Best Method For Repairing Door Shell.

You found my cameo appearance.....

Not only did I find it, I saved it in favorites files. I've spent countless hours watching welding videos on body panel sheet metal. Following the instructions on those videos yielded some results but, there was something very important missing.

You covered all the aspects and procedures to successfully "mig weld" body panels. Not one other video I watched every mentioned setting up the welder for open air welding. That was key for me, as well as grinding down the weld, then planishing. Repeat until welded up.

This winter I will resume practicing tig welding for the benefits it provides over mig welding.
 
I'm surprised no one has mentioned spraying a guide coat and blocking your work to get a better visual of where your at. Better to do it now and locate those highs and lows before putting filler on and sanding it off. A guide coat is much cheaper than filler. At this point your working the very subtle deformities in the skin. You may find everything is too proud and no amount of filler will fix that.:D

Filler recommendation: Evercoat Rage Extreme.

Here is a sheet metal thread that I am always learning from. (Since folks are making recommendations).

https://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/showthread.php?t=564201
 
I bought one of Wray Schelin's shrinking discs :eek: about 12 years ago before I knew better.
Does it work? Yes to a degree. It is pretty limited in how much shrinking it can do. Is it hard on the metal? Yes it mars steel pretty good. Don't even think of using it on aluminum.

Are there better ways? Absolutely. Ocy-acetylene torch is hard to beat. The choice of Craftsman for over 100 years. A stud gun with a shrink tip works nicely too. A phenolic disc can be used as a shrinking disc with all of the benefits and no marring of the metal. I learned that from my mentor around 30 years ago. He would take old worn out 5" grinding discs and flip them around to the backside and use it for a shrink disc.

A handheld shot bag and a body hammer will shrink too. A handheld shot bag is a good addition to any bodyman's toolbox.
 
The backing disk for a grinding disk work well, too. I never wanted to use a metal shrinking disk because I don’t like flying metal.
 
Flying anything will ruin your day. Even with all the protective gear, at no time should any part of your body cross the plane of rotation of the disc.

Words to live by. I've been bitting twice by 4" grinder with a cut off wheel. Last incident almost cost me my manhood.

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