Fixing oil canning metal

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Torchie

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 15, 2013
Messages
8,101
Location
Northern Michigan
I've got a spot on the roof of my F series project that"oil can's"
It looks to be right in the area that was dented when I got the cab. I thought that I had taken care of it before the chop but now it's back.
The area is just beyond the "Brow" above the windshield.
I've got my methods but looking for tips from people that have had success with this type of issue. Looking to learn something new perhaps.
Help a fella out. Lets hear it........:)
Thanks.
Torchie.
 
The only ones I know of are heating with a rose bud and quenching quickly with cold wet rag. If it is due to weld shrinkage you can hammer the weld bead. If it is due to too much material because of stretched metal from working it too much or a large wrinkly dent being hammered out you can run a couple of beads of weld, grind smooth and then hammer out to shape, some time a slice with the cut off wheel and then weld,grind and hammer if required, You probably already knew these, good luck.
 
i must be brain dead today, that just hasn't sunk in yet. oil canning?[S

Like when a large panel is out of shape. You can push on one spot slightly and it will bulge somewhere else. Push on that spot and it bulges somewhere else. Etc. Or you pop a dent out and it pops back the way it was, like a oil can or the top of a mason jar would do.

Kenny C said everything I know. Patience and time.
 
The only ones I know of are heating with a rose bud and quenching quickly with cold wet rag. If it is due to weld shrinkage you can hammer the weld bead. If it is due to too much material because of stretched metal from working it too much or a large wrinkly dent being hammered out you can run a couple of beads of weld, grind smooth and then hammer out to shape, some time a slice with the cut off wheel and then weld,grind and hammer if required, You probably already knew these, good luck.

Like when a large panel is out of shape. You can push on one spot slightly and it will bulge somewhere else. Push on that spot and it bulges somewhere else. Etc. Or you pop a dent out and it pops back the way it was, like a oil can or the top of a mason jar would do.

Kenny C said everything I know. Patience and time.

Yep. All the same techniques that I know of and or have used as well. I was hoping that with the invention of the internet some thing new might have been discovered.:D:D
I think that this is being caused by the previous damage so I would have to say that the area is stretched. But it did seem to reappear when I was welding the roof seam. I did hammer the weld bead and it didn't seem to help. I am inclined to try the torch method first as I really don't want to do any more cutting and welding if I don't have too.:eek::eek:
All has yet to be revealed........
Thanks.
Torchie.
 
Trick I use is to support the area in guestion by pushing on the area in the direction i want it to be then with my mig weld a spot weld to expand the metal ,hold until it cools.Just dont get carried away and may have to do it in a couple of areas to firm it up.
 
Like when a large panel is out of shape. You can push on one spot slightly and it will bulge somewhere else. Push on that spot and it bulges somewhere else. Etc. Or you pop a dent out and it pops back the way it was, like a oil can or the top of a mason jar would do.

Kenny C said everything I know. Patience and time.

Sam only the really old guys around here now what a push on the bottom oil can is [S
Or so I've heard :rolleyes:
 
When I started on my 46 Ply, I wanted to fix the roof dents (someone had been on the roof at some time or another) w/o removing the headliner. I took a body hammer and slowly worked my way back and forth along the crown of the dent, striking it with somewhat light glancing blows at 90* to the ridge. Most of the dents gradually pulled back into shape. Just one, closer to the curve down to the windshield, I hit it too hard, and it produced another low spot where the ridge had been. I ended up using some filler there. I have since used the same technique to shrink stretched spots in aluminum panels I get custom punched at a steel shop. The panels have a grid-work of 3/16" holes in the area where I mount an 80 mm computer fan for cooling. Punching so many holes so close together (with a turret punch) stretches the area & makes it bulge & buckle, like the oil can effect you mention. These panels do not get painted or coated, so I have to work carefully, to avoid marring the finish of the aluminum, but it does work.
 
Sam only the really old guys around here now what a push on the bottom oil can is [S
Or so I've heard :rolleyes:

Hey who you callin old [S another thing I forgot to mention earlier was that there are shrinking hammers and dollies they have a waffle pattern that when used together kind of bunches up the metal.
 
Either I'm older than I think I am, or I was privileged to grow up with family that likes old stuff! I own multiple old oil cans and use them quite a bit. Maybe 19 is old I don't know Lol
As far as oil canning if it was me I'd use a torch and quench it or even just let it air cool. But what do I know!
 
I still have 3 old oil can spouts and occasionally will get some product in a can that I can use them on. As far as telephones I remember my mom teaching me how to use one. You picked up the handset and gave the operator the number, they didn't have a dial!
 
Party lines
When you picked up the receiver the neighbor lady was usually talking and would go on for hours :(
Was Ernestine (Lily Tomlin) the operator?
Yea, one ringy dingy, two ringy dingies, is this the party to whom I am speaking?

Lily-Tomlin-9508630-1-402.jpg
 
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ok i understand now. torch and cool water, or pie slices is all i know. looks like your in good hands.
 
Thanks for all the responses gang.
My biggest concern about using a torch is the placement of the hot spots.
Don't want to make it worse than it already is.:eek: Plus not sure that shrinking is the answer at this point.
I am returning to the garage tonight to tackle this particular problem and as always I will post the results. Most likely as part of my build thread.
Torchie.
p.s. I have a rotary dial phone in my shop. It still works even when the power goes out.
 
Torchie: if you used a torch and heat the whole area that is rippling just a little with low heat, not enough to give it any color, and it gets worse you will know that you have too much material. if you only heat the weld bead and it gets better then you have to hammer your welds in order to stretch them. this seems to be what happens to me most times. good luck and only do a little at a time and you will get it.
 

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