When new technology makes the collision repair industry safer and more efficient, it’s always a win-win.
The short version about the Mini-Ductor® II is that it’s a hand-held flameless torch featuring the power of technology with Invisible Heat® to heat ferrous metals in seconds. The device’s motto is “Heats nuts red hot in seconds!” and based on customer reviews, it does exactly that.
Hixson’s Body Shop, a one-person body shop/car restoration company operating out of a renovated barn in Sunbury, PA, is using the Mini-Ductor® Induction II Heater Tool to make life a whole lot easier.
Hixson’s Body Shop
Location: Sunbury, PA
(570) 850-3663
Company At A Glance...
Type: Collision Repair
Facility Employees: One
In Business Since: 2004
Number of Locations: One
Production Space: 20,000 square feet
When the shop’s owner, Amie Aumiller, began using it, she was a believer almost immediately. “I call the Mini-Ductor® Induction II Heater Tool my magic wand because it works so well. Sometimes I will use it twice a week or I may not need it for a month. But every time I reach for it, I know it’s going to do the job by just plugging it in and pushing a button.”
Aumiller is a second-generation combo body technician/painter who learned the business from her father, Greg, at the shop she still owns and operates.
“I painted my first vehicle when I was only 8 years old,” Aumiller said. “It was an old farm truck and I remember the color---it was Bahama Blue. I also learned a lot dissembling stuff, but sometimes I forgot how to put them back together.”
By the time she was 20, Aumiller had done a full restoration on a 1968 Nova. One of her most recent restorations was taken to a Barrett-Jackson auction.
In 2014, Aumiller’s father passed and her life changed instantly, she said.
“I was seven months pregnant with my first child and we had a shop full of cars, so I took a deep breath and told myself, just go with it,” Aumiller said. “I was working full-time as a bartender at a local restaurant at the same time and when I wasn’t there, I was here at the shop doing body work and restoration jobs.”
Abby Andrews