Greetings from Indiana!

[Reggie S]

Hello all,

My name is Reggie, and I am a car addict...

With no formal training, I decided 7 years ago to leave my management position in the wireless industry to pursue working on cars. I started by renting a small, non-heated, non plumbed space in the dead of winter, and buying/ disassembling BMW's to sell the parts on eBay. I have since moved into the repair business, and upgraded my shop twice. I now reside in a very nice space and have a great little BMW specialty repair shop, with great employees.

All of this was partially a product of the television show "Monster Garage". Say what you will for Jesse James as a person, that show (and others like it) really reached me in a major way. I had always been into cars, but seeing the creativity, skills, and tools required to build them really got me thinking and motivated.

At this point my business is primarily mechanical, but I have been cutting my teeth with sheet metal. I have become known as the guy that will fix rusty BMW's in my area. Sometimes I hate this, but it gives me a chance to practice metal working in places where it doesn't always have to be pretty.

Now, as I have time, I would like to learn some real forming techniques. I have mainly been cutting patch panels from donor cars, and they are getting thin. There are currently no floor pans available for the 80's BMW's that I specialize in, so I will need to be able to make suitable patches that fit my need for them to "look good" as well as be structurally sound.

Here's my current arsenal of metal working tools:

Hammers/dollies
250 amp MIG
110 amp MIG
Stud Welder
Cheap bead roller (HF)
Vice
Lots o' vice-grips
Torch
Cheap horizontal bandsaw
Sawzall
Various air tools - die grinders, cut off wheels, shear, spot weld cutters, etc
Eastwood TIG (just bought - still need to set-up)
Eastwood Plasma - (Just bought - So far, so fun!)

I JUST today bought a planishing hammer from Harbor Freight, and am thinking about their 3-in-1 sheet metal tool (brake, shear, roll).


That's it! Thanks in advance to all of you who share your wealth of knowledge!

Reggie