Looking straight on at the metal's edge, I transferred the pencil marks on front, to the back-side edges with the steel pointed pen.
Then taking the smaller of the two back-wall pieces, I inserted it back-side up into the metal brake. (To make a seam, the first direction to bend tells you which side to place up or down and you just have to think it through - at this point I was still trying to visualize the whole thing).
The bending brake isn't the best, but it was cost-effective and is quite serviceable. It'll do.
It bent the first edge 90 degrees. Nice and square, but not too sharp, with a good bouquet and a nice mellow after taste. (I'm a beer guy - see I don't know how to even START talking wine).
So with only a 90 degree bend, I used the rubber mallet to finish it over into a 180, placing a piece of metal in between as I did so, leaving a proper receiver gap in the fold and to prevent a sharp bend that might start a tear.
And then I made a kind of clamped jig on the bench edge to do the rest of the bending, using the metal insert piece and the rubber mallet and a scraper to start a given lift before completing a bend-over with the mallet. I'm not even sure of the order of these now - I'm still so confused.
And I looked at the bending brake and thought,"well that was stupid. I guess I'll take it back". Just kidding. That's not what I bought it for. I just thought I'd try it out. ;)
So the new seams shaped up nicely and here's what I had.
Then up went the panels and were stapled in place.
And see on this last one where I tried to hammer (with a steel flat bar) a lock bead into it (where the paint is lifting)? That's before I realized the lock beads are on the sidewall and front-wall seams, but not here on the back-wall seams, where the pieces separate from one another. It was just here on this left side that I made this boo-boo, and not on the center and right-side pieces. So that's just our secret and I'll thank you to keep it between us. Maybe nobody else will notice after it's all painted and stuff.
So I stood back and marveled (that's how DW and I keep going so hard all the time - we take our moments to marvel).
Okay enough marveling, get to work! This camper ain't gonna finish itself. I changed up the work area, got out my new donor metal and cut three pieces to size.
I didn't have to use the biggest sheet (the one that was most beat up). And between the two smaller donors I got what I needed, AND an extra scrap to use as a test piece to make this on my new brake!
I got me some lessons learned out of it and set it aside. The most obvious lesson was to make edge marks in conjunction with exactly where you want the pattern to line up on the final piece.
First I sanded the three "user" sheets (while they were smooth).
Then, noting how the pattern should align with the siding above, I held them in place on a suitable diamond section of camper wall and made small marks on the donor metal edges - with the correct line direction for "on-the-brake" visualizing. There was one line this way and one line that way and on and on and on until all three pieces had their edge markings for proper orientation and bending in the brake.
Then one piece at a time, I made the bends in one direction, shifting the piece out and up as I went, each time loosening and re-tightening the c-clamp holding the top steel piece of the tool down tight.
Flipping them over, I used the rubber mallet to flatten their shape.
Then I bent them the other direction and flattened them back out and hung them on the wall.
Marvel.
Check! Then they came back down and I put the seam bends in THOSE. And sanded once more on the bench for good measure.
Then THOSE were stapled in place.
And with identifying seams top and bottom - voila - instant back-wall color band! This might be an appropriate place to see this again.
I'll be following the same color pattern as shown in this brochure, but now with the addition of a band on the back-wall.
The last piece to go up is along the bottom. Some of this will be visible, but very little. The space is 3" in width. There will be a protective steel (as original), or more likely aluminum angle bumper around this corner. I think a 2" angle. But there will also be an approximate 1" flange overhang for both the access door and the entry door. So perhaps only one inch visible below the color band seams. That was acceptable enough for me to choose the home-center flashing, so I could avoid several vertical seams by piecing in other scrap aluminum.
With the original camper bumper on the bench to act as a hammering guide, I folded the donor piece over and in half.
Made more marks and ran it though the brake.
Inserted it folded-side up to avoid gravity-fed trapped moisture and stapled it in place.
Marvel right.
Marvel left.
And with that - the metal was up!
