How To Heat Shrink Sheet Metal

Why not just heat it and gently hammer the swell down.

How to heat shrink sheet metal.

At 550 degrees f you can shrink the aluminum without affecting the temper or hardness. Welding suppliers carry a wide range of temperature crayons that melt off the surface when your desired. Need a fix for oil canning auto body panels. Usually you can get away with a few small shrinks before the metal starts to work harden too much.

Get used to this idea and your abilities will grow. This takes away some of the stretch. The bulge can then be tapped down flat with a hammer and dolly to thicken the metal in that spot. It certainly does however eventually make the metal brittle and unworkable so make sure to heat and shrink enough the first time if you use a wet rag to cool.

If you need to shrink in the center or where you can t get a shrinking tool in you must heat shrink either with a torch or a shrinking disc. In this very short video i will show you how to repair shrink sheet metal and stiffen body panels the easy wa. Heating up metal and throwing cold water on it may shrink it a tiny bit but it makes distortion and hard steel. Heat to blue only and shrink that much.

Start by heating a small area around the size of a dollar coin in a tight circular motion working into the centre to give the metal a cherry. Do not over heat the steel. This works the other doesn t. A common recommended fix is to use oxy acetylene heat to create a localized hot spot that bulges the metal above the mean surface of the panel.