I looking for a low cost way of duplicating the curves found at the rear of a Caterham chassis. Here are the ones I'm talking about shown on a bare chassis.
Attachment:
Caterham Curve 1 -Small.jpg
Here's a view with finished body panels in place.
Attachment:
Caterham Roadsport Boot 2.jpg
Here is a typical upper, rear hoop on a Locost. In this case it's my as yet un-built one, modeled from the Haynes Roadster. The hoop is flat in side view. The fender guards are usually traced out in plate material separately.
Attachment:
Haynes Upper Hoop.jpg
As I see it, there are two classes of curves here. One is a simple radius bend at the rear corners of the boot, and the other is a gradual, more sculptured, side curves, which give the sensuous shape to the boot best illustrated by the body panel photo above.
I need to make these from tools I can afford, which basically means something I make myself. It seems silly to buy machines costing hundreds of dollars just to make these few parts. I'm looking for ideas, or solutions, from folks who have done curves like this in the past. My parts will be built from 3/4" (19 mm) mild steel tube of 16 gauge. I would like the radius curve to be around 3-1/2" radius. I'll do the gentle curves by eye on a pattern I lay out on the garage floor, I think.
It would be nice to do the rear hoop in one piece, but I'm willing to do it in 3 parts and weld them together if necessary.
I'm thinking I'll need something similar to this (but home made) for the radius curves.
Attachment:
Radius Bender.jpg
For the gentle curve, I'm expecting I'll need to do a low cost version of the classis, 3-wheeled bender like this one, only home made.
Attachment:
3-Wheel Tube Roller.jpg
How have you done curves like this on a budget?