A panel beater is a term used in some Commonwealth

Commonwealth of Nations

The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...

 countries to describe a person who repairs vehicle bodies back to their factory state after having been damaged (e.g., after being involved in a collision). In the USA the same job is done by an auto body mechanic. They do this using many skills such as planishing

Planishing

Planishing is a metalworking technique that involves finishing the surface by finely shaping and smoothing sheet metal...

 as well as various other metalworking

Metalworking

Metalworking is the process of working with metals to create individual parts, assemblies, or large scale structures. The term covers a wide range of work from large ships and bridges to precise engine parts and delicate jewelry. It therefore includes a correspondingly wide range of skills,...

 techniques, welding

Welding

Welding is a fabrication or sculptural process that joins materials, usually metals or thermoplastics, by causing coalescence. This is often done by melting the workpieces and adding a filler material to form a pool of molten material that cools to become a strong joint, with pressure sometimes...

, use of putty

Putty

Putty is a generic term for a plastic material similar in texture to clay or dough typically used in domestic construction and repair as a sealant or filler. Painter's Putty is typically a linseed oil based product used for filling holes, minor cracks and defacements in wood only...

 fillers, and many more. Accident repair may require the panel beater to either repair or replace, and in many cases both, various parts of a vehicle. These parts may be made from various metals including various steel

Steel

Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...

s and alloy

Alloy

An alloy is a mixture or metallic solid solution composed of two or more elements. Complete solid solution alloys give single solid phase microstructure, while partial solutions give two or more phases that may or may not be homogeneous in distribution, depending on thermal history...

s, many different plastic

Plastic

A plastic material is any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic solids used in the manufacture of industrial products. Plastics are typically polymers of high molecular mass, and may contain other substances to improve performance and/or reduce production costs...

s, fibreglass and others.

The common panel beater will work on everyday vehicles, cars, vans, 4WDs for example. Specialised areas include repairs to motorcycles, trucks and even aircraft. Some panel beaters also work exclusively on vehicle restoration

Vehicle restoration

Vehicle restoration is the process of restoring a vehicle that is either partially scrapped or otherwise life expired back to its original working condition. Automotive restoration can be applied to many different eras of automobile. Heritage railways and railway museums aim to restore and operate...

s, and do not repair smash work at all. Others may specialise in body customisation such as is seen on hot rods etc.

Training to become a panel beater is done by completing a trade

Trade

Trade is the transfer of ownership of goods and services from one person or entity to another. Trade is sometimes loosely called commerce or financial transaction or barter. A network that allows trade is called a market. The original form of trade was barter, the direct exchange of goods and...

 apprenticeship. For the most part these apprenticeships are around four years long, but can be completed earlier. These usually consist of three years on the job training mixed with schooling at a trade school or TAFE. The fourth year is usually on the job training alone.

Special equipment examples:

• Various hammers and dollies used to planishing.
• Body files and flippers.
• Assembly tools such as socket
  Socket wrench
  A socket wrench is a wrench with interchangeable heads called sockets that attach to a fitting on the wrench, allowing it to turn different sized bolts and other fasteners. The most common form is a hand tool popularly called a ratchet consisting of a handle with a ratcheting mechanism built in,...
  
   sets, screwdriver
  Screwdriver
  A screwdriver is a tool for driving screws and often rotating other machine elements with the mating drive system. The screwdriver is made up of a head or tip, which engages with a screw, a mechanism to apply torque by rotating the tip, and some way to position and support the screwdriver...
  
  s and spanners
  Wrench
  A wrench or spanner is a tool used to provide grip and mechanical advantage in applying torque to turn objects—usually rotary fasteners, such as nuts and bolts—or keep them from turning....
  
  .
• Other hand tools like pliers
  Pliers
  Pliers are a hand tool used to hold objects firmly, for bending, or physical compression. Generally, pliers consist of a pair of metal first-class levers joined at a fulcrum positioned closer to one end of the levers, creating short jaws on one side of the fulcrum, and longer handles on the other...
  
  , tin snips
  Tin snips
  Snips, also known as shears, are hand tools used to cut sheet metal and other tough webs. There are two broad categories: tinner's snips, which are similar to common scissors, and compound-action snips, which use a compound leverage handle system to increase the mechanical advantage.-Tinner's...
  
  , vise grips, punch
  Punch (tool)
  A punch is a hard metal rod with a shaped tip at one end and a blunt butt end at the other, which is usually struck by a hammer. Punches are used to drive objects, such as nails, or to form an impression of the tip on a workpiece...
  
  es, chisels, etc.
• Hydraulic pushing/pulling devices.
• Vehicle measuring and aligning devices, or jigs eg. Car-O-Liner
• Vehicle lift hoist
  Hoist (device)
  A hoist is a device used for lifting or lowering a load by means of a drum or lift-wheel around which rope or chain wraps. It may be manually operated, electrically or pneumatically driven and may use chain, fiber or wire rope as its lifting medium. The load is attached to the hoist by means of a...
  
  s.
• Personal safety equipment such as boots, overalls, safety glasses, welding helmets, gloves, respirators and hearing protection.
• Welding equipment - MIG
  Gas metal arc welding
  Gas metal arc welding , sometimes referred to by its subtypes metal inert gas welding or metal active gas welding, is a semi-automatic or automatic arc welding process in which a continuous and consumable wire electrode and a shielding gas are fed through a welding gun...
  
   or TIG
  Gas tungsten arc welding
  Gas tungsten arc welding , also known as tungsten inert gas welding, is an arc welding process that uses a nonconsumable tungsten electrode to produce the weld...
  
  .

Special equipment for restoration, advanced panel repair or panel fabrication from scratch include:

• English wheel
  English Wheel
  The English wheel, in Britain also known as a Wheeling machine, is a metalworking tool that enables a craftsman to form compound curves from flat sheets of metal such as aluminium or steel. The process of using an English wheel is known as Wheeling...
  
  
• Power hammer
• Pear shaped mallets and Sandbags
• Benders/Folders
• Rollers/Rolls
• Beaders/Swaging machines
• Station bucks
• Templates
• Oxy-acetylene welding equipment
• Lead loading equipment