AuthorTopic: Designing your own scratch built Rat Rod  (Read 29926 times)

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Offline Grumpyoldman

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Designing your own scratch built Rat Rod
« on: September 23, 2011, 07:21:19 PM »
Designing your own scratch built Rat Rod



Whether you have sticker shock from the high cost of hot rods, or you are just a hardcore do-it-yourself fanatic who would like the challenge of building your own custom-fabricated hot rod body and handcrafted frame this is for you. 

http://www.hotrodders.com/scratch-built/Cover

Offline hotwheels

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Re: Designing your own scratch built Rat Rod
« Reply #1 on: September 23, 2011, 08:34:06 PM »
Very kewl.......
Love building rat rods, driving mustangs, and building websites.

Offline Grumpyoldman

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Re: Designing your own scratch built Rat Rod
« Reply #2 on: September 26, 2011, 11:08:45 AM »
I really wish I had found this e-book before We built my sons 29 Plymouth.. There are so many things I would have done differently. It is a GREAT book well worth a read......

Offline chrisinestes

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Re: Designing your own scratch built Rat Rod
« Reply #3 on: September 26, 2011, 11:22:37 AM »
Wow... That's awesome! Thanks!

Offline cboy

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Re: Designing your own scratch built Rat Rod
« Reply #4 on: September 27, 2011, 07:47:50 AM »
Thanks for posting up this link to the book grumpyoldman.  And thanks to those of you who have clicked over to browse through the book.  Just so everyone knows, the book is available free for on-line reading at the link provided above.  You are also free to download any of the sections or chapters of the book...provided they are not used for commercial resale.

Almost every aspect of building a rod is covered (including interior, upholstery and paint) but the primary focus is on hand fabrication of bodies and chassis.   After building the rods shown below, I am convinced nearly every rodder can do the same or better with just minimal tools and without extensive training or experience.  I had absolutely zero metal working skills when I tackled my first car (the roadster) and I have no elaborate tools in my shop.  I do most of my metal shaping over oak stumps, PVC pipe and a beater bag...or anything else I might have laying around the shop that looks handy.  And every one of my so called metal shaping "secrets" is shown in the book.
 
Here are a couple previews of the builds that are included.

Roadster:







Sedan/delivery/pickup








If any of you have questions about the methods or techniques shown in the various chapters, you can post them up in this thread and I'll try to answer any and all.  And thanks again for the interest in the book shown by rat rod nation.

Dewey

Offline Grumpyoldman

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Re: Designing your own scratch built Rat Rod
« Reply #5 on: September 27, 2011, 08:06:41 AM »
Dewey, No thank you for making such an outstanding e-book. This book should help everyone that spends the time to read it, from the novice to the pro should benefit from your knowledge.
Thanks Again.
George

Offline obama

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Re: Designing your own scratch built Rat Rod
« Reply #6 on: September 27, 2011, 08:35:01 AM »
Purdy creative,
Thanx Dewey,
I will brouse the book before I ask any questions.

Offline chrisinestes

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Re: Designing your own scratch built Rat Rod
« Reply #7 on: September 27, 2011, 09:25:01 AM »
The more I look the book over, the more excited I get. Maybe I'll even tackle building my own body, too. Then I can say I built the WHOLE THING!

Offline chrisinestes

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Re: Designing your own scratch built Rat Rod
« Reply #8 on: September 27, 2011, 09:30:16 AM »
Thanks for posting up this link to the book grumpyoldman.  And thanks to those of you who have clicked over to browse through the book.  Just so everyone knows, the book is available free for on-line reading at the link provided above.  You are also free to download any of the sections or chapters of the book...provided they are not used for commercial resale.

Almost every aspect of building a rod is covered (including interior, upholstery and paint) but the primary focus is on hand fabrication of bodies and chassis.   After building the rods shown below, I am convinced nearly every rodder can do the same or better with just minimal tools and without extensive training or experience.  I had absolutely zero metal working skills when I tackled my first car (the roadster) and I have no elaborate tools in my shop.  I do most of my metal shaping over oak stumps, PVC pipe and a beater bag...or anything else I might have laying around the shop that looks handy.  And every one of my so called metal shaping "secrets" is shown in the book.
 



If any of you have questions about the methods or techniques shown in the various chapters, you can post them up in this thread and I'll try to answer any and all.  And thanks again for the interest in the book shown by rat rod nation.

Dewey

How do I go about downloading this so I can have a printed copy?

Thanks!
Chris

Offline cboy

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Re: Designing your own scratch built Rat Rod
« Reply #9 on: September 27, 2011, 07:23:00 PM »
How do I go about downloading this so I can have a printed copy?

I've never had to do this so off hand I'm not really sure.  I know it can be done because other readers have indicated they have done it.  I'll do some checking tonight and get back. 

Offline cboy

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Re: Designing your own scratch built Rat Rod
« Reply #10 on: September 27, 2011, 08:11:17 PM »
I just tried downloading and here's the result.  I think this may work differently for different people depending upon your browser and your screen resolution.  I used Firefox for this test.

I clicked on the link to the book and then selected a chapter from the left hand column.

Click FILE then select "Save Page As"

I saved the chapter as "Web Page Complete" and I also tested saving it as "Web page HTML only" and as "Text File"

When saved as "Web Page Complete" it includes the pictures while "HTML only" and "Text File" do not save the pictures...although they do save the captions under the pictures.  When you want to view the saved chapter click on it in your directory and it will be brought up in your browser window.

To print the chapter, first click on it to bring it up in your browser.  You can then either print everything on the page or using your cursor you can select everything except the Table of Contents on the left hand side of the page.  Then click FILE and then Print.

If you are printing everything on the page simply proceed with the printing process.

If you are printing a selected area of the page, then one you printer dialog screen you will need to put a check mark in "selected portion" (or whatever wording your particular printer dialog uses).

On my particular browser, screen resolution and printer, the text printed out in a fairly narrow center column and the picture thumbnails came out smaller than what is shown on the screen.  Your results will probably vary.

If you save and print as a "Web page HTML only" it will bring out a somewhat wider column of text.  If you save and print as "Text file" it will print the full width of the page but the photo captions as well as some other extraneous wording will be included right along with the text making things fairly difficult to read.  So I would avoid that particular option.

I'm going to check a bit further with some other folks to see if there is a better way to do this.  If any of the members on here know of a better way feel free to jump in and let us know.







Offline cboy

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Re: Designing your own scratch built Rat Rod
« Reply #11 on: September 27, 2011, 08:58:11 PM »
A little more on downloading and printing the book.

This appears to be a much better way to download, store, and print out the book or specific sections of the book.  First go here http://www.pdfdownload.org/pdf_bookmarklet.html and download the PDF applet as directed.  Then, when you have clicked on one of the chapters of the book go to the FILE menu of your browser and one of your options should now be "Save Page as PDF"

This alternative compresses the file and saves space on your hard drive.  In addition, it seems to reproduce the page quite well and provides a much better printed version when you print from the PDF file.

Hope that all helps.

Offline chrisinestes

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Re: Designing your own scratch built Rat Rod
« Reply #12 on: October 19, 2011, 12:58:21 PM »
I couldn't get it to print with XP and EI, but printed it easily with Windows 7.

Thanks!

Offline hotwheels

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Re: Designing your own scratch built Rat Rod
« Reply #13 on: October 19, 2011, 06:36:30 PM »
Dewey, thank you so much for your contribution to our hobby. It is people like you that give me true excitement about keeping our hobby alive and kicking. Information like you have shared is very important for people to read and understand when it comes to building a ride. Most time's, you do a search and can only find bits and pieces of the needed info. You have slapped it all in one place and i for one thank you for that...........Doug
Love building rat rods, driving mustangs, and building websites.

Offline cboy

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Re: Designing your own scratch built Rat Rod
« Reply #14 on: October 20, 2011, 04:01:28 PM »
I couldn't get it to print with XP and EI, ...

Just so I can help others to do this, what method did you use when you tried XP and EI (and it this actually IE - Internet Explorer or something else with the initials EI)?  Did you download the chapter to your hard drive first and try to print from there or did you try it by printing directly from your browser screen?  Any details on process you used for the failed attempts would be helpful.

Dewey   

Offline chrisinestes

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Re: Designing your own scratch built Rat Rod
« Reply #15 on: October 20, 2011, 04:19:35 PM »
I couldn't get it to print with XP and EI, ...

Just so I can help others to do this, what method did you use when you tried XP and EI (and it this actually IE - Internet Explorer or something else with the initials EI)?  Did you download the chapter to your hard drive first and try to print from there or did you try it by printing directly from your browser screen?  Any details on process you used for the failed attempts would be helpful.

Dewey

Yeah... typo... I meant IE. I just went to print preview under the file tab, gave it a look, then told it to print. It came out just like the text/pictures on the web site.

Offline Greybeards Customs

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Re: Designing your own scratch built Rat Rod
« Reply #16 on: October 20, 2011, 05:06:55 PM »
Very cool !
That's not dust in your eyes ...... it's RUST !!!

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