AND HOW ABOUT YOUR -  BELLYPAN, ASHTRAY, GLOVEBOX, SIDE COVER, FENDER SKIRTS, YOUR "LEGENDS" RACE CAR or ANY MISCELLANEOUS PANEL  

MANY PHOTOS HERE ARE COMPLIMENTS OF Fergie Rodine AT

http://www.hotrodlouvers.com/index.htm

 THE RULES 

In order to keep old reliable running for another 50 years we must follow some simple rules

(1) UNFORTUNATELY, NO STAINLESS STEEL. (RUINS DRILL BITS TO)

(2) 18 GAUGE MILD STEEL OR LESS. MOST BODY PANELS FIT THIS CATEGORY. ALUMINUM IS FINE, HOWEVER, THE CORNERS MAY TEAR ON THE LOUVER DUE TO METAL STRETCHING.

(3) SHEET METAL "MUST" BE FREE OF - PAINT, BODY FILLER, UNDERCOATING & SOUND DEADENING COATINGS.

(4) AREA TO BE PUNCHED SHOULD BE FREE OF DENTS OR WRINKLES. IT'S MUCH EASIER TO REPAIR THOSE PRIOR TO PUNCHING AND BESIDES, THEY MAY INTERFERE  WITH THE PROCESS.

THINGS TO REMEMBER

(1) CURVED PANELS ETC. MAY IN SOME CASE DICTATE THE LIMITS TO INSTALLING LOUVERS. TIGHT CURVES AND AREAS THAT ARE NOT ACCESSIBLE FROM BOTH SIDES FOR INSTANCE. COMMON SENSE SHOULD ANSWER THAT QUESTION.

(2) IF YOU HAVE UNDER HOOD BRACING, IT MAY BE IN THE WAY. YOU MUST REMOVE IT AND REINSTALL IT AFTER THE LOUVERS ARE INSTALLED. (See picture to the left)

(3) YOU MAY WANT TO FABRICATE SOME KIND OF AN UNDER HOOD TRAY  TO CATCH & REDIRECT RAIN WATER IF YOU ARE CONCERNED WITH THAT ISSUE

(4) MANY  LATE MODEL VEHICLES OR PANELS MADE OF 20 GAUGE OR THINNER SHEET METAL MAY SUFFER SOME DIE DAMAGE WHEN STAMPING. THESE LIGHTER GAUGES ARE SUBJECT TO STRETCHING AND MAY SHOW DIMPLES FROM THE OUTER EDGE PRESSURE OF THE DIE BODY. WHILE THESE MARKS ARE VISIBLE, THEY CAN BE FILLED AND DRESSED UP WITH A LIGHT COATING OF BODY FILLER. THE FULL PICTURE OF A LATE MODEL HOOD TO THE LEFT SHOWS THE OVERALL NICE APPEARANCE OF SUCH AN EXAMPLE WHILE THE CLOSE UP SHOWS THOSE TELLTALE DIE MARKS ON THE SAME HOOD

(5) THE INSIDE EDGES  OF THE LOUVER OPENING MAY NEED SOME DRESSING. THIS CAN BE DONE IN A JIFFY WITH A SMALL FILE OR HEAVY GRIT EMORY CLOTH

(6) THERE ARE LIMITS TO THE LENGTH OF THE WORK PIECE. THROAT DEPTH ON MY PRESS IS 40 INCHES.  EXAMPLE - IN THE CASE OF A HOOD, WITH THE LOUVER OPENINGS FACING TO THE REAR (TOWARD WINDSHIELD), MEASURE FROM THE REAR EDGE OF THE HOOD FORWARD. IF THE DISTANCE IS NO LONGER THAN 40" TO WHERE THE ROW OF LOUVERS WILL START ON THE FRONT OF THE HOOD, IT SHOULD WORK FINE. MOST VEHICLE WILL WORK JUST FINE.  SOME EXCEPTIONS ARE LARGE HOODS SUCH AS THOSE FOUND ON PETERBUILT & KENWORTH ETC. TRACTORS.

HOW MUCH DO THEY COST ?

TO CALCULATE A ROUGH COST ON YOUR NEEDS, FIGURE 10 LOUVERS PER FOOT

WITH TYPICAL JOB LAYOUT & STRAIGHT ROWS, THE COST IS $3.00 PER LOUVER

ALSO SEE "UNIVERSAL LOUVER PANELS" FURTHER DOWN PAGE

PLEASE READ THE EXCEPTIONS BELOW

DIAGONAL ROWS MAY BE EXTRA DUE TO ADDITIONAL LAYOUT TIME AND EXTRA CARE THAT MUST BE TAKEN WHEN PUNCHING. NO MORE THAN 25 CENTS PER LOUVER SHOULD COVER THAT COST. IN MOST CASE, NO EXTRA CHARGE SHOULD BE NEEDED.

LAYING OUT AND MAKING THE FIRST PUNCH IN EACH ROW IS THE TIME CONSUMING FACTOR.  IF YOU NEED 4 ROWS OF 12 LOUVERS EACH vs 12 ROWS OF 4 LOUVERS EACH, IT WILL TAKE 3 TIMES AS LONG TO DO THE 12 ROW LAYOUT AND STARTER PUNCH.

THE "TYPICAL" JOB AS MENTIONED ABOVE IS THE 4 ROWS-12 LOUVERS.  AGAIN, IN MOST CASES I WON'T CHARGE ANY EXTRA, HOWEVER, KEEP THIS IN MIND SHOULD IT ARISE.

UNIVERSAL LOUVERS PANELS

 3" or 4" louvers now available 

HERE'S A NICE OPTION ! - YOU CAN PURCHASE MY PREPUNCHED LOUVER PANELS. AS SEEN BELOW, YOU WILL EXPERIENCE A CONSIDERABLE SAVINGS OVER HAVING A HOOD OR PANEL CUSTOM PUNCHED NOT TO MENTION THE COST & HASSLE OF SHIPPING & HANDLING IF YOU ARE A CONSIDERABLE DISTANCE FROM MY SHOP

WHILE I STILL CAN DO SOME MINOR CUSTOM MODIFICATIONS FOR THE DISCOUNT COST ON THESE PANELS, REMEMBER,  THE SAVINGS IS REALIZED FROM THE FACT THAT I HAVE LITTLE SETUP AND ACTUAL PUNCHING TIME INVOLVED. FOR INSTANCE, I COULD PUT 2 OR 3 ROWS OF LOUVERS ON THE SAME PANEL FOR NO ADDITIONAL COST PER LOUVER

SPACING BETWEEN EACH LOUVER IS  ALWAYS THE SAME, SO QUANTITY OF LOUVERS AND THE LENGTH OF THE ROW IS RELATIVE . YOU MUST DECIDE EITHER HOW MANY LOUVERS YOU WANT IN A ROW  OR HOW LONG YOU WANT THE ROW OF LOUVERS TO BE. 

BELOW ARE SAMPLES OF BOTH "STRAIGHT" & "SLANTED" LOUVER PANELS. THE DESCRIPTION WITH THE PHOTOS WILL GIVE YOU DIMENSION DETAILS SO THAT YOU CAN CONFIGURE YOUR APPLICATION

THE PANEL CONSIST OF 18 GAUGE STEEL & COMES TO YOU IN A BARE METAL FINISH

WHILE YOU MAY WISH TO DO SOME DETAIL SANDING & FILING, THESE PANEL DO NOT SUFFER DIE EDGE DIMPLES AS THE LIGHTER GAUGE METALS DO, MENTIONED ABOVE UNDER THE "THINGS TO REMEMBER" COLUMN

I UNDERSTAND THIS MAY SEEM CONFUSING SO JUST EMAIL OR CALL ME WITH ANY QUESTIONS

tgoo426193@aol.com          (717) 514-4350

START YOUR OWN LOUVER BUSINESS. LOUVERS ARE NOT JUST FOR CARS & TRUCKS. READ MORE ABOUT MY NEW LOUVER PUNCH PRESS BELOW & TAKE A LOOK AT THE PICTURES

10-Ton Commercial Duty Air over Hydraulic operated Louver Press. While commonly used to install louvers in those nostalgic Hot Rods & Lead Sled body panels, it can also be used to install ventilation louvers for industrial applications such as enclosed equipment cabinets where the customer may be doing a custom installation and such a cabinet may not be available

This press is newly built using all currently available parts & accessories to insure that replacement parts will continue to be available in the future. While these individual parts & assemblies are available, I haven't seen anyone offer a "Complete", ready to use, louver press of this capacity.

You can buy all the materials and try to build it yourself but you may find you it cost you over $3000 and you've still gotta put it all together. The heavy wall steel tubing needed can cost well over a dollar and inch (not a misprint). It is then a task in itself trying to align the upper & lower dies to obtain a precision cut. It's a long road back once you've welded it all in place and find that the intense heat warped an integral part of the ram assembly

There are ready to use smaller versions on the market but work piece size capacities are limited. I hope this one will fill the needs of both my customers and myself

CLICK ON THE PICTURES BELOW !!

IF YOU WANT TO JUSTIFY THE COST, CONSIDER THIS - The average hood will get 75 or 80 louvers. I charge $3.00 per louver. Lets use 75 x $3.00 = $225.00. That means that after doing 15 or 16 hoods, you've paid for the machine. With little to no maintenance, It's mostly just your time involved and from my own experience, that's about a hundred bucks an hour. It could be a great evening & weekend income and you can keep your daytime job

The unit weighs in at around 600 lbs. and will have to be shipped by a freight carrier. Approx. cost can range from $250 to $650 here in the U.S. I don't know just what may be involved to a Canadian location as I've never experienced that as of yet. Those costs will be the responsibility of the buyer. Anyone within a reasonable distance from me is more than welcome to pick it up in person and we'll get you loaded

The throat depth on this unit is 40".  As an example, this means that if you lay a tape measure on your hood, starting at the rear edge (windshield end on most cars), and measure toward the front of the vehicle 40 inches, that is how far forward on the hood you will be able to punch louvers. This should be enough to cover most of your jobs. If the need arises, the dies can be turned around, thus giving you another 40".  In this case, there are some limitations and the work piece must also be able to fit within the throat height of 12"

Louver die sets are available in, 1", 2", 3", 4" & 5" wide. You will get "1" set of your choice with the press. The pictures include an example of the detailed dimensions of a 3 inch louver. All the dimensions are the same on all 5 louvers sizes with the exception of only the "width" of the louver which is of course 3" on the example

Please take a look at the included pictures. They contain notations explaining some of what is seen on each photo. Following are the specs. of the press. If I've missed anything or you have any questions, just email or call me at (717) 514-4350  My name is Terry Goodman

SPECIFICATIONS OF THE 10-TON LOUVER PUNCH PRESS

* THROAT DEPTH -  40"

* WEIGHT -  APPROX. 600 lbs.

* DIMENSIONS AS SEEN FROM THE SIDE - 51" WIDE X 78" TALL

* PUMP - AIR OVER HYDRAULIC, 100 psi max. PRESSURE REQUIRED

* CAPACITY - 18 Gauge MILD STEEL MAXIMUM. (Suggested)

* LOUVER DIES - 1 SET INCLUDED,  1", 2", 3", 4", 5" AVAILABLE

PRICE - $3495 (Complete, Just add air)

Additional Die Sets cost from $425 to $450