Dataliner keeps profitable jobs in the workshop

When Brian Hawke visits workshop, he often hears owners say “We don’t need a big machine, we only do small jobs because the big ones are written off”.

Hawke, who started in the panelbeating trade more than 50 years ago, says there is some truth in the statement.

“But there are many cases where a medium-sized job ends up as a write off because the repairer doesn’t have the equipment or imagination to work out a way of doing it efficiently and make it into a profitable job that he keeps rather than letting go out  the door,” he said.

Hawke, who runs Dataliner Australia, points to a job involving a small sedan which had sustained a blow to the front bumper.

“On first inspection the front was across to the right by 40mm,”he said.

“The estimator could have easily quoted to R & R the engine assembly and R & R the  radiator support panel.

“In fact neither was done because by being able to carry out three pulls on a DL9000 drive on, it became a relatively simple job. One counter pull was used on the cross member on the right side and two pulls set up on the left hand rail.”

At the same time the laser measuring was in place during the realignment process to see how far the front had come across.

“Once the scales are set under the car, the operator watches from outside the job and doesn’t have to get under the car to move measuring pins, or reset a computer, or re-adjust a jig,” Hawke said.

“He watches the rails as they move, which is safer than watching a computer screen. The pulling forces use the vector principle and rely on a pulling beam which adjusts in and out on the sides of the bench.

“The left hand pull has two pulls side by side, set at different heights, which can be operated separately depending how far the rail needs to move across.”

Hawke said another job involved a Holden ute which went from being classed as a write-off, to being a good repair using the dataliner, using just three simple pulls.

It used a pull on each end of the sill to lengthen it and then a third pull  at the side to pull  it out.

“In this case the bolts at the bottom of the sill were left loose to allow them to slide before  the sill was pulled back to its proper length,” Hawke said. “The bolts were then re-tightened.

“All that required for pulling was three 10 tonne rams and chains; there are no heavy cumbersome pulling towers for the panelbeater to move around and waste energy.“This only covers a few of the advantages if the DL9000 drive bench.

“Some other advantages are that the rear end of the bench tilts down on a hydraulic leg lift to allow the car to be driven or winched in place, and the scissor lift rolls along the centre of the bench to raise the car onto the sill stands.

“Having the equipment and ability to visualise a repair means that the profitable jobs stay in the shop and don’t go out the door.”

Dataliner comes in four different sizes and models.
Contact Brian Hawke (02) 4872 4697.