floorboards

[jveik]

my floorboards on my project are welded in now but the problem is that the first one i did was crappy and a butt joint. should i just grind the welds flush as good as i can and fill the warpage with bondo hair or should i just use floor mats lol

[TheSilentChamber]

You can probably get rid of the warping with a shrinking hammer.

[jveik]

i think my cousin has something electric that uses electrical impulses to shrink the metal. after 100 billion or so pulses it makes it actually smooth again. i would buy one but i think they cost upwards of 1000 dollars. is that what you mean by a shrinking hammer or are you talking hammer and dolly type of shrinking?

[TheSilentChamber]

I was talking about a hammer/dolly. They have shrinking hammers and dollys - but never use them together. They both work on the same principle - it has little "teeth" that gather the metal and shrink it when you hit it. You can pick up a hammer for around $20, dolly for around $15 at your local body supply store. To use the hammer you take your regular dolly and place the dolly on one side and strike it with the hammer on the other side. To use the shrinking dolly you do the same thing but use a regular body hammer.

I'v never heard of anything that uses electrical pulses to shrink the metal though.

[jveik]

yeah its pretty wierd. it kept tripping the breaker too so it took forever cause we had to go turn the breaker back on all the time

[mike@af]

Are you talking about a stud gun? Where it welds little studs to the dents and then you pull them to remove the dent?

Those shrinking hammers arent even worth their weight. They damage the metal too much.

[TheSilentChamber]

If you know how to use it shrinking hammers/dollys are worth there weight in gold.

[jveik]

Originally Posted by GTmike400

Are you talking about a stud gun? Where it welds little studs to the dents and then you pull them to remove the dent?.

yeah it actually had 2 things it could do. one was that stud gun thing like you sed and it had a lever you could slide onto it and pull dents out and just pry sideways to break off the tacks it made. then you could also flip the handle around and on the other side it had that shrinker thing on it and it made a huge dent almost flat again when we used it on my box side. it was pretty sweet but i dont have the resources to buy one lol

[mike@af]

Originally Posted by TheSilentChamber

If you know how to use it shrinking hammers/dollys are worth there weight in gold.

The way to shrink without using those hammers is with a shrinking disk or tucking forks. This is the most beneficial way to keep from scaring the metal.