I know we all need some new tools to kick off the new year! Here's some I've aquired recently that I would recommend:

Shrinking disk. This is probably the best 40.00 I have spent after the Covell videos. It does an amazing jub of smoothing a ripply panel. Remove paint from any dented metal. Bump out any dents with a plastic torpedo mallet (see below) to the proper contour, doesn't matter if it gets a little ripply and bumpy (don't get too carried away tho!). Mount the disk on a 7" 6K RPM or better angle grinder backed up with a 6" rubber sanding disk. Run the disk over the area like you were sanding it, concentrating on ~ 6" square area, using moderate pressure for ~ 30 sec it only has to get warm enough to steam when hit with water. Cool it down with a wet cloth or blast of compressed air. After covering the panel once over bump up any low spots (areas not touched by the wheel) with a pick hammer, the smaller end of a torpedo mallet, or a bullseye pick (see below) and rubber or steel dolly. now use the shrinking disk again. The disk will continue lowering the high spots while revealing the low spots. continue this process until the entire surface has been burnished smooth. Source: ebay store, <40.00.

HMW plastic torpedo mallets (forming hammers). Teardrop headed mallets that have enough weight to us for bumping out dents and for forming metal in conjunction with a sand bag, wood hammer form or stump. Can also be used "on dolly" to raise up low spots without stretching the metal as much as a steel hammer will do. the smaller ends can be used as a peen or pick hammer for bumping up smaller low spots or for shaping concaved areas. These work especially well alternating with the shrinking disk. I bought a set of 3 sizes from Summit racing for ~ the price of one from other sellers. After using for a short while I modified mine to correct a shortcoming I found. The handles were round, and as I used the hammers I found I often lost track of the direction the head was pointing if I was working from the back side of the panel, and misplace the blow. I used a belt sander to sand two flats on the sides of the handle parallel with the axis of the head. I could now feel the direction the head was pointing, and the unvarnished wood was less slippery as a side benefit. Source: Summit Racing, 70.00 set of 3 torpedo mallets (also available individually).

30" bending brake. This is another one of these "how can they sell it that cheap?" items! A rudimentary but highly useful sheet metal bending brake that can handle up to 30" lengths of 16 ga sheet steel or thicker in shorter lengths to ~ 120*. It bolts or clamps to a table/stand/bench and requires a couple 3" HD C clamps to clamp down the hold down bar. No need to make wavy bends with a hammer and block of wood or other such bending methods when making patch panels etc. This tool will also pay for itself in a use or two.
Source: ebay store Tools4shop, 49.00 BIN.

Shrinking/stretching machine set. This is a little more pricey tool set than the previous ones, but if you are making patches and/or customizing body work they are a must have! There are ways to do the same work without these machines, but they do what they do so well with nearly effortless speed and accuracy that you will get plenty of use out of them. In researching these, I found two versions, a made in USA version and a Chinese knock off. Since the quality of the jaws tool steel and machining is critical to it's operation and replacement jaws may be needed eventually I decided to go with the US made ones. It is possible to buy one machine body and a set of each type jaws, and switch them back and forth, but you will soon find that for many forming operations you alternate between shrinking and stretching so having two bodies a jaws ready to go is a great benefit. I was able to track down a source that sold both machines as a set for about the same price most others were selling one body with 2 jaw sets, and they threw in a nice stand to boot (as well as 2 basic how to use their tools videos!), I bought the 2 machine set. I am very pleased with the quality and performance of these machines! The day they arrived I used them to help form a complex patch shape I needed and had been struggling with forming. It took just a few minutes to do the majority of the shaping. Source: ebay store Tools4shop, 359.00 BIN.

 

Thanks AXracer - this post is very timely as I am about 6 months away from finishing the vast majority of the mechanical work and beginning body work on the cab of my 54 F-100. I have no tools for body work or experience and this helps with one of those problems immensely!

Follow-up question: How big are the two machines you talked about last? Will they need dedicated floor space each? How much? Or are they bench top sized?

 

My $0.02 cdn -

I would also suggest a set of body hammers and dollys. You can usually get a set of 3 hammers and 4 dollys from someone like Eastwood for about $70.00

For cutting sheet metal to make patches, etc I am very impressed with an electric shear I bought from Harbour Freight for about $40.00 It was made by Chicago Electric and like the electric die grinder I bought ( same place and same mfgr) I was/am very impressed with the quality and strength of the tool.

I don't have one (yet) but I see a very low priced bead roller available through Harbour freight and also through Eastwood that would be well worth it's $100.00 price tag. There is a thread on the HAMB website with pictures making one into a floor stand model that is very impressive.

 

They are quite small. Both heads mount side by side facing opposite directions on a single plate ~4x6" the handles are each ~24" long but slide in/pull out. the stand base is ~ 12 x30" made out of 1-1/2" tubing and the post is ~30" tall and simply slips into a socket in the base. It would take ~ 30 sec to break it down an put it in a box ~ 12 x 30 x 6" and weigh < 20#.

Once again I would highly recommend buying Ron Covell's video "Basic Techniques for Working with Steel". www.covell.biz 40.00 on DVD or 20.00 on VHS (clearance until sold out). He uses all but the shrinking disk and more in the video. I cannot say enough about how good this video is.
I just received a copy of his "Chopping and Sectioning" video yesterday. What I've seen so far is very good, but it assumes you already know the techniques shown in the other one.

 

FWIU The HF bead roller needs a lot of stiffening to make into a useable tool. The Metalshapers Assoc site (www.allshops.org/) has an article on reworking this machine. It also uses an odd arbor size for the rollers, but many of the roller suppliers also offer bushings to adapt std rollers to the HF machine. Mittler makes a far better industrial quality unit in several different throat sizes, 24, 36, 42" that accepts std rollers and is far better than the HF unit. It sells for 400.00 in manual models and 525.00 in electric powered.

 

I do use a lot of additional body tools as well, these were just a few recent aquistions.
I have bought the majority of my body hammers and dollies used, on ebay for < 1/3 the price of new. A few minutes work with a grinder and sander made them good as new. I have also made, adapted or reworked other tools and made dollies and anvils from steel blocks and cutoffs, short sections of I beams, and RR track I picked up at the local scrap yard.

 

Ax,

Yah, I was aware of the flexing issue. The mods on both Metalshapers (great forum) and HAMB both deal with that issue......

Ax - us guys with kids can't afford $500.00 for a bead roller, we can only afford the $100. unit cause the other $400 went for groceries or bail....

 

I bought a used stud welder and slide hammer on ebay. Works great for those dents that you can't get to the backside of. (that's my excuse anyway for a new toy!)

 

Btw, the Covell catalog has bead roller dies for the HF machine, or maybe it was a spacer to make them work, I don't remember. AFA hammers and dollies are concerned, there IS a difference between the HF cheapies and good quality units. The Covell video is still half price for VHS, $20 plus shipping. My wife, rhino boy, and I watched it the other night, good info. You'll need to watch it several times to really catch all the tricks.

 

I agree, I've watched ~ 6 times already, and notice something new each time.
The HF dolly set that includes the rubber heel dolly is quite servicable as is their slap hammer. It's a little light for real serious work tho. I'll be making myself a couple heavier ones as soon as I run across a car spring leaf. a spoon dolly or two are also real handy for getting in tight spaces. I recently made a long picking hammer from a piece of 1/2" rod and an old large screwdriver for a handle, as well as a special small tool I needed to acess a tight spot out of an old long cold chisel.

 

I've been looking at these lately from Eastwood. I've also set some money aside for a couple Covell videos this weekend.

 

here's another tool needed for my 83 F250 with all of its small rust spots(dang 80's paint flake)as it saves time over sanding. Spotblaster w/various head sizes.

 

Havi - I used the contour gages from Eastwood. Very handy. They don't lock in position, however. I just put a piece of masking tape on the other edge to hold all the little blades where they belong once I get a contour. In some cases, I transferred the shape onto a piece of cardboard and used that, especially when I needed more than one contour at a time.

 

thanks for the tips, Randy. I planned on using them to transfer onto tag/card board and bring the template to work for the plasma table operator to make steel copies. Kinda like a jig setup, for what I dunno yet.

 

If you get the chopping and sectioning video you'll see them use a large contour gauge to plan the contour of the new roof skin. Doesn't have the resolution if those blade style ones for tight shapes but would be great for larger flowing shapes. It's like a large flexible french curve, so you can even design a curve in space as they do and lock it to use as a template.