Door skin crimp tool, anybody used one

[ossietim]

I saw a small shotbag being used on another forum instead of a puck dolly.
And a skin hammer also.
Seems a good solution too.

 

[jag_mopar]

The steck skinner is garbage !! If you like repairing a new panel all the way around the hem flange it is all you. After 25 years in the collision industry the only tool that is fail safe to doing door skins properly is a quality body hammer and hockey puck. The shark door skinner works well,but requires hammer and dolly work to finish in areas.All these tools require you to start the repair in some way with hammer and dolly. Trust me if there is a tool to make the job easier or quicker I will own it!!! Save your money! If you are looking for good quality hammers try dagger tools,stream line,and snap on are my favorites.

Thank you for your input, Moparpoor, as a matter of fact since I had not seen any posts from anyone with an opinion except it looks cool until now, I went and ordered a Martin Skin hammer and rubber dolly. I found a reasonable price on ebag for the set. While I was at it I ordered some additional hammers that I did not have.

One comment I read somewhere was that the Steck tool would follow the frame of the door, I felt that was a true asumption. the problem with the skins on our doors is that the skin is larger than the frame and the tool with the air hammer may end up pushing in too much on the door edge and make waves.

thanks everyone for your inputs, I guess oldschool is the best.

JAG

 

[scotts74birds]

Very interesting! I actually program and repair robots that seal and hem the door at the factory. In the day, the hems were pressed by a two-stage die. Now we do it with a robot in a holding fixture. But we still do it in a two-stage process. Fold to 45-60 deg, then do the final hem. Corners are tough though. Even With the robots, the small variances in the metal cause problems. Stamped parts vary all the time. Hand finishing of the corners isn't that hard. Small hammer is the key, dolly is a must. I'm a novice at hand-bodywork, but sometimes I play with the scraps and try to see if I can bang the dents out of the rejects. I'd try that tool.

 

[moparpoor]

I use the exact hammer as above post. I found with the shot bag it is hard to hold sharp body lines and keep them crisp. The hockey puck is hard enough to hold the shape without out damaging the skin.

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Very interesting! I actually program and repair robots that seal and hem the door at the factory. In the day, the hems were pressed by a two-stage die. Now we do it with a robot in a holding fixture. But we still do it in a two-stage process. Fold to 45-60 deg, then do the final hem. Corners are tough though. Even With the robots, the small variances in the metal cause problems. Stamped parts vary all the time. Hand finishing of the corners isn't that hard. Small hammer is the key, dolly is a must. I'm a novice at hand-bodywork, but sometimes I play with the scraps and try to see if I can bang the dents out of the rejects. I'd try that tool.

Question for you. Since you repair and program this equipment. Why the hell can't I get a door that is bonded and sealed properly in the major three auto groups. Every GM door I open is rusted do to pockets of unsealed/bonded flanges. The doors flanges have no squeeze out of bonding material if any at all. The engineers can't figure it out. They sure can figure out a bullshit repair once its rusted! It last just long enough to get them out of warranty!! It amazes me that a person with simple tools can and does a better quality job than multi million dollar production equipment? If proper glue ups with proper squeeze out their is no or minimal corrosion issues.2004 ram door skin ten years old living in the salt belt and still clean.The other three doors are coming do for replacement! I don't get it???

 

[scotts74birds]

You want the truth! You WANT the REAL truth? YOU CANT HANDLE THE TRUTH!!!!!! LOVED doing that! Ideally, the seam-sealer should fill the entire seam area during hemming. Squishing into, and out of the seam. This would produce a fully sealed seam. But the powers that be, don't like sealer to squish out of a seam! That means that we must employ someone to wipe off the excess! This bitch is sent to us by the paint shop. As e-coat, phosphate, powder-coat primer, and paint wont stick to sealer. It is difficult to remove before painting, and management doesn't see it as critical. I have a +/- 1mm target for my robot to lay the sealer into. But you would not believe the variation of the metal that I have to work with, it changes daily. So squeeze-out and wipe-off would seem to be the ideal way, ( I agree), though that is not the practice. Hate to say this, but it also comes down to the technician that runs and maintains the line. Some are not as skilled and caring as my friends and myself. In a production environment, quality is often thrown to the side for quantity. We are professionals, we'd all like to do it right. But management has the final call.

 

[moparpoor]

I figured that was going to be the answer.Sometimes you just need to hear it to confirm the truth!The fact that production over rides quality is true in every aspect of the auto industry;such a shame!!!

 

[scotts74birds]

Interesting note to this subject. My brother-in-law purchased a Fiat 500. I inspected the doors and trunk and found that the door and hatch seams had a seam-sealer applied to the outer surfaces at the hems. This was brushed-on before the paint, and was designed to accept paint adhesion. Lets see how this plays out in the future.