Thread: Aoto Body explained..

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Had a stud welder from harbor freight. Sold it after it kept burning holes, or the studs wouldn't stick. Now I have a bunch of studs and no gun.. I could always tack those studs in place and pull them with either a better slide bar, or use a vice grips.

Originally Posted by slantback37

Had a stud welder from harbor freight. Sold it after it kept burning holes, or the studs wouldn't stick. Now I have a bunch of studs and no gun.. I could always tack those studs in place and pull them with either a better slide bar, or use a vice grips.

Again this goes back to a controlled environment thing. A good working stud welder/dent puller will provide you with consistent results in shrinking, tacking something onto the panel, not as much so. My recommendation is to keep your eyes out on Craigslist or local ads for used stud welders or dent pullers. That's how I got mine. Best part of that type source, you can take a piece of sheet metal with you and try out the device before purchase, as most are 120V.

Just looked on CL for "dent puller", there is a dent puller like mine in Alex MN for 750, I think I paid 600 for mine, but if you could pick it up for 500-600 I think it would be a steal.. A bit of a drive for you, and yes, quite an expense, but I think that machine would be something to better hold it's value that you could recoup your money once your project is complete.

Searching for stud welder, there are a couple listed, in Mankato and East Bethal.... Quite a bit cheaper and definitely something to test out before purchase to insure you don't end up with another defective HF like you had. In any of them, I'd check to see if the ones for sale included the shrink heating tip, or insure one is available for that particular machine, and take a scrap piece of sheet metal with you...