Some tool companies are making a killing selling tools to work aluminum to body shops, that's all I know. #-o
I grew up doing bodywork on old British cars, in a restoration shop that had a multi-year wait list and more than a few concourse gold medal restorations. I used the same hammers and dolly's on everything, aluminum, steel, whatever. The Austin-Healey's we restored had both aluminum and steel body panels. Aluminum shrouds, steel fenders and doors, some of each for hoods and boot lids. Dedicated work areas? Must be nice. Don't grind steel and aim your slag at aluminum panels. Pretty simple.
A steel body hammer that's been used on steel isn't going to contaminate an aluminum panel any more than a steel body hammer used on aluminum. It's a steel body hammer, think about it. Sure, you can buy all those fancy nylon mallets, but you don't need to. And if you don't know how to use them, don't bother anyway. You can buy all those fancy nylon mallets to work steel too, but I don't see too many of them at dealerships.
The only things you don't want to mix up is the grinding and cutting wheels, that gets ugly because you actually can embed the steel bits into the aluminum with those. And the reverse sends aluminum chunks flying everywhere when the steel cleans out the aluminum clogged wheel. But 99% of the time you shouldn't be grinding aluminum anyway, that's what body files are for.
Body work on aluminum isn't any harder than body work on steel. Same with welding aluminum. It's not harder, it's just different. Everyone hates it because they use the same techniques for aluminum that they use with steel, which doesn't work at all. All you have to do is realize it's different, learn how to work with it, and practice. Same as anything else.
I grew up doing bodywork on old British cars, in a restoration shop that had a multi-year wait list and more than a few concourse gold medal restorations. I used the same hammers and dolly's on everything, aluminum, steel, whatever. The Austin-Healey's we restored had both aluminum and steel body panels. Aluminum shrouds, steel fenders and doors, some of each for hoods and boot lids. Dedicated work areas? Must be nice. Don't grind steel and aim your slag at aluminum panels. Pretty simple.
A steel body hammer that's been used on steel isn't going to contaminate an aluminum panel any more than a steel body hammer used on aluminum. It's a steel body hammer, think about it. Sure, you can buy all those fancy nylon mallets, but you don't need to. And if you don't know how to use them, don't bother anyway. You can buy all those fancy nylon mallets to work steel too, but I don't see too many of them at dealerships.
The only things you don't want to mix up is the grinding and cutting wheels, that gets ugly because you actually can embed the steel bits into the aluminum with those. And the reverse sends aluminum chunks flying everywhere when the steel cleans out the aluminum clogged wheel. But 99% of the time you shouldn't be grinding aluminum anyway, that's what body files are for.
Body work on aluminum isn't any harder than body work on steel. Same with welding aluminum. It's not harder, it's just different. Everyone hates it because they use the same techniques for aluminum that they use with steel, which doesn't work at all. All you have to do is realize it's different, learn how to work with it, and practice. Same as anything else.
