Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 12:03 am
Just to aly some mis-guided theories here - Press tools were and are used to manufacture car panels. Simple bending machines are for just that - simple bending !! If you want complex panels with contours then you need a press with a progression tool. This is why you cannot just go and make a panel easily. The tooling costs thousands if its made correctly but will give many thousands of parts which are to a repeatable standard. As BMC says earlier, its just as easy to make it right as to make it wrong. Jonathon found out how much a tool would cost to make boot lids - Personally I think that was cheap, but as with everything the investment has to be up front and the risks (or sales) guaranteed. I for one am PI**ED off the the rubbish panels that are available these days and I'm not just talking Minors - Its the same for all the crap we seem to be gettin flooded with from the far east. When will we realise that we have to look after ourselves and not just buy the cheapest crap we can find ?????