I bought this at a yard sale a few years back. I'm not sure if it's a body tool or a shoe making tool. I used once or twice, but its kinda akward as a dolly, but works great in a vice.
I tend to end up repairing things that are pretty much FUBAR! This is a rear fender for a 46 woody. I guess they are pretty much unobtainium.
When you planish you are "hammer on" over the dolly. It's gonna want to stretch the metal. I alternate between a body hammer and a slapping file. That seems to help control the stretch some.
It took many cycles of hammer and dolly work, bullseye picking, and then back to the planishing stand. All told about 20 hours, including filling the moulding holes and repairing the upper section that was planished on the "Ballz". This fender also required some shrinking. I used a stainless steel disc that I made after seeing John Kelly's site. If your not using one, you need to!
Hey Tinbender ,Have ya got a picture of the bulls-eye pick? I wondered if they could be made at home because I can't find them around here.
Eastwood has um. Wouldn't be all that hard to make. I'll have to take a look. I may have a pic somewhere. I use them a lot.
thanks for the post! Great ideas. Damn it i tossed my old bowling ball in the garbage not two months ago. No pun intended.
Like Tinbender said it's not all that difficult to make a bullseye pick. I knew I wouldn't be using one enough to justify buying one so I made mine. I have a tube bender so that part was easy. It's just getting the bends in the right place and the whole thing aligned. If you have a picture of one it's easy to figure out how to make it. When you see the pictures in the catalogs (like Eastwood) they always hold it so you can't tell exactly how it's made but it's no mystery when you get a good look at one. Frank
I have a tube bender also.I was just wondering how the pivot was made.I noticed all the pics I have seen of them, seem to have that part covered
I haven't been out in the shop since I got out of the hospital but plan on getting out there tomorrow. If the old camera will work I'll try to post a picture. Frank
I built mine & I used a link & a half of motorcycle chain for the hinge,& a replaceable copper spotwelding tip on the end.It took about 15 min.to build.If you get a plannishing hammer you will wonder how you ever done without one.If your like me & have done so much with so little for so long that you can do anything with nothing at all.But equipment & tools sure help.
Here are a couple of albums on shrinking discs. You can make your own, or get one from me: http://allshops.org/cgi-bin/community/communityalbums.cgi?action=openalbum&albumid=9980121727059 http://allshops.org/cgi-bin/community/communityalbums.cgi?action=openalbum&albumid=9980124046566 There is a tutorial at: metalmeet.com on how to make your own. Nice job Tinbender! You can get a bullseye pick through: www.fournierenterprises.com nice to buy from a real metalshaper instead of eastwood. Be sure to blunt the tip or it will damage the metal. There is a close up of the tip after I blunted it in one of the above albums. John www.ghiaspecialties.com
couple questions for you guys... so with the pick, are you basically moving small, sharp ridges of damage? like moving a small but deep crease out to work it? and the slapping file, i take it the file marks on it act to shrink the metal a bit?
The bullseye pick is used to raise tiny low spots. For creases you need to do hammer and dolly work first to get the metal as smooth as possible. John www.ghiaspecialties.com
Like John said, you do most of the correction of highs and lows with hammer and dolly. I do use the planishing stands(both my BALLZ(tm) & the "sole dolly") in a "off hammer" pos***ion, for moving larger areas. Place the part over the stand with the ball under a low spot, and hammer around it on the high areas. The shrinking file is then used "on dolly" to smooth. The teeth grip the metal and reduce stretching. I'll then lightly file the area with a body file to find the high and low spots (should be very small at this point) Then the lows are raised, and the process repeated until, you are happy with the surface, or you run out of metal ( the metal gets thinner as you file it, so your limited as to how far you can go. The shrinking (with the disc) can be done anytime it feels like the area is stretched, but most of the time it's done towards the end of the process.
The Jalopy Journal
