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Easy Shrink™ Metal Shrinking Disc Kit, 9 inch

Part #: SD9kit
Ships From: Our warehouse

Lead Time: Usually ships within 1 day

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In Stock

Price: $70.00

Made from high grade stainless alloy
Creates Heat through Friction to allow shrinking of the sheetmetal
Works on steel, stainless, aluminum, brass
Fits on standard 7 or 9 inch angle grinders

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DESCRIPTION

This Easy Shrink™ Shrinking Disc fits on 7 or 9 inch grinders and can help speed the process of smoothing damaged sheet metal panels. Similar in function to torch shrinking, the shrinking disc is able to pinpoint high spots and generate enough heat to help shrink the metal exactly where desired, eliminating the need for body filler and creating a better and faster repair.

How does heat shrinking work?

Shrinking occurs after heating (causing expansion) and cooling metal (resulting in contraction). This happens because while a panel is being heated, the heated area is trying to expand. The surrounding cold metal is containing the majority of the expansion and holding it in, creating compaction or shrinking. When cooling the panel, the heated metal contracts (which the surrounding metal cannot prevent, in turn shrinking the heated area. Important aspects of this method are heating and cooling fairly quickly. Slow heating is usually more of a problem than slow cooling, as it will let the heat disperse into the entire panel before any expansion containment has taken place, reducing the shrinking discs effectiveness greatly. If heating happens quick enough, some shrinking can occur with only room temperature cooling, but is greatly accelerated and multiplied by cooling with either compressed air or water.

What is a Shrinking Disc?

A shrinking disc is a stainless steel disc that fits on your grinder and generates heat when spun over a damaged area on a sheet metal panel. The secret is, they are much more controllable than shrinking with a torch or a solid tipped stud gun. When using a torch, it is easy to put too much heat in the panel resulting in warping and further damaging the panel. With the shrinking disc, the heat is concentrated on the higher peaks of the damage and tapers off to the lower areas, which results in a much greater accuracy of heat placement, in turn ending with a much smoother repair. Shrinking Discs also work well on oil canned or smoothly stretched panels where shrinking needs to occur.

How do I use a Shrinking Disc?

Normally, you would roughly straighten the panel with a hammer and dolly and then make a couple of passes with the shrinking disc, cooling with either compressed air or water (squirt bottle or rag). Look over the panel to determine where more work is needed, hammer and dolly any remaining low spots, followed by a few more passes with the disc. By using the shrinking disc over the stretched area, it will only touch the higher overstretched areas and shrink them down so the entire area is smooth. After completing several cycles of this process, your panel will be smooth, and back to normal surface tension. More details on using the discs included in the Instruction Manual.