Posted by Dave Erickson on October 24, 2002 at 12:25:37:
In Reply to: Re: The Moron's Guide to the Dent Eraser posted by Chuck(G) on October 24, 2002 at 11:48:34:
Interesting comment, Chuck. I have a tracer lathe and can make oblong spheroids of any diameter and contour, albeit with a bit of work to make a template. What diameter dent balls do you use with the dent eraser for a bottom bow dent? i.e. can you get good results with a dentball that matches the bottom bow curvature, but which is only 1/3 the diameter of the bow? The magnet I am using is not the dent eraser, but is a strong industrial disk magnet (2" dia. or so), and it works well with 1" or 2" ball bearings, but I wonder whether it is strong enough for a 3" or 4" dia. dent ball that weighs 5 pounds...
Also, on a different topic, I successfully undented the gold brass bell on my project horn, with excellent results despite some bad creasing and crumpling. After wire brushing the gold brass, no evidence of repair remains. The tools I used were a pair of auto body tools, one with a contour that just matched the outside bell concavity and the other which matched the inside bell concavity, and with a combination of hammering and burnishing the dents all disappeared and the bell contour was restored so that I can set the horn on the bell without rocking, etc. I also repaired a crack along the bell seam, which also is where the wire ends were located (bad design!), by silver soldering the wire ends and the crack. Crack is a misnomer, there was a 3/8" gap caused by botched prior repair attempts, so the actual job required a thin patch to bridge the gap, and the silver solder also built the thickness to match the bell. It makes quite a difference in the way the horn plays.