Ever wondered how panel beaters fix a damaged car?
Here are the 5 steps to Panel Beating:
1. Shrinking/Stretching
2. Planishing
3. Welding
4. Filling
5. Sanding
Shrinking/Stretching
This involves applying heat to the damaged area of the panel whilst using a special hammer to reshape the metal. This technique is used together with Planishing to restore the panel to original shape and contours.
Planishing
A planishing hammer is used to finely shape and smooth the panel surface. This metalworking technique helps push out the damaged metal where the metal is pushed against a shaping tool, known as a dolly or stake.
Welding
Welding may be use to join pieces of metal together by melting the work pieces together, once cooled it becomes a strong joint ensuring a strong vehicle structure. There are several ways to weld, such as by a gas flame or an electric arc but is dependent on the type of materials to be joined.
Filling
This involves adding putty filler to fill in some small holes in the surface so the original shape and contours can be achieved. It needs to be applied carefully our onto the area as fast as possible as once it hardens it’s not usable anymore. As the filler hardens, then it’s time to smoothed and shaped by sanding.
Sanding
Sanding is the procedure used to finely shape and smooth area ready for spray painting. Depending on the stage of work, a different texture can be achieved by changing the coarseness of the sanding pad.
After the preparation is completed, the car can be spray painted and be realigned if necessary, where the car is placed on a hydraulic lift then ensuring the chassis and other parts of car are properly aligned. This is important as the impact of collisions may have effected the under body of the car.
This is just a general idea of the process of accident repairs, for more information please give us a call on (03) 8521 3496 and we’ll be happy to answer any questions or concerns.
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