PANELBEATING BASICS

[danger]

When I came to this site I didn’t know shit. Almost a decade has passed and I’ve picked up a few things.

Figured I’d write an article with respect to basic panelwork from a back yard point of view.

Please bear in mind I am NOT A PROFESSIONAL and I’m 95% self taught with a few tips been shown to me by mates in the trade and youtube... Nobody has really corrected me before so I may have bad habits. I do not want to seem a “know-it-all” because I know I don’t.

Also, wear your safety gear. Pulling steel out of your eyes is shit and you’ll be subconsciously twice as motivated to keep working if you cut down the noise of grinding etc with earmuffs. Also I wear leather gloves while welding if I’m holding the panel and while doing steel fab work.

Feel free to add to this, contradict anything I say or tell me I’m doing stuff wrong.

There are too many different scenarios for me to try explain so I’m going to break it down into sections. I’ll start by going over the powertools I use, followed by hand tools, Then paint and prep products and hopefully I’ll finish with an example of a rust patch or something

BASIC POWER TOOLS

SANDER POLISHER

The one I use is a Chinese copy of a Makita 9227. Cost me a third of the price, uses Makita replacement motor brushes and hasn’t let me down yet. 1200w and variable speed.Cord pulled out once and the plastics a bit shit but I’m not complaining. Has an m14 thread for attachments. On it in the pic it has a wire cup brush. I use it for removing really thick patches of bog. I’ll detail its other uses below:

NYLON STRIP DISC (didn't have one at time of pic)

For large flat panels, these are the best. I use 180mm Velcro ones that attach to the pad for my polisher/sander. They put very little heat into the metal so a low warping risk and are very effective on all paints and fillers. My polisher sander has variable speed which is good as some paints melt, smear and clog up your pads if you strip them at higher RPM. You can do a whole car with one of these if you’re careful. But as soon as you touch any trim holes, rust holes, edges etc they will tear to pieces. They leave a very smooth steel surface

SANDING DISC (and backing plate)

I sometimes start using 180mm sanding discs on thick paint/filler before I finish stripping them with a nylon disc as they are much cheaper. You need a backing plate sold separately. I usually use 40-60grit for stripping paint. They gouge steel roughly which is good if you need a roughened surface for paint to grip onto.

POLISHING HEAD

You can buy different grade heads for either cutting compound or polish. I use a midrange one for both cause I’m cheap. Its worth it spending money on quality brands though.

ANGLE GRINDER

You get what you pay for. My hitachi lasted me 10 years till 2011. I then killed 3 warehouse grinders in a month before buying a cheap black and decker. Its survived pretty well so far. All under warranty anyway so when it dies I’ll go grab another off the shelf. I go for 100mm as there are a lot of cheap discs around and you get into small spaces easier.

Also although not OHS friendly, I always remove the shields to giver better visibility and get into smaller spaces. All the more reason to use safety gear. On my grinder I use:

NYLON STRIP DISC

These are very good for stripping smaller areas and curves etc around holes you’d want to avoid with a 180mm disc. The grinder runs much faster than the polisher so the paint is more likely to melt and they really fly to bits if you hit trim holes etc. These are also very good for removing surface rust that isn’t deep and leave a very smooth surface.

LINISHING/SANDING DISC

You can buy more expensive ones but I buy the cheap packs of 10 from mitre 10. These are great for tidying welds and removing surface rust. Not so great on paint removal as they often melt the paint pretty quickly and put a lot more heat into the panel. It is possible to shrink your panels using the heat these apply but I don’t recommend it.

GRINDING DISC

I keep these for when I'm fabricating but I don’t use these on panels. They’re usually overpriced, too coarse for panelwork and if I’m looking to grind on the face of the disc I’ll use the linishing ones above.

3MM CUTTING DISC

Once again, OHS will hate me but I buy these 10 packs of “cutting only” 3mm thick discs for my grinding duties. They are slightly less coarse grit size than the grinding discs above so leave a nicer job. Also being skinnier they can do finer detail work. I use these for grinding on the edge and softy on the side. Also as you have a pack of 10 you don’t have to worry about the decreasing diameter of the disc in some situations like you would with one “grinding disc” I use these for grinding ugly welds, detail grinding and deep surface rust.

As far as I’m concerned they are safe for grinding PROVIDED YOU KNOW HOW TO USE A GRINDER.

The grinder works by sanding away the metal where it comes in contact with the disc. It is not like a knife, you don’t need to apply pressure and push it through. Just give it gentle pressure and let it work its way through. If you apply too much pressure you risk damaging your work, having the discs fly apart and you’ll also go through discs a lot faster. So don’t rush things... Take your time.

(sorry if that’s condescending but I’ve seen plenty of retards leaning heavily on their grinders)

CUTTING DISC

I use 1mm thick cutting discs. There is no way I’d wanna cut 3mm trenches in my panels with the ones above... Once again just let it work its way through. Your work will be alot more accurate if you're gentle and don’t rush...

DRILL

I kill drills so only replace them with cheap ones. Using wire wheels on your drill subjects the driveshaft to more sideways pressure than it was designed to take when using drill bits. This means you’ll shag the bearing around the end of your driveshaft and it’ll become sloppy. Still, try buy one with a decent chuck as there is nothing more frustrating than a self loosening drill when you’re working (like the one above).

WIRE WHEELS

I use these for detail bare metalling where I cant use a nylon disc as it will snag etc. Also in channels and tight curves that are hard to get into. Wear goggles and shoes... Dont say I didn’t warn you if you don’t. Also, if you find its not removing paint well as the wires have bent away from the direction of rotation, change the direction of the drill. The wire wheel will be like new again. Awesome for getting rid of surface rust and mild pitting as well.

PANEL DRILL BITS

I buy the cheap double ended HSS 5mm ones in bulk. If you waste money on flash titanium coated things you’re a fool. These work just as well. If you’re drilling a lot of holes let your bits cool down occasionally. Once they change colour from heat they’ll need sharpened/thrown away. I use these for spotwelds etc where I don’t care if I drill right through.

On that note, car spotwelds should be no smalled than 8mm... Some older cars use 5mm but I use these as a locator for my step drills and for drilling out deep rust pits.

STEP DRILL BIT

These things are awesome. I use them as small holesaws and to widen spotweld holes till I’ve drilled out the weld. Pretty hard to blunt them also.

SPOT WELD DRILL BIT

This worked well, then it blunted, then I broke it. It originally had a spring loaded steel locator spike in the centre that would locate it to a punch hole well. I'll get another for jobs where I cant afford to drill right through.

AUTOMATIC CENTRE PUNCH

Figured I’d include this in the drill section. Worth buying. Punch yourself a locator for drilling in seconds. Also good for marking conrods etc when rebuilding engines and breaking car windows.

POWER SANDING BLOCK

I’m owed a good DA sander but I’ll probably never see it. I use this power sanding block with 40grit sandpaper (I buy 10m rolls) to shape filler on difficult curves etc. Its not good enough to do finishing sanding to a quality I’m happy with.

MIG WELDER

I got this cheap with a broken reel years ago. At 100amp max it’s great for panelwork but pretty useless for fabricating anything over 3mm. I have an owner CO2 bottle and run 0.6mm CO2 friendly wire. I would love to make the change to argoshield if I could afford it. Argoshield produces a much cleaner weld with a lot less splatter.

COMPRESSOR

My compressor is a bit of a joke. Has died during paintjobs before and barely supplies enough air but it is all I have at the moment.

DIEGRINDER

I use this on fiddly jobs where I can’t fit my angle grinder into the space required.

That’ll do for tonight. I have more powertools like jigsaws, saber saws etc but there is nothing they’ll do that the tools I’ve listed above cant...

Will do hand tools next when I have time

[mikuni]

This is extremely sweet. If people are keen I might sticky this once it has a bit more info, as this sort of stuff is always handy to people like me who forget what they've used in the past or for little hints and tips.

What is the bit you have in the die grinder? I've been looking for something like that lazily for a little while to avoid buying a die grinder and a little 3" cut off saw.

Tool shop down the road told me they don't exist.

[Spencer]

Yea we can chuck this in the articles section at some point when you feel you are finished. Keen to add some info as I prep and paint my car

[davidian]

nice thread man. Im looking to use some flap disks soon to tidy welds and gotta get one of those spot weld drill bits.

Also need a decent hammer and dolly.

trademe currently has bulk lots of cutting disks for cheap, considering the are around $3 i think ea from bunnings and hammer hardware runs uo to $5.50 ea fuck that for the 2.3mm jobbies which dissapear quick once you start hackin bits off sheet metal to fab up.

Argoshield is definately nice to work with, Im stil a noob but using mostly argo, 0.6/0.8 wire on a 135 amp mig is sweet. the UK mig site is pretty helpfull

[KKtrips]

Love the work Dane - I will be using this as reference for my attempts - can't wait to get some tips on bogging cos I SUCK at getting a decent bog job done.. Always end up peeling lumps out of it as its starting to cure or by sanding too early I'm sure.. (need more patience perhaps)

[danger]

I'll try get hand tools done this arvo.

I'll take a closer pic of the die grinder bit. Use it very rarely. Only when I cant get at something with a grinder

[Testament]

those 1.0mm cutting discs - I find it is totally worthwhile buying the better brands, inox, norton etc. the budget who knows what brand discs e.g. hpm seems to last less than half as long and get to be a right pain having to change so many even if they are half the price.

maybe not as big a deal on thin panel steel but if you are fabbing stuff in 5mm plate/flatbar it makes a big difference.

[My name is Russell]

I find;

http://www.smithandarrow.co.nz/html/Pro ... index.html

good value & good quality for this sort of stuff, they now have free postage also.

.8mm cutting disks rule also.

They do the grinder twisted wire brush heads for $8 inc delivery!

[Llama]

Looks bloody useful tbh. Although probably not so good for my wallet, I'm a sucker for tools.

[davidian]

those 1.0mm cutting discs - I find it is totally worthwhile buying the better brands, inox, norton etc. the budget who knows what brand discs e.g. hpm seems to last less than half as long and get to be a right pain having to change so many even if they are half the price.

maybe not as big a deal on thin panel steel but if you are fabbing stuff in 5mm plate/flatbar it makes a big difference.

i love the 1mm disks but they seem to fuck out really easily around the metal ring. have to be veeery carefull to use it at right angles and stuff, might be a brand issue tho with the bunnings stuff

[danger]

I've never had issues with any brand of 1mm disc. Currently using the ones from the toolshed and find them fine. $10 for 10 discs.

I use linishing discs from mitre10, They're less than $15 for 10 at retail. The 3mm cutting discs are $12-$13 for 10 at retail.

Was getting those 100mm nylon strip discs for $6.50 each at staff price for a while but they're usually about $15 each.

Gotta weigh up your options at that price. It becomes cheaper to get some awkward bits sandblasted.

[mikey]

Awesome.

This howto is off to a really good start. Good work bro. I would've loved it when I first started out with this stuff.

Really looking forward to panel beating and repair tips as I have no idea.

[danger]

Cheers, havent done anything on it today sorry and I'm out tonight.

Pulling out all my hand tools to take pics is a good excuse for a clean anyway. Wont be that many tools. A lot of stuff I've bought to try etc never get used.

Many of you guys will already have most if not all of the gear I use

[Bling]

Will be watching this like a hawk. Good write up so far, also can't wait to see the panel stuff as my panels end up worse if I try fix them.

[burrowssj]

how about some safety gear

e.g goggles that go all the way around the face, NOT glasses

steal cap boots for the unfortunate accidents which do happen (rarely of course)

welding gloves and helmet

fire extinguisher

any other useful safety gear that might save you a 500$ bill at the ER

someone should make a "heres my accident thread"

recently while taking a torque converter out of my car I wasn't paying attention and knocked it off the engine to 500mm drop onto my hand.Resulted in a pretty nasty gash from the cooling fins and a sore finger for a week. If I had been wearing gloves no doubt it would have be so much better. probably a bruise an been sweet as to keep working.

Food for thought. even when you think shits going well all it takes is a careless mistake

[Bling]

Safety gear is for sissies. Common sense really, cover up etc.

Bring on hand tools write up

[nzstato]

So to add my 2c, here is a couple of good youtube channels on panelbeating how tos

http://www.youtube.com/user/restolad/videos

http://www.youtube.com/user/lazzemetalshaping/videos

(more for metal shaping)

http://www.youtube.com/user/ButlerCollision/videos

(this is more about painting, but includes basics such as applying/sanding bog

Dane this is what I was talking to you about last night, seems like a sweet setup for tuck shrinking

CulVVrXfiyA

[feathersword]

Look forward to reading/seeing more!

[Roman]

Bunnings warehouse paint stripper absolutely RIPS THROUGH vehicle paint and primer.

Best thing ever, if you want something to bare metal!

[danger]

Personally I HATE using paint stripper.

Sorry I've been lazy adding to this. Been pretty busy