Museum job
Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2013 8:15 pm
This was a project our shop did for a museum display about automobiles in America. It's a scaled down version of (I think ?) a '64 Ford Galaxie . The car is part of an interactive display for kids that lets them see what it's like to be a mechanic. They can check all the fluids, replace the tires and muffler and a couple of other things. It's been pretty popular with the kids.
The car body is made out of carved 1 pound white styrofoam and covered in a gypsum/acrylic resin. The resin coating is backed with a mesh fabric that is very similar to fiberglass screen, but a lot thicker. The gypsum/ acrylic mix is a very strong, very durable and non-toxic coating that is perfect for museums because there is no off-gassing period of toxic fumes that could damage other sensitive museum artifacts. The coating is basically the same stuff that store mannequins are made out of. The windows are 1/16 th inch Formica sheets glued to the body and caulked in.
i didn't make the body, I'm not that artistic, but I did weld the frame,the pseudo-hydraulic lift and make the tire mounts and front grill. The front grill is made out of 1/2" thick aluminum plate that was cut and drilled as supports for the 1/2" aluminum grill rods. I made a mock up of the grill exterior and bent and fit the pieces to it. The light rings are 1/8th flat stock rolled in a planetary ring roller. Once everything was cut and fit in, I welded it all together and bolted it into plywood pieces that were glued to the inside of the car body.
The car is supposed to be on a rack so the kids can crawl underneath and it's on an angle to make it easier for them to look under the front hood. The whole thing is supported by what looks to be a hydraulic cylinder coming up out of the floor, just like in a real garage. The underside framing is 2 x 3 x 1/8th wall rectangular steel tube. I made a cross piece to act as the frame supports that you can see sticking out the bottom sides ( the yellow stickouts) and this was centered and welded to the car frame. To get the right angle and height, I supported the car frame on four corners at the correct heights and marked my vertical support pieces and welded those to the cross piece. The supports are all hidden by the hydraulic cylinder, which is just a piece of rolled sheet metal welded along the seam and ground smooth. Everything was then welded to the circular base plate which is a piece of 1/4 inch steel plate that I plasma cut to a rough size and ground smooth. The base plate is lag screwed to the floor.
The tire mount are 1/8th inch steel plate that I plasma cut to a rough size and cleaned up on the lathe and are sized to fit the inside of the rims. The tires were trailer tires I bought at Tractor Supply (what a great store!). The rims had four bolt holes that I used for guide pins for placing the tires on the plates. The guide pins were 1/2 inch bolts that weren't threaded all the way up. I cut the heads off and rounded over the cut edge with a radius cutter on the lathe, then bolted the guide pins to the tire mount plates and welded the plates to a stickout pipe on the frame. There was also a threaded pipe in the center of the plate that locked the tire on to the plate. The tire was held on by a threaded end cap.
It's held up pretty well for over a year now and with several thousand kids playing with it every day.
Other Steve
The car body is made out of carved 1 pound white styrofoam and covered in a gypsum/acrylic resin. The resin coating is backed with a mesh fabric that is very similar to fiberglass screen, but a lot thicker. The gypsum/ acrylic mix is a very strong, very durable and non-toxic coating that is perfect for museums because there is no off-gassing period of toxic fumes that could damage other sensitive museum artifacts. The coating is basically the same stuff that store mannequins are made out of. The windows are 1/16 th inch Formica sheets glued to the body and caulked in.
i didn't make the body, I'm not that artistic, but I did weld the frame,the pseudo-hydraulic lift and make the tire mounts and front grill. The front grill is made out of 1/2" thick aluminum plate that was cut and drilled as supports for the 1/2" aluminum grill rods. I made a mock up of the grill exterior and bent and fit the pieces to it. The light rings are 1/8th flat stock rolled in a planetary ring roller. Once everything was cut and fit in, I welded it all together and bolted it into plywood pieces that were glued to the inside of the car body.
The car is supposed to be on a rack so the kids can crawl underneath and it's on an angle to make it easier for them to look under the front hood. The whole thing is supported by what looks to be a hydraulic cylinder coming up out of the floor, just like in a real garage. The underside framing is 2 x 3 x 1/8th wall rectangular steel tube. I made a cross piece to act as the frame supports that you can see sticking out the bottom sides ( the yellow stickouts) and this was centered and welded to the car frame. To get the right angle and height, I supported the car frame on four corners at the correct heights and marked my vertical support pieces and welded those to the cross piece. The supports are all hidden by the hydraulic cylinder, which is just a piece of rolled sheet metal welded along the seam and ground smooth. Everything was then welded to the circular base plate which is a piece of 1/4 inch steel plate that I plasma cut to a rough size and ground smooth. The base plate is lag screwed to the floor.
The tire mount are 1/8th inch steel plate that I plasma cut to a rough size and cleaned up on the lathe and are sized to fit the inside of the rims. The tires were trailer tires I bought at Tractor Supply (what a great store!). The rims had four bolt holes that I used for guide pins for placing the tires on the plates. The guide pins were 1/2 inch bolts that weren't threaded all the way up. I cut the heads off and rounded over the cut edge with a radius cutter on the lathe, then bolted the guide pins to the tire mount plates and welded the plates to a stickout pipe on the frame. There was also a threaded pipe in the center of the plate that locked the tire on to the plate. The tire was held on by a threaded end cap.
It's held up pretty well for over a year now and with several thousand kids playing with it every day.
Other Steve
(not really im just not a ford fan, particularly)
