“A man is only as good as his tools.”
– Old saying
The automotive repair industry’s basic mission – to identify, repair and replace direct and indirect damage, all in accordance with industry standards – has stayed the same throughout time, but over time there have been tremendous changes in the way of working within the industry. The repair and maintenance works have evolved from largely hand-based, physically-tasking equipment towards more efficient, precise, and creative technological solutions.
The current generation of automotive repair professionals is seeing a paradigm shift thanks to tools and equipment innovations that will vastly improve the workshops and how the technicians and mechanics work on them daily. Let’s take a look at the trending tools and equipment innovations that are changing the automotive repair and maintenance sector.
OBD II Scanners
An OBD II is the second generation of Onboard Diagnostics (OBD). It is the automotive electronic system that provides vehicle self-diagnosis and reporting capabilities for repair technicians.
With the growing Internet technology trend and the increase in connected devices for vehicles, the OBD port remains important to vehicle health, safety, and sustainability. The latest development in this field is wireless OBD-II dongles, which can be simply plugged into vehicles to enable remote functions such as sophisticated vehicle control and status monitoring.
Chassis Measuring Tools
With advancements in vehicle design and increased use of high-strength steel, repair work requires greater emphasis on restoring the original vehicle specifications for proper vehicle performance. The new advanced three-dimensional chassis measuring system will help in assuring that the vehicle has been restored to the proper specifications. High accuracy, reduced time to make the measurements, and the ability to repeat and verify specific measurements are some of the salient features of these tools. These tools are ideal for damage analysis, providing printed-out measurements with the damage estimate to the technician helping with ordering parts and calculating repair times, and reducing supplements.
Robotic Painting Equipment
Industrial robots are nothing new for the automotive production line. Robotic advancements have also allowed automation solutions to enter the repair and maintenance line. Using robots in the painting booths offers improved quality in spraying, reduced wastage and VOCs, and an increase in overall productivity.
New Generation Spray Guns
HVLP (High Volume Low Pressure) spray technology is a modern advanced spraying technology in the coating industry. To enhance the paint transfer rate, the HVLP combines high air volume with low pressure. The result is that these guns are able to transfer 80% of the paint from the paint chamber to the surface, lowering paint wastage and reducing pollution compared to conventional spray guns.
RP (Reduced (Hood)) Spray Guns are efficient series of spray guns with the most advanced atomization technology, it combines the advantages of traditional spray guns and HVLP spray guns.
Spay guns with PPS (Paint Preparation System) or Disposable Cup System are the new fad in the industry. These guns use just one plastic mixing cup and disposable gravity-fed liner for both mixing and spraying. Compared to the rest, PPS guns offer increased productivity, better quality and more cost savings.
High Torque Pneumatic Wrenches and Other Tools
A Pneumatic torque wrench is an air motor-driven planetary gearbox having a very high reduction ratio. Ideal for contemporary workshop environments, wrenches are used when compressed air is the preferred power source High Torque Pneumatic wrenches incorporate a precision-engineered high-speed gearbox designed for faster run down and quick reaction point positioning on time-sensitive bolting applications.
New Generation Work Benches
A sturdy workbench will set a smart workshop apart from the rest. There are broad categories of new-gen workbenches that could essentially turn your workshop to the next level.
PDR Tools
PDR (Paintless Dent Removal) tools enable an inexpensive repair of small dents without having to repaint the car and preserve the original paint. Following are some essential PDR Tools.
PDR hammers will help to pound the metal back to its original state with little or no effort.
PDR tapping tools will allow to remove or flatten the dents without damaging the paint.
PDR dent lifter can pull the crooked sheet areas back to the desired level so that the hammering process will be less intensive.
Multi-adjustable dent removal handles allow the technician to quickly change the working position.
Dent pulling inductor is ideal for repairing small soft dents on the car body.
With the Glue pulling dent removal technique, dents repair can be done by attaching tips to the affected area using our custom hot glues.
Adjustable and flexible PDR lamps illuminate the affected area allowing technicians to slowly massage the dents out.
New Series of Dent Pullers
Equipped with an advanced safety system that allows the discharge of the capacitor only when in contact with the piece, the Aluminum Dent Pullers are suitable for quick repairs on aluminum bodywork. While Steel Dent Pullers are ideal for all steel straightening and dent pulling jobs.
Conclusion
The innovations discussed in this story are already being put to use in automotive workshops, and they are only the beginning. Years ahead are sure to deliver more exciting and dynamic inventions and innovations in this field.
