What Is Panel Beating And What Does Panel Beater Do?
Panel beater is a person who can repair and restore your car body back to the factory condition. Their job is to repair the body of a car after it was damaged in a road accident. It can be a laborious venture involving a lot of work like repairing or replacing panels, removing dents, filling, priming and spray painting damaged panels.
What is involved in the process of panel beating?
Planishing: It is a metalworking technique that finely shapes and smoothens sheet metal to finish its surface. It can involve shrinking metal by heat and leveling the surface using metal dollies and special hammers.
Metalworking: Using metals to create parts or the structure also to reinforce the body.
Welding: Joining metal together to fuse different panels or to reinforce vehicle structure.
Filling: Filler is used to fill in remaining imperfections and make the surface smooth before priming and painting.
Equipment Used By Panel Beater
Panel beaters use special equipment to do their work, some are listed below:
- Hammers and dollies are used for planishing
- Body files and sanding blocks
- Other hand equipment like pliers, wise grips, tin snips, chisels and other
- Hoists for lifting vehicles
- Hydraulic pushing and pulling tools
- Measuring and aligning devices
- Welding tools
- Safety equipment like face masks, overalls, gloves, ear and eye protection and safety shoes.
Areas of Work for Panel Beaters
Normally, these professionals work on regular vehicles like cars, vans, and other similar vehicles. Some of them can also work on motorbikes, trucks, and airplanes. There are some experts who exclusively work on restoring a vehicle only, and do not work on vehicles damaged in accidents. Others specialize in body customization only.
Training Received by a Panel Beater
You can train to become a panel beater by completing a trade apprenticeship. Normally, these apprenticeships are three years in duration, but they can be completed in less time. The three years of training includes on the job training combined with classroom sessions at a trade school. A fourth year is spent exclusively on practical jobs.