Looking for a shop with a large slip roller in Seattle/Eastside

[preston]

I am forming some rocker panels and just need a gentle curve, preferably in a 60" long piece of .063 aluminum. I have built them in 30" sections using my wheel, but the wheel just doesn't produce a nice straight uniform curve. I used to have one of those Jet universal shear/brake/roller thingies but the gears got messed up and I was tired of having that 300 lb lump so I got rid of it. I'm really looking for someone with an industrial sized one that won't have a lot of distortion in it, the little JET/HF style ones still leave a lot of distortion in it, ie the center is not rolled as tight as the ends.
I figured if I brought in the blanks it wouldn't take a shop more than an (or 15 minutes) to roll to my template. I don't know any high end rod fab shops so I was just looking at sheet metal fabricators on the web there are a few around like JIT manufacturing, Allied Sheet metal fabricators, Acurate Sheet metal Inc. but of course these are all big industrial job shops. I will be calling some of them on Monday but just looking for suggestions on what would be easiest for them and me , preferably close to Kirkland. 60" wide woudl be nice but I don't mind doing the 30" sections as long as its a heavy duty machine that will produce a "straight" roll.

[coolwelder62]

I would get a hold of Gerg Weld on the forum here.He will have the equipment of know somebody who does.

[DBasher]

I can talk to the shop foreman on Monday (Hermanson) depending on how soon you need it and how busy they are they'd be able to do it. I've also used johanson mechanical for diamond pattern on aluminum. I think they're still in woodinville.


Dan

[rjsjea]

Josh Ewing.....Ewing Kustoms in Sumner

[preston]

Thanks guys - not sure I would be able to get down to Sumner or even Kent to do this unless I really couldn't find anyone up here. I'm gonna make some calls tomorrow and see how far I get. Right now I'm leaning towards making them in 30" sections as you can really get into trouble trying to trim and fit something in one long 60" section which means I really don't need that huge of a machine, sure would like to find some kind of metal former around here. Be nice to just know someone who could help me out once in a while without too much fuss, it would be nice to have access to a real brake too.

[Zspoiler]

There are all sorts of shops on the eastside.In Woodinville ,and Redmond .And racecar fab shop in Redmond.Remember that you are in Boeing Country. Just look it up on the internet.

[DBasher]

Try Speedware in Redmond, they've done some metal fab for a friends Charger.

Dan

[preston]

Thanks for the input Zspoiler but my request is to help me narrow it down to a shop that doesn't mind a walk-in with a custom job that my only be worth $50.

I actually just called Speedware and they have a 40" roller, I think I will try them because its always good to work with car guys rather than generic fab shops, they are probably happy to do a small job, and it never hurts to build a relationship with a good shop like this. Like I said I think building them in 30" chunks and welding them together probably works better for me anyway than trying to make one perfect 60" long piece.

Thanks again for your suggestions.

[DBasher]

See if you can get some pictures of the projects they've got going on, last time I was there they had a couple early Camaro's and some high end Mopars. Oh and see if you can get a ride in the Indy/F1 car, it's got two seats!

Good luck

Dan

[preston]

So I went down to Speedware and their fabricator did an excellent job for me. Cost a bit more than I was expecting (2 hours of shop time to roll 4 pieces of metal) but I'm not complaining because they came out great, no flat spot in the middle, no distortion, they matched my template exactly and my final product matched teh fender exactly. I'm glad I went to a car place rather than a generic sheet metal shop. he even did it same day for me. I definitely recommend Speedware Motorsports if you have the coin and the time to get your fab work done there.


I'm sorry I am lame and did not take any pictures - I wanted to focus on my request and not waste the guys time.

But that same rad Camaro is down there. Now, I build my own cars from scratch and am a build thread junkie and frankly its pretty hard to impress me anymore these days but that Camaro impressed me - adjustable height IRS using Viper components, widened quarter panels, full custom tube frame. But the most impressive thing was a fully custom rear mounted G-force transmission where the guy (Ron, forgot hsi last name) had built his own bearing adapters front and rear to set it up.

Anyway here is the rolled pieces and the rockers I built before I welded them up and finished them. As mentioned they are .063 alum.

Also just for fun I include a teaser shot - hmmm, can you tell whats different about that rear end ?