Panel beater or panelbeater is a term used in some

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with " republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from th ...

countries to describe a person who repairs vehicle bodies back to their factory state after having been damaged (e.g., after being involved in a collision). In the United States and Canada, the same job is done by an auto body mechanic.

Description

Panel beaters repair body work using skills such as

planishing Planishing (from the Latin ''planus'', "flat") is a metalworking technique that involves finishing the surface by finely shaping and smoothing sheet metal. Process This is done by hammering with a planishing panel hammer or slapper file against ...

and

metalworking Metalworking is the process of shaping and reshaping metals to create useful objects, parts, assemblies, and large scale structures. As a term it covers a wide and diverse range of processes, skills, and tools for producing objects on every scale ...

techniques,

welding Welding is a fabrication process that joins materials, usually metals or thermoplastics, by using high heat to melt the parts together and allowing them to cool, causing fusion. Welding is distinct from lower temperature techniques such as b ...

, use of

putty Putty is a material with high plasticity, similar in texture to clay or dough, typically used in domestic construction and repair as a sealant or filler. Although some types of putty (typically those using linseed oil) slowly polymerise and beco ...

fillers, and other skills. Accident repair may require the panel beater to repair or replace parts of a vehicle. These parts may be made from various metals including

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resist ...

s and

alloy An alloy is a mixture of chemical elements of which at least one is a metal. Unlike chemical compounds with metallic bases, an alloy will retain all the properties of a metal in the resulting material, such as electrical conductivity, ductilit ...

s, many different

plastic Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient. Their plasticity makes it possible for plastics to be moulded, extruded or pressed into solid objects of various shapes. This adaptab ...

fibreglass Fiberglass ( American English) or fibreglass ( Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass cl ...

and others. The common panel beater will work on everyday vehicles, cars, vans or 4WDs. Specialised areas include repairs to motorcycles, trucks and even aircraft. Some panel beaters also work exclusively on vehicle restorations, and do not repair smash work at all. Others may specialise in body customisation such as is seen on hot rods. Special equipment examples: *Various hammers and dollies used for planishing *Body files and flippers *Assembly tools such as socket sets,

screwdriver A screwdriver is a tool, manual or powered, used for turning screws. A typical simple screwdriver has a handle and a shaft, ending in a tip the user puts into the screw head before turning the handle. This form of the screwdriver has been repla ...

s and spanners *Other hand tools like pliers,

tin snips Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn (from la, stannum) and atomic number 50. Tin is a silvery-coloured metal. Tin is soft enough to be cut with little force and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, ...

, vise grips, punches,

chisel A chisel is a tool with a characteristically shaped cutting edge (such that wood chisels have lent part of their name to a particular grind) of blade on its end, for carving or cutting a hard material such as wood, stone, or metal by hand, s ...

s, etc. *Hydraulic pushing/pulling devices *Vehicle measuring and aligning devices, or jigs e.g. *Vehicle lift hoists *Personal safety equipment such as

boot A boot is a type of footwear. Most boots mainly cover the foot and the ankle, while some also cover some part of the lower calf. Some boots extend up the leg, sometimes as far as the knee or even the hip. Most boots have a heel that is clear ...

overalls Overalls, also called bib-and-brace overalls or dungarees, are a type of garment usually used as protective clothing when working. The garments are commonly referred to as a "pair of overalls" by analogy with "pair of trousers". Overalls were ...

, safety glasses, welding helmets, gloves,

respirator A respirator is a device designed to protect the wearer from inhaling hazardous atmospheres including fumes, vapours, gases and particulate matter such as dusts and airborne pathogens such as viruses. There are two main categories of resp ...

s and hearing protection *Welding equipment –

MIG Russian Aircraft Corporation "MiG" (russian: Российская самолётостроительная корпорация „МиГ“, Rossiyskaya samolyotostroitel'naya korporatsiya "MiG"), commonly known as Mikoyan and MiG, was a Russi ...

or TIG * Stud welder for pulling out dents Special equipment for restoration, advanced panel repair or panel fabrication from scratch include: *

English wheel The English wheel, in Britain also known as a wheeling machine, is a metalworking tool that enables a craftsperson to form compound (double curvature) curves from flat sheets of metal such as aluminium or steel.Parker, Dana T. ''Building Victory ...

*Power hammer *Pear shaped mallets and sandbags *Benders/folders *Rollers/rolls *Beaders/swaging machines *Station bucks *Templates * Oxy-acetylene welding equipment * Lead loading equipment

Training and certification

Training to become a panel beater is done by completing a

trade Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. An early form of trade, barter, saw the direct exch ...

apprenticeship. For the most part these apprenticeships are around three years long, but can be completed earlier. These usually consist of three years on the job training mixed with schooling at a trade school or

TAFE Technical and further education or simply TAFE (), is the common name in English-speaking countries in Oceania for vocational education, as a subset of tertiary education. TAFE institutions provide a wide range of predominantly vocational cours ...

. The fourth year is usually on the job training alone. Trade schools, although helpful are not required and neither is a formal apprenticeship. Once you become an auto body technician there are many different certifications that you can obtain for specific repair techniques, most of which are available through I-CAR training.

References

{{Reflist Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations Industrial occupations