Thread: Oil Canning??.

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Hammer and dolly on the weld??.

Originally Posted by 1gary

Hammer and dolly on the weld??.

Gary, when you weld on sheet metal it shrinks,you hammer and dolly on the weld to put a little stretch back in it and to planish it (smooth it), before you grind the weld down. Do not create too much heat with the grinding or you shrink it again. Example take two pieces of say 20 gauge, fit the edges together and make a couple tacks on one end,this creates a shrink @ the welds and you'll notice the other end opens up the gap. Simply planish the spot welds (stretch) and the gaps will close back up on the other end. Metalmeet.com plus Youtube has a wealth of information

Gary, there are two kinds of oil canning, a loose oil can caused by shrinking (usually a result of welding) and a tension oil can where a dent or glancing crease causes a stretch, pushing tension into adjacent areas of the panel that may result in a bulge that can be pushed back and forth, only this time, requiring a bit more force than the loose oil can. Given one is caused by a stretch and the other by a shrink, the repair depends on the cause.


If yours was caused by welding, then you should have a loose oil can, fixed as indicated above. Try to keep from introducing any more heat in whatever repair method you use at this point, as that may shink more.