ntroduction from The Netherlands

[johnmar]

Hi,


My name is Johnmar, IT engineer by profession. Years ago (1996) I started with some work on an mini 1275 (A car some of you will call a mini cooper). With an automotive manual I was able to keep the car running as my daily driver. Had to learn how to weld (as mini's are really prone to the dreaded tinworm. And then it all started with some repair panels. That was something completely different (as my father is a carpenter and hates everything metal related) than I was used to work with. Loved it and went overboard in the metal department and was able buy and old Myford 7 Lathe from a friend. I helped som friends with sheet metal work (all mini related) and they said I was a natural. (well to be honest, I did not share their enthausiams on my level metalshaping, but they where impressed and I learned with every panel and loved learning new skills). A new chapter of metal working was about to start, but then I had to move houses, changed jobs and live took over. Until last year when I made the desicion to stop doing what I was doing (on several fields) and turned my atention to the mini again (no in a terrible state). I

A bare metal rebuild is in order, but as I always wanted to alter some panels to my own idea, I rekindled my fire for metalshaping. After digging up my books in metalshaping (from Ron Fournier and Timothy Remus) I went to internet and was amazed what I found on youtube from Lazze, Wray Schelin and other great metal shapers. Looked at the video's, searched online and followed new names (for me) . Just bought the book "Learning the English Wheel" (great book by William Longyard after I'd booked a training with Geoff Ross (in Cornwall).

And that is where I'm now: looking forward to receive training by a very respected panelshaper.

I'll share my plans after my return from Cornwall with this group.


Until then,

Regards,

Johnmar

[neilb]

hi johnmar, welcome

Geoff moss is very good and does things the traditional way. the way we want everyone to learn, that's why this forum started

[cliffrod]

Welcome to the forum, Johnmar.

[Kiwi john]

Thanks for joining Johnmar. Great introduction! Ek John and Dennis are both mini owners so would appreciate what you have done over the years. Please post a few pictures especially when you do return from Geoff Moss. Will you catch up with David Gardiner when you are down that way. ? You are certainly heading in to right direction with your training. Good luck and we hope you enjoy. Cheers John

[galooph]

Welcome aboard, Johnmar, hope you have lots of fun in Cornwall.

Not much bodywork involved (unless you count brackets!), but have you been following Project Binky on YouTube? An interesting Mini build

[Peter Tommasini]

Hi Johnmar welcome to the forum
Peter T

[johnmar]

Thank you all for the replies. I'm in Liskeard this week where I will see first hand how Geoff Moss operates the wheeling machine.

after the week I'll drive back to home, but not without vissiting the International Auto Jumble at Beaulieu. It just happens to slot right in my journey.

will post some pictures after my arrival back home.

[johnmar]

Not much bodywork involved (unless you count brackets!), but have you been following Project Binky on YouTube? An interesting Mini build

Project Binky: what they do is rather impressive. "Bracket" is used as a nice understatement here. It is a fun to watch though.

[Kiwi john]

Nothing like making a bracket then stopping for a quick cup of tea. !!!!! Great site

[johnmar]

Today I had my first day of wheeling with two others (from Ireland and from Cornwall), and I send an email to Peter Tommasini in which I responded to some infom ation he provided on his DVDs and also write my experiance of today.

Perhaps this is also of interrest for the metalshapers here, so I copied it below:

-----------
So I just returned from the first day of training.
New to wheeling it was a steep learning. By cross wheeling, stagerring etc we turned a 30x30cm piece of aluminium into a convex shape ( I find that trailing and tracking your moves is hard at first).

And then Geoff showed us how the get that shape back to flat in no time.
We tried to replicated that and failed big time: warping and waves like no tomorrow. I was in my head completly. Trying to predict and alter moves to rectify. It turned out pear shaped (my efforts and the panel).
At that stage I questioned if I could do it at all.

It was lunch time. After that Geoff showed us once again the excersise, but now he lowered some presure on the anvils to get less crowning.
He showed the steps and it looked the same, but when we had to do it, it went easier: tracks where aligning better. I was not all over the place. Still I did lift up the piece to much but recified this on the instructions of the others. The shape went in great, but now I was also able to get it back almost flat again (2 mill crown over 30cm for a second try was like m agic).

Things like dressing the edge, feeling it get floppy or stiffening up. Relieving tenstion to counteract oilpanning. It worked.

As Geoff said: if you master this excersise, you know how to move metal by wheeling. If you can do this correctly you have more or less mastered wheeling.

I do think he is spot on there, as returning to a dead flat, there are no compromises possible: it is tension free flat, or it is not. So you have to model it how you want it to be. No shortcuts can help you here.
(with that I don't mean to say that I can wheel because I was able the get back to a flat once...
if you can get that result over and over, than you are mastering it).

Now I hope it will stil work tomorrow abd it was not a one time lucky shot. Tomorrow we will use a higer crown wheel, getting a thighter curve and then I expect to go back to flat. I guess the reverse will be on the program aswell. Can't wai!!

Today I learned, saw and felt a lot. It was so rewarding. Like ri ding a bike you l earn by doing and by error. As long as someone can guide you you can improve fat in short time. It is only one day but I've learned so much that I could not have picked up out of books. I'm really gratefull I had the oportunity to travel to Geoff's place.

Sadly I now know my machine at home is a piece of sh!te, but I'll try to rectify, sort that out step by step (first eliminate yoke play).

"In the end all will be ok, if its not ok, it is not the end "

[Blue62]

Johnmar,
excellent post thumbs up, loved it. I would like to read more about your experience of learning from one of the greats.

[Peter Tommasini]

Excellent........ you could not pick a better teacher ,Geoff really does know his stuff , you will learn a lot
Peter T.

[Peter Tommasini]

Johnmar ..if possible please post some pics Thank you
Peter T.

[johnmar]

Johnmar ..if possible please post some pics Thank you
Peter T.

Hi Peter,

I will. I guess I will group them per day and will place them in a new topic. Can't do it right now to be honest as these days are intensive and I'm quite tired right now. On my return back home, I'll share information, pictures etc etc.

[Chazza]

Very interesting Johnmar!

Small world; my Godfather lived just down the road from Liskeard,

Cheers Charlie