RE: [Chevelle-List] No help

[396guy]

I guess I always assumed that fenders, door skins, quarters, etc were stamped and then jigged to whatever holes needed to be added could be.  One of my first jobs was working in a plant that made the slats for aluminum awnings and aluminum siding.  I remember them going through 8 to 20 rollers to form the pattern and then cut to length at the end - I guess individual parts are done the same way.  I visited the Leeds plant in KC when I was in grade school and remember the cars being assembled from pieces but never saw the pieces being made.   Learn something neat almost every day.   Thanks, Dale    -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Richard Milkiewicz Sent: Friday, January 25, 2002 12:17 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [Chevelle-List] No help Dale, the sheet metal is run from a huge coil of steel into a progressive die. Progressive die means that it is formed in stages as it moves along in the press to different dies forming the part a little at a time until the part is finished. If the assy' line has orders to build a plain Jane the punches are removed from the upper die and a run is made of 2 or 3 thousand door panels or fenders or quarters. Maybe more, as these dies are huge and some require all day to change and set up, so they need a big float. If they want to put trim holes in the panels they install the punches and make a run of these. The hole are repeated with accuracy each and every time. Now if the operator is hung over, mad at his wife/boss (same) or just doesn't care he can run some junk that will end up on your car. These are usually caught by the end quality guy who will pull the car off line and make repairs. Each part has a jig and gage to check quality. (form and fit) A lot of operators will check parts all the time and if the quality is consistent they will get lax and stop checking. This is where they get in trouble. Invariably, if it can go wrong,... well, you get the picture. Hope this helps some to explain how it's done. Of course this is the simple version. It's really quite involved. Rich