Here is a couple of homemade tools I use a lot. The slapper is a modified large heavy metal file I use for smoothing or shrinking on warped panels. Just heat and bend and grind to make a handle. The grooves in the file really grips the metal and you can move the panel in the right direction if you hit with a sliding motion. It makes some small marks in the panel, but its easy to smooth out later. The other tool is a small leather sand bag I use as a dolly, often together with the slap file or a hammer. Same construction as a ordinary shot bag but scaled down so you can use it in hand on the car. The smart thing is that it shapes itself to the contours of the panel.Easy to make if you have some pieces of leather and a sewing machine. I filled mine with blaster sand.
Great post and perfect timing... If you guys have tech to post... Tonight might be a good night to do it. Who knows, you might get something out of it... or not!
Grab an oxygen bottle cap at the welding supply store. Add a handle that fits you. They make a good rough stretching hammer over a shot bag. Good mallets can be made from old wooden baseball bats. cut in half and use the small end as a handle for the big end. shape as needed for balance.
something else to add that works well is a trailer hitch ball works great as a dolly in tight spaces{oil bags and gas tank fabs especially]and very inexpensive
The shrinking slappers sold by Eastwood are just coarse and fine files heated and bent just like the ones already posted. Frank
not really home made but tokyo and I just finished bead rolling the floor for my wagon.. this is my modification to the HF bead roller as you can see, instead of welding angle to the backside of the bead roller I used 1.5 by 1.5 square tubing that way I could put a length of square tuning inside and create a support for wide and cumbersome panels. later sawzall
The Jalopy Journal
