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Straighting Sheet Metal?

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Dave

01-05-2003 08:20:28




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Do most of you do your own sheet metal work or sne it out? Do you just keep hammering away until you get it right. I'm working on a DB990 nosecone and anm about ready to start pounding, but I just keep staring at it, figuring out were to start?

Any Tricks?

Thanks, Dave




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Farmer/Paul

01-07-2003 18:05:15




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 Re: Straighting Sheet Metal? in reply to Dave, 01-05-2003 08:20:28  
I am a painter and metal finisher at an International Truck plant,i will try to make it give you a few hints. 1- Most creases have to be take from where they ended to where they start.Working from the edges to the centre and from the back of the crease to the front 2 - Small dents (dings or dongs) are NOT to be hit square in the middle. Start on the outside edge and work around the perimeter until you reach the center ( you can use the strawberry point of body hammer or a phillips screw driver)Be carefull not to hit any harder than necessary. Once you have the panel close, a body file can be used to remove excess metal. 3- when using a dolly do not hold it rock hard, let it bounce back to the work piece between hammer blows ( it will kind of slap), and do not hit the dolly directly with the hammerhave it off center of where you strike with the hammer. 4 - It takes a lot of Patience and Practice. If you can get an old car fender to practice on you will learn the basics before takling your beloved tractor. I just did a tractor for a fella ( paint and some sheetmetal work), who said the hood of his Oliver had been damaged and he let a guy work on it. It was the last piece I recived just prior to paint. It was ruined the REPAIRED area had the surface of a golf ball. I told him it would be cheaper for him to find a new hood than to have us repair the origonal ( the metal was stretched and oil canned) It would have been about 40 hours of shrinking and dolly work to get it back in shape. I hope this is of some help farmer/Paul

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Red Dave

01-06-2003 06:01:23




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 Re: Straighting Sheet Metal? in reply to Dave, 01-05-2003 08:20:28  
I'm no sheet metal worker or body man, but I do most of my own work anyway. I'm sure that somebody who knows what they are doing could do it faster, better and easier than I do it. I use it as therapy, put on some hearing protection and beat the heck out of it.
Seriously, get yourself a set of hammers and dollys and a book that tells you what each one is for (expanding, shrinking etc.) and experiment with them. With a little practice you can probably get pretty good. I can get things close enough to finish with a thin layer of body putty to make it look good.

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David

01-06-2003 03:06:05




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 Re: Straighting Sheet Metal? in reply to Dave, 01-05-2003 08:20:28  
I just bang away but try to use oxy-propane heat to get metal red hot. It is much easier to shape it. I use a variety of tools including a ball end hammer. It is never perfect. Don't know whether a panel beater would get it perfect either though and would certainly charge me a lot for trying.



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Slowpoke

01-05-2003 22:46:21




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 Re: Straighting Sheet Metal? in reply to Dave, 01-05-2003 08:20:28  
There are lots of body repair manuals around. Some deal with leading and some with fiberglass repairs.
I've only tried lead work on some small dents that can't be removed and it works good. Never tried fiberglass.
Sometimes I use various shapes of wood or metal which match the contour of the damaged piece when new. Then I try to press or force it back to shape without hammering. This method only works on smaller repairs. The library may have some books on the subject.

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fred

01-05-2003 17:49:24




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 Re: Straighting Sheet Metal? in reply to Dave, 01-05-2003 08:20:28  
Depends on what you are working on. I am a self taught body person. On flat metal, a lot of times I will lay it flat on the concrete floor of the shop and start tapping away with the pointed end of a body hammer which will shrink the metal and the concrete floor will help to keep metal straight. On smaller pieces you can do the same but back it up with a flat piece of heavy metal or the head of a hammer.

I am sure that someone who does this for a living would bust a gut watching me so I keep the door on the shop locked!

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Bill in TN

01-05-2003 14:57:20




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 Re: Straighting Sheet Metal? in reply to Dave, 01-05-2003 08:20:28  
I just bang away....



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Dave - Thanks Guys!

01-06-2003 13:58:12




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 Re: Re: Straighting Sheet Metal? in reply to Bill in TN, 01-05-2003 14:57:20  
Thanks guys, I have just been banging away, taking my time and feeling pretty good about the results so far. Thanks Again.



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