CHAPTER-4

4. Basic Auto sheet metal work

4.1 Automotive Sheet Metals
Metal has elastic properties that allow it to be shaped and reshaped with out breaking. In
repairing sheet metal panels, the auto body technician takes advantages of the properties
of metal to restore damaged areas to their pre-collision shape and state. To do this the
technician needs to know:
A. The type of steel used in vehicles
B. How steel panels are strengthened, and
C. The typical damage patterns resulting from collision.
With this as background the procedures used to repair sheet metal may include
straightening metal, relieving stress, expanding and shrinking metals.
Manufacture of steel for the automobile industry
 The raw material iron ore is fed into a blast furnace, together with
limestone and coke; the coke is used as a source of heat, while the
limestone acts as a flux and separates impurities from the ore. The
ore is quickly reduced to molten iron, known as pig iron, which
contains approximately 3-4% carbon. The iron is changed into
steel by reheating it in a steel making furnace and blowing oxygen
either into the surface of the iron or through the liquid iron, which
causes oxidation of the molten metal. This process burns out the
impurities and reduces the carbon content from 4% to between
0.08 and 0.20%.
A. Types of steels used in vehicles.
Steel is produced from iron, carbon and certain additional alloy materials, including
chromium, manganese, nickel, and others each mixed according to a specific formula,
giving the steel certain properties. One of these properties is yield strength.
 Steel possessing a yield strength of up to 35,000 psi is called mild steel, which
until 1980 was used extensively in manufacturing automobiles of conventional as
well as Unitized body construction. Mild steel is:
 Soft and easy to work,

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 Can be safely welded, heat shrunk and cold worked without seriously afflicting its
strength.
 But easily deformed and relatively heavy.
 However, new factors such as a worldwide requirement for fuel conservation, for
lighter-weight body structures, and safety legislation requiring greater
protection of occupants through improved impact resistance, are brining
about a change in materials and production technology. This has resulted in the
use of steels known as high strength steels (HSSs) (Steel with a yield strength of
40,000 to 150,000 psi).
 Mild steel is composed of large grains that are widely spaced; high-strength steel
has far smaller grains that are more densely packed together. It is the interlocking
of the grains and the forces of attraction of the grains to each other that gives
high-strength steel its superb strength.
 Automobile manufacturers are using high-strength steel Wherever possible for three
main reasons
1. High strength steel enables manufacturers to reduce the weight of the vehicle by
decreasing the gauge or thickness of its structural members and sheet metal panels
with out sacrificing strength.
2. Most auto body parts can be made of high strength steel with out changing existing
dies or tools.
3. Manufacturers have found that using high-strength steel is a cheaper method of
reducing the automobile weight than using aluminium or plastics.
 Steel strength can be increased by a variety of manufacturing processes that include
heat treatment, cold rolling, and chemical additives. There are several different types
of high-strength steels different in strengthening process. Three types are often used in
automobile structure.
1. High-strength, low-alloy (HSLA) steel, or rephosphorised steel, is produced by
adding phosphorus to mild steel to upgrade its strength level. It has working
characteristics that are similar to those of mild steel and was developed in recent years
to provide better tensile strength to the exterior panels of auto bodies. Has yield
strength of 40,000 psi.

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2. High-tensile strength steel or Si-Mn solid solution hardened steel, contains increased
amounts silicon, manganese, and carbon to give it a higher tensile strength. It has been
used in the past for suspension-related components, frames and so on. It is used
mainly for door side guards, bumper reinforcements, structural members on unibody
vehicles, and so on.
3. Ultra-high-strength steel (UHSS), or dual phase steel, is made by quenching the
steel on a continuous annealing line or in a hot strip mill. This steel has a two-phase
microstructure (quenched martensitic structure and ferritic structure). Dual phase steel
has good formability for HSS. Martensitic steel is the best known of UHSS.
Treated steels-manufacturers also use HSS in treated forms such as galvanized steel,
galvannealed steel, elector galvanized steel and zincrometal.
 All of those metal coatings provide maximum protection from corrosion.
Note:
 Use extreme care when using heat on HSS panels. After exposure to a temperature of
1200 0F or higher for several minutes, the special hardening elements are absorbed by
larger, softer elements in the heated area, resulting in lower strength.
 MIG welding in an acceptable practice for HSS. Most automobile manufacturers do
not recommend using oxyacetylene to weld either type.
 Check the appropriate collision or parts manual for the vehicle being repaired to learn
exactly what parts are made with, HSLA, UHSS, HTSS, and so on.
B. How steel panels are strengthened?
Physical structure of steel: - steel just like all matter is composed of atoms. This minute
particles of matter are combined to form grains. Grains are large enough to be seen with
the aid of a microscope. Grains are formed into patterns called the grain structure.
The atomic structure and grain pattern of a metal will determine how it reacts to force.
Effect of impact forces: - The sheet metal’s resistance to change has three properties.
 Elastic deformation
 Plastic deformation
 Work hardening.
Elastic deformation: - i the ability of metal to stretch and return to its original shape.
Plastic deformation: -is the ability of the metal to be bent or formed in to different

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Shapes. This is because the grain structure has taken on a new set.
 When a car is damaged in a collision, the stress sustained from the impact will remain
unless it is taken out. This is a condition in which there is an area with permanent
stress surrounded by a neighbouring area with elastic stress that cannot be removed
unless the permanent stress is removed that is restricting the elastic stress.
Work hardening: - work hardening is the upper limit of plastic deformation causing the
metal to become very hard in the area where it has been bent. For example, if a welding
rod is bent back and forth several times, a fold or buckle will appear at the point of the
bend. The plastic deformation has been so great at this point that the grain structure has
been radically forced out of alignment causing the metal to become very hard and stiff.
This increased hardness is called work hardening.

Some work hardness will be found in any undamaged body panel. It is the result of the
original forming process. The bending caused by collision adds still more work hardening
in the areas affected.
Some times much more will be added by the body technician as he or she straightens the
damaged area making the job more difficult.
 Forming to different shapes can strengthen sheet metals. Some of
these are: -
 Crowned surfaces.

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The most common features of the body are the curved surfaces; these are called crowns.
The Crowned surface is stronger than a flat panel. E.g. door panels, fenders, quarter
panels, hoods etc.
 Angles and flanges: - another method of giving strength to metal is to form angles
or flanges along the edges of sheets. A right-angled bend greatly increases the
strength of a sheet. The method is used on inner door panels and where ever
stiffness is required at unsupported edges.

 U-Channels and box sections

A U-channel comprises two right-angled bends. The U-channel is the most common type
of section used in the construction of car frames, under bodies, sub frames cross
members, and any construction where greet strength is required.

C. Types of collision damage

It is essential that technicians clearly understand the under laying principles involved
when automobile sheet metal becomes damaged or bent if they are to analyze properly

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the damage that has taken place and to decide on the correct and most efficient way of
repairing the job on hand. Either or both of two types of sheet metal damage generally
occur when an automobile is collided: direct or indirect damage.
Direct damage-the damage that occurs to the area that is in direct contact with the
damaging force or impact. Usually visible as tear and scratch.
Indirect damage- the damage that occurs as a result of the direct damage.
When a sheet metal panel is bent in by a force or impact, it does not merely bend in the
area of direct impact; the damaging force is transmitted throughout the surrounding area
of the panel until it is used up, leaving a serious of V-channels, valleys, or buckles whose
outermost edges form distinctive ridges. The ridges thus formed are hard areas created by
the bending of the sheet metal beyond its elastic limit. They give a permanent set to each
individual valley or buckle.
Basic metalworking methods
A few basic techniques will handle most bodywork with either direct or indirect damage.
Before doing anything else, take time to carefully perform an overall visual inspection
and try to determine the direction of impact and the areas of indirect damage.
Determining the direction of damage
To fix collision damage, you must apply force in the reverse of how the damage
occurred.
Before the damaged area can be repaired, you must know how the damage occurred,
recognize the conditions existing in the metal, and use the correct repair tools and
procedures.
5.3 Metal Straightening Techniques
Analysis and theory will tell you what is wrong. Next you must have the basic
skills to repair the damage. After this, you must know how to put these things together to
produce the overall results required of good body technicians. You must develop a good
procedure for repair. A good procedure can save a great deal of technician-created
damage. So that the entire repair time is reduced to a minimum for higher profits.
The repair procedure begins with a diagnosis of the damage. The actual work on
the metal begins with the rough-out stage. Rough out means to remove the most obvious

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damage to get back the original part shape. Rough out is not usually completed on a
damaged panel until 80 to 90 % of the paint is removed.
The rest of the chapter is devoted to explaining some of the common skills
utilized by the technician from the rough out stage of repair up to the plastic filling stage.

5.4 Metal Working Techniques

There are various methods of sheet metal repair which repair method or methods are used
on a particular job depend on several things:
1. Quality of job required
2. Repair equipment in the shop
3. Type of damage
4. Type of vehicle construction (Body over frame/unitized)
5. Type of sheet metal-HSLA, UHSS, etc.
On some jobs you will use only one method, other type of damage might require you to
use two or more of the basic methods. The following are some of the basic repairing
methods: -
1. Pulling out with vacuum (suction) caps on a panel, which has been pushed in but
has suffered little or no bending beyond its elastic limit.
2. Pulling out crease or dent with pull rods.
3. Using dent pullers and welded studs.
4. Pulling out a panel from two sides to straighten the sheet metal, the pull can be
done by attaching appropriate clamps and a power ram.
5. Using a pry bar (spoons and picks) to get behind a dent and put it out.
6. Using a spread ram.
7. Using a hammer and dolly where both sides of a damaged panel are accessible.
8. Using body files.
9. Using a bumping spoon: - the bumping spoon is held between the damaged metal
and the hammer. The hammer blows fall on the bumping spoon. This distributes
the force of the blows over a large area. Effective in working down long ridges or
buckles.

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 10. Heat shrinking a panel, which has been stretched by the impact and by the work
of straightening the panel.
11. Filling low areas with plastic body filler.
12. When a panel is severely damaged, the repair probably would be to install a new
or salvaged panel in its place. Whether to repair or replace is a matter of materials
and labour cost.
Using body Hammers and Dollies
During repairing careful selection of hammers is required.
The face of the hammer must fit the contour of the panel.
 Use a flat face hammer on flat or low-crown panel.
 Use convex-shaped or high-crown-faced hammers when bumping inside curves.
 Heavy bumping hammers should be used for roughing out the damage.
 Finishing or dinging hammers should be used for final shaping.
Dollies: - are available with different shapes like, universal dolly, toe dolly, heal dolly,
comma dolly, and fender dolly.
 The dolly block is also used in the rough-out phase as an impact tool. The underside
of the metal can be hit with the dolly to raise low areas.
 The dolly block is also used as an anvil for the hammer: when it is used this way,
there are two techniques:
Hammer-on-dolly (Direct hammering)
Hammer-off-dolly (Indirect hammering)
Hammer-on-dolly method: - is used to smooth small, shallow dents and bulges and to
stretch metal so that it can return to its original shape.
Hammer-off-dolly method - is used to straighten metal just before the finishing stage.
In it the hammer does not actually strike the dolly.

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 Pick hammer and the edge of dolly can be used to pick up small dents. After an area
has been picked up, a file or grinder can be used to level the damages are.
 The contour of the dolly must fit the contour of the underside of the damages area.
Using Spoons
Body spoons have flattened ends, which are curved, or straight depending on the purpose
of the spoon. Spoons can be: -
 used to pry out dents in place inaccessible to a hammer or dolly.
 struck with a hammer to drive out dents.
 used as a dolly in hard-to-reach area.
 used to spread the blows of the hammer a large area (on large ridges)

Using pull rods and dent pullers

Pull rods are another type of tool that can be used to pull small dents out on sealed body
panels or panel sections that cannot be reached from the backside even with the longest
spoon.
To use a pull rod:
 A hole is drilled in the center of the dent.
 The hook end of the pull rod is then pushed through the hole and hooked on the
backside of the sheet metal.
 This enables you to pull the dent out. Often, you can use a body hammer to tap
lightly around the dent to help the metal spring back to its original contour.

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A dent puller usually comes with a
threaded tip (sheet metal screw) and
hook tip. Either of the tips is
inserted in the drilled hole and a
hammer is slide on steel shaft and
struck against the handle.
It is important to close the holes
created by using dent pullers and
pull rods by soldering or welding.
Simply patching the holes with
body filler will not provide
sufficient Corrosion Protection.
Pulling with studs-the most
advanced way to pull dents is with a
stud welded to the dent.
Pulling with spot welded
studs avoids drilling or punching through the metal and under-coating, potentially
corrosion creating techniques.
The welded stud is then pulled with puller and hammer then finally the stud is
grinded off.
Shrinking dents
 Shrinking is the method to bring the molecules back to their original position and thus
to restore the metal to its proper contour and thickness.
 It is safe to assume that the panel has been stretched if the strain on the panel cannot
be removed even after the panel has been worked properly.
 When stretched areas of metal present in the panel it is impossible to correctly
straighten the area back to its original contour.
 When an area of metal is stretched the grains of the metal are moved further away
from each other and the metal is thinned.
 The objective of shrinking is to remove the stretch with out disturbing the relatively
undamaged elastic metal in the surrounding area.

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 Shrinking Operation with gas torch
 A small spot of the stretched area or bulge is heated to a charry red. A neutral flame
and a#1 or #2 tip are used to heat the spots.
 As the heat from the torch enters the small spot in the panel the heated metal expands.
The cooler metal surrounding the hot spot resists the expansion forces. As the
temperature increases the heated metal becomes softer.
 When the spot has been heated tap around the spot with several sharp hammer blows
to drive the molecules of the metal closer together.(hammer as shown in the figure)
 During this procedure it is necessary to support the metal with the dolly. The dolly
should only be held lightly under the metal.
 Once the red nell has disappeared and the area has been dollied & smooth, the shrink
can be cooled with a wet rag or sponge.
 Then this is done great degree of contraction occurs and a slight amount of distortions
could result.

Using body Files.

When the damaged area has been bumped and pulled as level and smooth as possible, the
body file must be used to locate any remaining high and low spots.
 Begin filing in the undamaged area on one side & progress across the damaged area
to the undamaged metal on the opposite side.
 The scratch pattern created by the file identifies any low spots. The technician then
‘picks’ up the low spots, bumps down the high spots and files the area with the body
file. This process is repeated until all the low spots disappear and the area has been
filled smooth.

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