FreeLists / arachne / [arachne] Re: O.T. Panel beaters - Was: User-friendliness or lack thereof in Arachne

["Eric S. Emerson" <wildrice5@xxxxxxxx>]

Arachne at FreeLists---The Arachne Fan Club!

Hi Ron and Peter,
             I am not familiar with the Trabant or the term
"panel beaters".   However, from your definition, it seems
I am an old panel beater myself and your right, it is a 
true art and not done much nowadays.  The methods
of construction and the types of metals used today
don't allow much real panel beating.  Once the metal
is stretched it is almost impossible to make an invisible
repair.  That's why panel replacement is done instead.
Besides, economically, it is less expensive in most
cases to replace a panel than to try to repair it.  Man
hours are expensive.
      As you say, there have been cars built with plastic
panels that are/were very resistant to minor dents but
most plastic used on cars so far is not real durable.
The tough plastics cost too much and engineers are
just learning how to use them appropriately.  The
first Corvettes built back in the '50s had a lot of
problems with structural body failure because the
engineers didn't know how to use the fiberglass
plastic appropriately. It was a new concept and
they needed experience designing  and building with
plastc/fiberglass composite materials.

Eric


On Sat, 04 Feb 2006 16:27:54 +0011 "Peter Lawrence"
<peterl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
> Arachne at FreeLists---The Arachne Fan Club!
> 
> On Thu, 2 Feb 2006 20:40:20 -0500, Eric S. Emerson wrote:
> 
> > Arachne at FreeLists---The Arachne Fan Club!
> 
> > Hi Peter,
> >                  What is professional panel beating?
> 
> You know, where someone (never you) made some kind of dent in the 
> panels
> and you need to get a proper garagiste to knock it straight again. 
> If
> you try it you will only make a different dent, and if you keep 
> trying
> you will eventually do something irreparable - unless by chance you 
> know
> what you're doing.
> 
> The same job is much simpler on a Trabant, since the material is 
> much
> more forgiving, much like old suitcases. Apparently it is almost
> impossible to destroy, although they have managed to cut it up and
> persuade pigs and goats to eat it. PML.

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