Hi, Geoff,
a dollie is a piece of steel, has to have a certain weight, and can be of
different shapes. It's usually used on the underside of the panel, while
hammering the surface to smooth out imperfections in the metal. The dent
should have been roughed out before this process.
When hammering, the metal will usually stretch. To minimize this, you can
use a shrink hammer, instead of a flat body hammer. This hammer has a
pattern like a meat tenderizer. You can fabricate this kind of a hammer by
bending an old file into a Z shape, using heat.
Roughing out a dent is done by placing the dollie on the dent from the
inside, putting pressure on it, and tapping with a body hammer around the
dent on the elevated areas. Every dent is different, it takes some practice
and experience. Very small dents can be picked out from the inside with the
tip of the body hammer, or any other tool that would work for you, and then
filed off on the outside with a body file.
In many cases, high areas will be present after a repair attempt, rendering
the metal unstable. To rectify this, heat shrink can be applied. Using a
welding torch, a small area, 1/4 inch diameter, should be heated and quickly
hammered and dollied, then cooled. It's a tricky procedure, it requires
practice.
Don't know of any web sites. I'm sure somebody on the list will be able to
provide this information for you.
Cheers
Wilf and Liv
----- Original Message -----
From: "Geoff Heyland" <gheyland@odyssey.on.ca>
To: <spitfires@autox.team.net>
Sent: Saturday, March 01, 2003 10:18 AM
Subject: Bodywork Prep
> John Zissler's question sparked one of my own - I hear a lot about
hammering
> out dents with a hammer and dolly - I've seen dollies, but never seen them
in
> action. How are you supposed to use dollies to hammer out dents? Do you
put
> them on the inside of the dent and hammer them, or do you put them on the
> outside and hammer from the inside or what? Is there a decent source on
the
> web that can educate me on this?
>
> Geoff Heyland
> 65 Mark II
> 67 Mark II
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