| These dent removal techniques will work on any steel body. |
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1. Here are three typical types of dents on a 1936 Ford Truck Cab. We will use the top three methods to repair each one. |
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2. Tools of the trade include hammers, dollies, Slap files, angle grinder and metal file. |
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3. We will start with the deepest dent. In general any dent that is more than 1/8th of an inch deep should be worked out to around 80 percent using a hammer with the correct face and a matched dolly.
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4. This particular hammer has a slight crown or dome which keeps it from making contact on the outside edge, producing a smooth finish. And the dolly has the same slight crown.
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5. A spiral is the key. More often then not a dent is not perfectly round but we will use this for demonstration purposes. You start on the outside and work the dolly and hammer in a circular motion until you meet in the center. This gathers up the metal bit by bit. |
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6. A left handed person would hold the hammer in his left hand and the dolly in his right. Notice how the dolly is held so the center makes most of the contact. If you do not have the vehicle apart you cannot gain access to the back side. This is important, but at the end of this article we will show you another technique that will allow you to remove smaller dents without having any rear access.
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7. Get comfortable so you can get a nice swing and make even contact with the panel. How you hold the dolly is important. Just 1/8th to 1/4th of an inch inside the dent away from where the hammer strikes on the outside of the dent is best. This will allow easy dent removal with out having to strike the panel so hard.
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8. You remove 80 percent or with the hammer and dolly and then use a slap file to remove the rest.
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9. Here is a dent that is less than 1/8th of an inch deep so we will use a slap file and dolly, but no hammer, to remove it.
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10. This dolly is smaller then what we previously used, it has an hour glass configuration which allows you to hold it with your fingers and get closer to the panel. We will remove this entire dent using this technique.
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11. A close up shows the serrated teeth of a slap file. This method of dent repair actually is reverse of the hammer and dolly method.
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12. You use the same spiral method, working from the outside in towards the center.
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13. The dolly is placed on the back side and with just about two pounds of force. You place it on the outer edge of the dent and you slap it with the file directly over the dolly. In other words, they should meet. The teeth on the file allows the metal being pushed from the dolly to work itself in to the teeth allowing the dent to come back to the surface.
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14. Here is the backside of the fender. Notice that the dolly is only held lightly against the metal and the file is "slapped", not hammered against the metal.
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15. The third method of dent removal is the pin weld. We use this method primarily for shallow dents, 1/8 inch or less, when we do not have access to the back of the panel for the dolly.
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16. The pins come in different sizes 7/64, 1/8 etc.
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17. Most pin spotters are set to weld the pin to the metal with out burning. We place it in the designated center of the dent and pull the trigger.
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18. As seen it is welded on and ready for a pull.
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19. We now use the "Ding Near Perfect" tool to pull out the dent. It is similar to a rivet gun with a circular basket on the end.
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20. As seen it pulls the dent right out!
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21. Now we grind the pin weld off and run a metal file over it until it is smooth.
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22. This metal file has 8 teeth per inch, it works well and cuts metal nicely.
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23. The proper technique is to slide the file in an x pattern across the panel so it shaves a thin layer off the top. This shows the highs and lows and gives you a gauge to where you are with the straitening process. If you need to slap some more now is the time.
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24. Nest we use a 17 inch block with 80 grit paper to give it a final check. We know we are done when we see total contact on the panel.
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25. The finished product! A few coats of high build primer, finish sanding, and you are ready to paint.
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Jeff Lilly Restorations
11125 F.M.1560 N
San Antonio, Texas
210-695-5151 - www.jefflilly.com
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