I had to have a long blade to reach inside a 1/4 to slice through the foam and adheasives they used to hold it together and I used something very similar ,it was a longer about 2' and had serated notches like a kitchen knife but it was used for slicing of excess spray foam insulation from the wall studs ,and it worked like a dream....Thats what it reminds me of but whats it for? I read it but still dont know what you do with it.
so it's a contour gauge? Don't you work in a production shop? I don't get how this can be usefull when Tung Yang has all the parts you need if OEM isn't sufficient. contour gauges are good for metal fabricators, real metal fabricators, or those that have the time to try to get it close. In a production shop especially, what's the need?
Seriously? $147.00 for a straight edge?
Just buy a dry wall one for about $15.00,
they come up to 2' long too.
I've used one on dry wall a lot.
Or for a few bucks, a strip of plexiglass
works just as well.
I can't believe $147.00,
(but it does come in a "special foam case")
Yeah its going to be a hard sell for just a big bondo squeegie..It looks like someone saw me using a dollar store ruler the same way and thought they would get rich...I think if they made it more flexable and put some serated teeth on it it would sell better as a panel seperator .....
LOLOL, is that wild or what? Is that the oversell of the decade? I couldn't believe it, this thing was sitting on the table in a box and I opened it up trying to figure out what it was, a "Contour gauge" is what I thought it was. I have used a metal yard stick for years bending it over the surface then checking the area I am working on, there are three different ones and one was pretty flexible so I thought that is what it was, then I watched the video and my jaw dropped!
A Dollar Store ruler? that's great!
Now that sounds more like me, and for that special
non stick coating, you can always cover it with
masking tape first!:thumbup:
Yes, I've used those dollar store rulers for many years. In wood, plastic and aluminum. Work great. Also cheap dowel stock for roundish and concaves. Even round plastic pipe insulation..:thumbup:
Did you watch the video to see what this tool is? I don't know if you used plastic pipe insulation for what this tool is for. You could have, we can get pretty creative. I used a nice new roll of paper towels once as a "block" on a large curved surface.
But check out the video......it's a good laugh in the morning. $147
I got one of these at one of the big box stores for drywall.
It's 24" wide with a nice thin blade.
I think it was around $15 to $20.
I took the handle off and use it like in the video
but on wide drywall seams.
I'm sure it would work as well with filler.
I've never needed one that wide for filler but have used my
15" drywall trowel, normal type with a wooden handle.
It worked great.
Brian,I'm so glad I dont work at your shop...because after he spent 147 dollars on them and found me using them to stir paint I'd be the dead painter, man.....especially when the whole shop laughed at him for BUYING paint sticks... which also work as a bondo spreader for the TRUE sculptors....
Glad I watched the video for various reasons. I first thought it was a contour gauge, then thought it was a flexible sanding block of some kind, then thought it was a re-useable paint stick, then I watched the video and had to clean my drink off my computer screen.. When I finished laughing, I thought (like everyone else on here so far) that I have been doing that for a long time, just with more readily available and cheaper things that others have mentioned. The theory is helpful if you have a large flat area that is slightly wavy (think hood, doors and deck lid on older cars). I have used a metal "yard" stick I have used in the past to get a panel roughed in with filler, basically the way he did in the video, except on a larger scale. It does save time blocking and filling etc. It is the save all end all? absolutely not. Also, since you are in a production shop, I will assume you deal with late model cars, which are not really flat any where, making it useless........unless the others in the pretty (and apparently expensive) box, are flexible on the edge? I have even used plexiglass cut to the shape of the panel, similar to a contour gauge, to get a few weird shaped places roughed in.
Kelly, we have a few restoration project go thru, this tool was actually bought because we have a 68 Camaro we are starting on.....don't tell me, you're preaching to the choir! I don't see it useful at ALL in the least bit in this shop, not on the Camaro or anything else. :drunk:
It would seem to me that a demonstration of their product showing Blade #3 in use would be a little more dramatic. Even I (who has the body repair skills of a 3rd grader) could find and use a straightedge to apply filler on a relatively flat surface. Compound curves would be more impressive.
I am going to play with these things a little, they may have something to offer. But honestly, it just seems like a gimmick to me. A pro (but maybe it's not for a pro.....$147?) will spread the filler changing pressure as he spreads doing the exact same thing, I don't know, it's just awfully gimmicky to me. I was looking at this 68 Camaro we have which needs filler over 99.9% of it's body and I am picturing spreading the filler on these panels using "the blade" and just can't see it, I just can't see other than a few places where you could even use it. I am sorry, over 95% of the body spreading filler with "The blade" would be VERY difficult and still leave the dreaded bondo spreader lines, I don't get it.
I have used many different substrates for "contour spreaders".
My favorite is 1/8" thick birch. Take a nice chunk of birch wood, run it through the surface planer, then slice of 1/8" thick strips on the table saw.
Cover it with a piece of contact paper ( or the remains of that last wood grain vinyl job you did lol).
I've been making these for the better part of 35 years. 1st wood one was helping a high school buddy sculpt his 65 442 quarter panel. The "tool" was over 3' long and took 2 young dumb lads to manipulate it. ROFLOL.
I think these guys stole my idea and went all hi-tech and high price !
No, my boss bought it, now, the last tool she came "home" with was given to her, and it was $450! It's a hole punch for BMW bumpers to install parking sensors. Now remember, this is BMW only, and it covers a few years only. We are looking at becoming a BMW authorized repair center (big $$)...we will see.
Good luck to them if they can convince people to buy those...
I've used lots of things in the past for roughing out a first skim of filler on areas like that, but I wouldn't pay that sort of money for a "purpose made" tool! The plastic license plates we have here in the UK work perfectly well thank you, and we have dozens thrown in the trash weekly so cost nothing.
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