<VV> Replacement part quality

[airvair]

Being a diemaker, I can vouch for what Don E and Lon have to say. Dies
have to be tuned to what stock thickness is used, and how many parts are
expected. Dies have to have proper clearance to provide for the space
occupied by the part being made. Further, the more parts to be stamped
or harder material used, and harder steel has to be used in the die
construction. To make any particular formed part, you need at least two
dies. And dies are expensive to build. The ones I work on (automotive)
average around a quarter mill a die. At one time there could be anywhere
from two to eight or nine dies in a line. (Though the average today is
around three or four line dies, plus the blanker die.)

This is why repros are sometimes not made like the originals, or not
made at all.

-Mark

A die made to use 1/32 stock probably would not work with 1/16 stock. 
The clearances would not be correct and heavy material could break the
die.
DonE

corvairs wrote:
> 
> Well, without knowing where the hanger came from it's hard to comment.
> So far as I know all the hanger repros on the market are correct guage.
> BUT, in answer to the die stamping question - there COULD be a huge
> difference in die costs between 1/8" inch material and 1/16th. Everyone
> knows that the repro door sill plates are of softer aluminum than
> original - but that had to be because original  hardness would have made
> the tooling prohibitivly expensive and therefore impossible- Lon
> 
> www.corvairunderground.com
> 
> Ron F Hinz wrote:
> 
> >My point was that if someone made a die
> >for the muffler brackets and it works fine with 1/32" stock, would it also
> >work OK using original thickness stock of 1/16"?  GM didn't do things that
> >were unnecessary.
> >RonH