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Does anyone know where a beginner can learn about metalworking basics: tools, techniques, etc.? I want to get the dents and such out of the door and shell of my machine and want to keep the costs down by doing as much as I can.

UPDATE: Added some photos of the damage.

I can help you with the body work but can you post some pics of what you have ? Have you done any type of metal work before ? You're getting into something that is not learned overnight and hopefully all you may need is possibly a body hammer and dolly and not any really bad stretched metal and spot putty.
Post some pics and there will be more guys chime in on this also.

Nice topic!
I am sure a lot of guys would be interested.
I always go to YouTube!

Careful... body/metal work is harder than it looks you may end up doing more damage.... I agree post pictures first to see
issues...

Check with your local Vocational-Technical school.  Most have night or weekend courses in auto-body repair.  That should give you some of the basics.

Jim

basic stuff is not that hard, but usually if metal is dented in, it's stretched and not as easy to just pound it out as there is more metal there and it has to go somewhere, so often times metal guys have to shrink the metal.

it's not a task learned overnight as already stated.. so take your time and if you get over your head, it's often best to hire it out.

I can't begin to explain here what is needed for repair. If it were me and was in a hurry and on a tight budget,,you can form body filler to take care of all those dents in what gives the door strength but before I started the worl,,make sure you have a straight surface to work with by putting a level or straight edge length of door edge. What caused those dents may have been hard enough to bend frame. The places that look like someone tried to pry door open is what I'm referring to. Now if I had the time I would look for another door and if all else fails,,cut those areas out with cutoff and replace with new metal but that's a whole different conversation.
whatever you do with body filler can be removed with drill and course pad so I say the best thing is jump on with filler and start learning or have a body man get it straightened out.
Good luck.

I don't have a lot of experience with this either but got some good advice from this book.  It may be helpful to you also, but like was said before it won't be perfect the first try. But, it definitely will give you something to do for the day. Also, you probably do want to get some body filler too, you can never beat the dents perfectly smooth once they are in the metal. Sorry, at least I can't.
Good luck with your project, let's see some pics after you've banged on it.  :tounge:

http://www.eastwood.com/key-to-metal-bumping-book.html

Eastwood is a great company and have used them many times during the years building cars.
Main thing is, don't get discouraged. Take your time and read all ya can. If you goof,,,you goof,,,walk away, cool off and do it again. One of my worst experiences was shaving my gas filler door and filling it in. While I was mig welding the patch panel in to replace the gas door I was cooling metal with a damp rag but one are I had to lay the rag down and did 3 or 4 tacks thinking it would be alright and could cool after finishing. Wrong,,,when I was finished and walked off the light hit the whole side of my van and there was one huge warp at least 3 feet across. Hours and hours to shrink it back close enough and then filler and sanding. Learn on this machine and don't give up. You'll get better and understand more each day you work on it.

Hey rebel, was just wondering if you ever used any of east woods paints. I really like some of their hot rod colors and was wondering if they had fairly good quality.

I have not but can assure you,,anything Eastwood sells in class act.

Same here - haven't used their body paint, other than their rust converter stuff - but everything I've used from Eastwood has been first-rate.

Jim

a couple of metal working forums are http://metalmeet.com and http://allmetalshaping.com Some pretty good info on there. Stuff on english wheels, planishing hammers and body tools. Have fun

Something to do would be to go to a junkyard and buy a panel or hood to an old car and practice on it.

        Tom, I've got plenty of old machines you can practice on  :biggrin: