The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop removing thick bondo

Pulled out my Harbor Freight vibrating multi-tool with the scraper blade and quickly removed some really thick bondo off the back of my cab without all the dust caused by the Norton paint stripper. Now I need to hone my blind dent removal skills. I'm thinking about buying a stud welding gun.
Carl

I can only think of one major area on an AD that you would need to 'blind dent' repair and thats the rear crown of the roof at the double skin,or round the perimeter of the rest of the roof.
Mine's suffered the dreaded ladder dents there so a stud puller would seem the way to go,but I just can't justify the cost of a dedicated machine.
I'm pretty sure Eastwood make a MIG welder shroud attachment that allows you to tack copper studs on with a standard MIG unit.
Much cheaper and just as effective.

Sorry it wasn't Eastwood but a company here in the UK.
Here's a link anyway...

Stud welding kit.

My problem area is the belt line around the back of the cab. Not much, if any access from the inside of cab. Harbor Freight has a stud welder for $99.00 (I don't know how many L's with a hash mark through it equals $99.00.)
Carl

$99.00=58.19 pounds Sterling.
But I think the Brits now use Euros so
$99.00=72.80 Euros
That is if anyone is interested.

Another way to do this is to drill a small hole in the center of the dent and then get behind it with a pulling tool (has a small hook at the end) or a slide hammer with the correct attachment and just pull it out, then weld the hole shut. I did that for years before I invested in a stud welder.

Deve, I have done the screw-in slide hammer deal before but I didn't like the deformed hole which was pulled out as I removed the dents. I have been thinking about cutting some TIG wire to 2" lengths and TIG weld them on and pull on them with vise-grips as I hammer around the area of the dent until it comes out.
Carl

That works too. I have a nice stud welder but I don't use it very often so sometimes I forget I have it in the moment and just do it the old fashioned way.

I have one of the cheapo harbor freight ones and it works great, I love it. I did have a friend modify a pair of vise grips and slide hammer to make my own slide hammer with vise grip on the end to grab the pins and pull harder. But they sell those too (now) and they are handy also.

Back to Bondo removal- - - - -a little heat with a Propane torch behind the panel where the Bondo is applied will break the adhesion of the filler and it can be scraped off in big chunks with a putty knife. Lots quicker than sanding, and no dust!
Jerry

Carl, I take off bondo with a hard wire wheel. Quick. I have a mask and a fan to blow away dust from the area.
If you pull a dent out, you may pull past flush and then have to hammer and dolly back. If you can't get behind, you can't do that. Can't control a slide hammer and it may bring dent out too far. Rethink a way to get access. I don't know what the area looks like. Maybe cut out the piece, hammer/dolly on the bench and weld back in. I'm sure there are some actual body men on here to advise. Check out "studlever" videos. Neat tool and allows better control than a slide hammer. Seems easy to make one.

bart, I already checked out the studleveler and some homemade clones. Looks like the ticket for better control of the pull.
Carl

I want to get a few of those now that I have seen them as well. I would still be very cautious about how I use them because at the leverage point you could easily dimple the metal. Its all about finesse and I have to work at it.

Yes, if the "rest point/leverage point" is weak you would have to place a larger wood or metal piece under to spread the load.

i weld a 6 common nail in the dent then use a claw hammer on a 1 foot piece of 1" square tubing for support and pull the dent flush with the tubing.then cut the nail off with a cut off wheel. you can use the nail several times.

I've seen someone just use a stick welder and "stick" the electrode to the middle of dent. Slide on a big socket or equiv, put vice grip on end of stick and slide socket against grips like a slide hammer.

Well, I cloned the studleveler and welded some needle nosed vise grips to it to grab the studs and pulled on the long handle and massaged the surrounding metal with a body hammer. It amazes me how the door panel really wants to go back to original contour with just a little persuasion. I didn't buy a stud welder. I TIG welded pre-cut lengths of tig wire to the panel instead. I put a 1 foot square piece of plywood under the foot of the studleveler to prevent creating more dents to pull. You can Google studleveler to get a better idea of what I am talking about.
Carl