Focus Auto, a Calgary company, is using sophisticated 3d camera technology, computer modeling, and CAD/CAM to produce wooden bucks for the traditional panel beater to create body panels for classics. The technology offers an opportunity to create an accurate digital model of a classic cars bodywork, which may be unique. The uses are far ranging for those restoring a unique car, including using the digital file as ‘insurance’ in the event of an accident or the creation of body panels from data from other parts of the vehicle, or another ‘sister’ vehicle. It allows data manipulation to create body panels using, as the photographs describe, a LHS fender from the mirror image of the RHS, on this Siata Grand Sport for instance.
For complete photographs, please go to www.vintageandsportscar.com
Lawrence
PROJECT to COMPUTER to STATION BUCK
About Us
Focus Auto Design manufactures acrylic automotive accessories for the OEM and aftermarket. Our manufacturing facility is located in Calgary Alberta and currently employs 30 people.
The equipment and technology required to process and produce high quality station buck and hammer forms on CNC equipment is used daily in our core business. This investment and competency allows us to offer our services to the old car hobby without the pressure of a business model that solely depends on revenue from a niche market. In this case, the fabrication of one-off station and hammer form bucks for the old car hobby.
Our core employees are dedicated old car “nuts” with a broad range of interests including sports and sports racing, American muscle, Italian exotic, vintage, special interest, restoration, fabrication and metal shaping. As such we are sympathetic to your goals and needs with a strong bias to historical preservation.
We understand the needs of both amateur and professional alike and can custom tailor station and hammer form bucks to suit any requirement. From a single panel to a complete car the possibilities are endless.
The equipment and technology required to process and produce high quality station buck and hammer forms on CNC equipment is used daily in our core business. This investment and competency allows us to offer our services to the old car hobby without the pressure of a business model that solely depends on revenue from a niche market. In this case, the fabrication of one-off station and hammer form bucks for the old car hobby.
Our core employees are dedicated old car “nuts” with a broad range of interests including sports and sports racing, American muscle, Italian exotic, vintage, special interest, restoration, fabrication and metal shaping. As such we are sympathetic to your goals and needs with a strong bias to historical preservation.
We understand the needs of both amateur and professional alike and can custom tailor station and hammer form bucks to suit any requirement. From a single panel to a complete car the possibilities are endless.
Our goal
Metal shaping can be rewarding but certainly challenging. We believe that the success of a project is directly related to the skill of the tradesman and the tools he/she has to work with. Let us provide you with a very important tool for your next project, a station buck or hammer form that is accurate and user friendly. This will be one of many tools you will need to overcome the many challenges that this discipline will present to you.
Difference between station buck and hammer form and why do you need them
A station buck is a skeletal, full scale model of the panel to be created. It is used to confirm the shape of the panel during fabrication. The skeletal construction allows the tradesman to look inside the buck to confirm the fit of the panel against the stations. Rarely is the metal pounded against the buck, rather the metal shaping is done off the buck and checked against the buck. If the station buck were of a solid construction it would be difficult, if not impossible, to confirm the shape of the panel. This is the challenge faced by shapers that use an existing panel to create a new identical panel. No real reference is possible and it is not clear that you have successfully achieved an identical shape. The station buck also serves as a platform where separate panels of the total project can be clamped in position for joining with tack welds.
A hammer form is typically solid construction and used to create metal parts with more detail and direction changes than found on the larger panels of a typical car. The hammer form can be quite simple or intricate (male and female components for example) depending on the complexity of the part being shaped. Unlike the station buck, the metal is struck while on the hammer form. This is a very effective way to create low volume, moderately detailed parts that might be sections of a larger panel. For example, a tail light housing which becomes part of a larger quarter panel,
Often a station buck can be designed with integrated hammer forms as a single unit.
A hammer form is typically solid construction and used to create metal parts with more detail and direction changes than found on the larger panels of a typical car. The hammer form can be quite simple or intricate (male and female components for example) depending on the complexity of the part being shaped. Unlike the station buck, the metal is struck while on the hammer form. This is a very effective way to create low volume, moderately detailed parts that might be sections of a larger panel. For example, a tail light housing which becomes part of a larger quarter panel,
Often a station buck can be designed with integrated hammer forms as a single unit.
How our process works
We will describe this process with a predetermined requirement that an enthusiast needs a panel duplicated as part of a restoration project on an existing vehicle. In our photo gallery we show a project where a passenger side fender is created using the undamaged driver’s fender as reference.
We use digital scanning equipment to capture a 3D image of the surface or part. There are no limitations to size or complexity of the project. The surface need not be from the vehicle being repaired but can be from an identical vehicle. For example, on a vehicle where most of the front sheet metal is damaged, an identical vehicle in another location can be scanned to supply the data for the next step. In our example the drivers’ fender was scanned and the data “mirrored” to create the station buck for the passenger fender. The scanning process is quick, clean and simple no more invasive than taking a picture, however must be done indoors in a light controlled environment.
Once the data has been captured it can be processed to meet the requirements of the customer, in this example the fabrication of a station buck for the passenger fender. This scan data can be further manipulated as required by the project. Examples of this include mirroring, scaling up or down, smoothing of the surface, adding, removing or exaggerating features and orientation in space. Additionally, comparisons to known references and measurements can be extracted.
From the scan data a tool path is created that allows CNC equipment to duplicate what we have developed on the computer screen. The CNC equipment has the ability to move the cutting head in 5 separate directions simultaneously enabling the creation of complex 3 dimensional shapes. In the case of our fender station buck, the project was sectioned into several smaller jobs. The front section of the fender around the headlight and grill was machined in solid wood then the ribs of the station buck were machined by extracting sections from the data, removing material to create the skeletal frame work and adding assembly holes. The final step was to assemble the parts into the station buck.
We use digital scanning equipment to capture a 3D image of the surface or part. There are no limitations to size or complexity of the project. The surface need not be from the vehicle being repaired but can be from an identical vehicle. For example, on a vehicle where most of the front sheet metal is damaged, an identical vehicle in another location can be scanned to supply the data for the next step. In our example the drivers’ fender was scanned and the data “mirrored” to create the station buck for the passenger fender. The scanning process is quick, clean and simple no more invasive than taking a picture, however must be done indoors in a light controlled environment.
Once the data has been captured it can be processed to meet the requirements of the customer, in this example the fabrication of a station buck for the passenger fender. This scan data can be further manipulated as required by the project. Examples of this include mirroring, scaling up or down, smoothing of the surface, adding, removing or exaggerating features and orientation in space. Additionally, comparisons to known references and measurements can be extracted.
From the scan data a tool path is created that allows CNC equipment to duplicate what we have developed on the computer screen. The CNC equipment has the ability to move the cutting head in 5 separate directions simultaneously enabling the creation of complex 3 dimensional shapes. In the case of our fender station buck, the project was sectioned into several smaller jobs. The front section of the fender around the headlight and grill was machined in solid wood then the ribs of the station buck were machined by extracting sections from the data, removing material to create the skeletal frame work and adding assembly holes. The final step was to assemble the parts into the station buck.
What are the advantages to this approach
Speed. The fender project was scanned, processed and fabricated in days not weeks Accuracy. The station buck is mathematically exact from the scanned panel. Repeatable. If needed, several identical station or hammer forms can be created from the same file. Additionally when panels are mirrored symmetry on the vehicle is assured Cost. All this can be archived favorably when compared to costs associated with specialized tradesmen working through traditional processes.
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