How To: C15a Wire-3 restoration

[Jordan Baker]

I'll see what I can do but it's not the simplest of construction with how the pieces are all cut and welded together.


Well the plan for today was.....to go out and get all the steel for making the wireless table. However events transpired in keeping me from the shop till 1930hrs. I did manage to cut some parts to basics lengths and also made a few smaller bits. I also made up two of the pass through frames. These mount to the upper cab wall sheet metal.

[Jordan Baker]

Picked up about 87.5% of the steel needed for making a copy of the table. Yesterday I got most of the basic parts cut out. Today I finished making the pull out drawer. It's made from 4 pieces total all 18ga.

Next up will be the small pull out writing table.

[Jordan Baker]

Spent a couple hrs last night in the shop working on the the small pull out writing table. 4 pieces of angle iron all cut, notched and welded just as the original. The table surface is one piece of bent 16ga. I just have to weld on the pull handle and drill two small holes for pivot pins.

The yellow one is the original one I have made my copy from.

[Jordan Baker]

Ive been working away in my spare time on this table. It looks simple but trying to copy exactly how it was fabricated is time consuming. A lot of careful cutting and measuring....or is that measuring then measuring again and then cutting.

Anyway, since taking these two pictures I have got the basic side frames complete. I even tracked down the same kind of chain matching it to the size of the originals.

[Jordan Baker]

Well tonight I managed to finish off building the wireless table from the original I borrowed. I tried my best to copy all of the details of the original.

[Jordan Baker]

Some assembly required. I was extra careful to ensure everything was lined up before tacking the parts into position. It is amazing how parts can appear to be lined up, you clamp and measure and then measure again only to find its out by 1/4" Re clamp and re measure and then weld.

For the table top, after careful study of the hole pattern, there is three sets of holes for the various WS carriers. Some of the holes are 3/8" diameter. I chose to drill most of them only to 1/4" for now. I figured its a lot easier to drill them larger down the road vs having them too big now.

[Jordan Baker]

The two top rails provided me with a bit of work copying. Now if I had a huge press brake it would be simple. Buuut since I don't I needed to make these another way. I ended up using 1/8" angle iron and welding on a thin strip. I used some scrap pieces as a spacer and tacked it on the outside. I then upped the heat on the welder and did small sections along the inside. Once that was done, I ground down the inside to give it a radius bend. On the outside I ground down the excess angle iron. Finally I used a flap disk and worked the two outside corners to give them the profile of being bent on a brake. The first two pictures are my finished piece. The last two pictures are of the initial welding using a spacer pieces to give me the correct inside distance.