Would this be worth it?, local Auto Body course Options

[stags14]

I am thinking about taking a course at our local "Boces" center. It is an intro to auto body repair...

They cover things such as dent repair, basic welding, etc...

I am a complete novice when it comes to working on vehicles. This class starts up this week and I thought I may be able to gain some good knowledge...

Any thoughts?

[stags14]

Class #1 report

So last night was the first class, and I made a last second decision to stay registered. I am glad I did as the class is going to be very enjoyable and informative. It will run for 8 weeks and we will be covering things such as dent repair, basic welding, etc...

The instructor has nearly 30 years of experience and has owned a well-known body shop for years in the area. He semi-retired recently and his sons now run the business. He always wanted to teach kids, so he got himself a part time gig at Boces teaching high school juniors and seniors last year. Along with those duties, he now has an adult education class.

This is the first adult ed class they have taught in autobody at this location. And as such, the turnout was very low (which is good for me). There are only two students in the class!!!! Me and an older retired gentleman that is looking for a new hobby.

After the initial introductions, the instructor said that the best way to learn about autobody repair is to start doing it. Books/videos are great he said, but absolutely nothing beats working with the tools. He said his style of teaching is to first demonstrate and have us watch, and then for us to reproduce what he just did.

The teacher foirst walked us around the shop showing us the entire set up. After the tour, the teacher grabbed a door and had me smash it a few times with a hammer. He went through the entire process of how to fix the dent. After watching him go through the process, I went next, and then the other student went last. The instructor stood by our sides the entire time and talked us through what we were doing. It is going to be awesome to have him standing over our shoulders and instructing the entire time!

A summary of what we did last night.

* First I got to smash a door with a hammer to create the dents. I didn't realize how enjoyable this activity could be. I am half-tempted to smash my boss's car door with a hammer seeing that I would now be able to fix it!! (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif)
* The process that we learned last night to pull the dents was by the use of a stud-welder, slide hammer, and a pick hammer.
* We cleaned the door.
* We ground down the door using 36 grit.
* We used a stud-gun to weld on a few metal studs on and around the dent. We would then attach the slide hammer to the metal studs and gently pull/tap the dent up. I was surprised at how little force you had to exert in order to get the metal to pop back out. Then as you pulled on the slide hammer, you would use the pick hammer to gently tap down the high spots.
* I learned that it is better for the dent area to be a touch low as opposed to a touch high.
* We then mixed our body filler with some hardener. The other student put a little to much hardener in the mixture and his stuff set up REAL QUICK!!
* We applied the mixture to the door and let it set-up for a few minutes.
* As soon as it gets "tacky" you need to cheese-grate it down. If you wait to long and the mixture completely hardens, you will not be able to cheese-grate it and you will be stuck block sanding til the cows come home!
* After cheese grating, we then block sanded using 36 grit. We were taught to sand in an X-Pattern, always using the full surface of the paper.
* We then feather-edged our work area.

The class was really fun and I already learned so much in just one night. I can't wait to learn more!!!

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/beerchug.gif)