TINKER

 TINKER

‘Tinker’ is a commonly used term in reference to a worker who mends kinks, shallow cavities, blemishes from physical impact / abrasion especially in Cars or similar vehicles.  In the Indian context, visiting a tinker is common as vehicles get into abrasive proximity under the compulsion of voluminous traffic. At the same time, we view tinkers as ‘god-sent’ men as they do a reasonably good job at a really competitive pricing.

Authorized service stations make a fortune out of every unfortunate vehicle that has had an unpleasant impact. Such stations take advantage of the car owners’ desire for ‘blemish-less looks’ of the vehicle. Even for small setbacks of approximate 3- 5 square inch area, the service station may demand 7000 to 8000Rs in the pretext of ‘working’ finely to restore the surface and secondarily paint the ‘affected’ zone to restore its pristine  looks. To keep a car with dents and damages is unpleasant even by a liberal consideration. In all such situations, people necessarily look for a good craftsman to set the metal right and keep its ‘new look’ with the most appropriate restoration of paint and sheen. It is quite interesting that such works of caliber are handled by un-lettered workers who do a meticulous job of restoring the looks of the car and the prestige of the owner. It is no mean feat considering the intricacies of work, in finely restoring the surface for its uniform contour is by careful dent removal using the ‘right pressure’; any extra pressure may cause new dents.

Many techniques are employed to ‘restore’ surface contour to the most natural looks. Some dents are ‘pressed out’ using muscular push to ‘dome out’ the material. A shallow dent can be removed by application of pressure from underneath. The work may involve dismantling the metal shield from the place and correcting the defect. Some dents are corrected by specially designed dent removers with spider-like legs and a central shaft carrying a disc with a vacuum grip; the shaft is gently screwed down to sit over the ‘dented area’. By further inward slow thrust the vacuum head fixes itself to the metal. By gently pulling the shaft with the vacuum head, the ‘caved in’ metal is brought to its old shape.

Some dented metals are thin to take vacuum pressure of high order. In such cases the vacuum head is gently fixed to avoid shearing the metal. Hot water is poured over the affected part; it makes the metal more flexible by temperature ; at that stage ‘outward pull by vacuum head ‘ restores the metal shape. Dent- removal is an art and any material like wood, rubber or globe-like metal ball can be used to deliver the needed thrust to restore shape. Our tinkers are highly dexterous in application of right pressure to ‘relieve’ dent. If need be the surface may be suitably painted for sheen / fresh look. But, dictionaries for English language describe the ‘Tinker’ –unskilled / non-technical worker without right training. When certified ‘skilled’, the same persons would join ‘’authorized service stations’’ as skilled technician and a customer would only be handled by the ‘front office Engineer –Maintenance’ on specific terms of billing /payment. Never can  we meet the actual worker –the man to restore the looks.

Prof. K. Raman