finished this weekend. After that off the the sand blaster and paint prep!

Yea Arch, I do know what you are talking about using a cut off metal saw. I have used mine this week a lot. And like you, I did all the cutting on the shop floor. Ugh! I would like to be able to stand and use it as well. But that will be another project some day. I would simply set it on top of the cabinet benches, but it kicks out so much grinding metal that I don't want the stuff all over the bench and everywhere else. I used a strong magnet with a thick plastic bag over it to clean up the metal debris this time. Works pretty well.

 

[Baylinerchuck]

Never thought about a using a bag and a magnet to pick up metal grinds. Clever......the things you learn here!! I honestly don't think I have used my cut off saw once since I got my Milwaukee porta-band!! Doubt I'll use that noisy, dusty thing again TBH. Milwaukee and Metabo are perfect partners in metal cutting crimes....

 

[Patfromny]

Hey Arch, you should look into a chop saw stand. They come with Universal brackets that you bolt to the base of the saw and they in turn clamp to the stand. You could buy a couple bracket sets and use the stand for chop saw and metal saw. They are cheap enough and most have extension "wings" that retract into the stand for stowage. I have a Ryobi stand I believe and am quite happy with it. Probably costs around a hundred bucks. Probably cheaper to buy at that price.

 

[archbuilder]

Hey GM that is an interesting idea. I use a concrete block to stop the stuff flying off the back of my abrasive saw. Works pretty good and and the heat doesn't bother it. I do hate all the abrasive that goes everywhere.

Chuck, I have a Milwaukee cold cut saw that doesn't spray the abrasive crap everywhere. But I have decided that it is more of a lighter gague saw, 1/8" and lower....and also anything that I want really accurate. What is the Metabo that you have? I think my next investment will be in a horizontal metal cutting band-saw. One of my friends has a Jet that is really cool. But that will have to wait till i move the shop to the hanger and have some extra $.

Pat, are you talking about the ones you typically use for 10" / 12" wood miter saws? I hadn't thought of that. I do want this one to break down, but I want 10' extensions on each side. That will allow me to easily handle the 20' sticks my steel supplier stocks. I'm not sure if they have any with that capacity. I haven't used one, but I am wondering if it would handle the weight. The tube for the tongue was about 100#s or so. Let me know if you have one, just haven't had any experience with one.

I didn't get a lot done but did a little grinding / welding tonight. I filled in 4 little triangle areas between the front cross member and the frame rails. You can see the void in the bottom of the picture, where the square cut cross member dies into the angled frame rail.



It was a pain since the pieces were so small, and hard to grind so lots of galvanizing mess to weld through. But Now am down to a couple boxing plates and some miscellaneous welding. Plus the axle. I think I will jump on that Saturday, then come back to the misc. stuff later. Hopefully off to the sandblaster next week.

 

[Baylinerchuck]

Chuck, I have a Milwaukee cold cut saw that doesn't spray the abrasive crap everywhere. But I have decided that it is more of a lighter gague saw, 1/8" and lower....and also anything that I want really accurate. What is the Metabo that you have? I think my next investment will be in a horizontal metal cutting band-saw. One of my friends has a Jet that is really cool. But that will have to wait till i move the shop to the hanger and have some extra $.

My Metabo is in essence small frame angle grinder with a larger 6" guard designed specifically to use 6" x 1/16" metal cutting slicer discs. They are super fast and will cut metal quickly from thin to 1/4" or larger thicknesses. I used them a lot for cutting bed pans and side guards for custom weldup conveyor systems. They were also really decent for cutting catwalk bar grating. It's a fantastic tool due to the light weight and speed. It'll eat up some discs though. Oh.....it is absolutely wonderful for fiberglass boat deconstruction.