shameless guilt grrrr....

[planedick]

Hot melt glue

You would be surprised how well it works, even with small dents. Trick is to fill dent with hot glue, hold the hammer handle very still for about a minute and that "quick jerk" will pull it out.

[prometheus578]

"Two-man operation?"

Who's that "quick Jerk" that you speak of, Planedick?

[HobbyMan]

I am just too afraid that will mess up the paint. That is now my last resort. I talked to the PDR(paintless dent repair) place and they want $50. I actually just went down there to find out how they do it I am going to manufacture my own tools and use the same method of "rubbing" out the dent from the inside through the petcocks. My friend Robert may even have the tools considering he rebuilds old cars. He does most of his work before he paints using filler, but I know he has gotten dings before a show. Does the hot glue method leave any signs of the dent afterwards?

[HobbyMan]

Well, being the fickle person I am, I decided to try the hot glue method first. It did not work at all. I tried several times and it was a pain to get the hot glue off without a heat gun. I am back to square one, well actually square 2. Square one was a tank with no dents. I am thinking now that just a little messaging from the inside is all it needs. I am going to use the tank that I have not finished working on for a restore job to take in the welding shop. There I will fabicate the correct tools. This should be very interesting.

[prometheus578]

"Make sure the tool has a rounded head, like yours."

What I mean is... if you use a tool with a metal head, and corners and such, you'll only succeed in raising sharp little ridges on the outside of your tank. Make sure your tool's tip is protected (this is also good dating advice)

[HobbyMan]

I am going to take some steel rod, heat and bend it to fit right in to the dent over the hump in the tank. At the end I am going to put a large weld bead around the tip. Then go back with the grinder making a nice round end. I just talked to a kid in the school auto shop and he is about 50% sure they have some professional tools lying around that no one ever uses. Pro, you sure like to give out dating advice.

[fredintoon]

Dating advice

"Pro, you sure like to give out dating advice."
Hi Hobbyman,
and it was good advice, too. And it don't stop, neither. I phoned my mother to chat and to say I was going on a first date with a lady I'd just met. "That's good dear", she says "Be sure and use a condom"
I was 50 years old at the time.
Fred Hill, S'toon.

[81xsproject]

Don't feel bad Hobbyman, the glue didn't work for my either

[HobbyMan]

Found out today that the school auto shop has some of the tools in question. Turns out no one ever uses them. My friend and I will be trying to figure it out. I am going to make some practice dents on some similar material. I am sure that If I didn't wax the tank soo many times the glue would have worked. MY goal is to get it back to normal WITHOUT scewing something else up. I don't like wasting gas so I took a nice ride to empty the tank which I filled up recently. At least it was warm.

[HobbyMan]

Well, they had a few of the tools. Only one or two would fit inside through the petcock holes. I worked on it at school for about 35min. They started hosing down the shop so I had to leave. MY friend "unnoficially" let me borrow one of the PDR tools for the weekend. I worked at it for about 2 hours this afternoon. I got it to the point where I can barely see it. It is still there, but not nearly as bad. Bystanders can's see it at all. Man that was tough. After you wear your hand out finding where the tool actually is inside the tank, you have no energy to message the dent. Its hard and the steel is pretty tough. I am going to take a few more shots at it tomorrow.

[thewiz]

forgive us our dents as we forgive our dentors

Bummer about the ding, H-man ... but what Pat and Plane said ... Planedick's method is very similar to what the little 'Pops-a-Dent' gadget does ... I have one and have used it successfully several times. Seems to work best for me on flatter surfaces, but with some playin' around; there could be a number of ways to use it. Most often now I use it like Plane's 'stick and glue' method. But here's the deal ..... if the local PDR place will do it for fifty bucks; IMHO, that's a flippin' deal, bro'!! If he found himself in your position, the Wizard, Himself, in all of His wisdom, would likely save his cash and take that approach. It's hard to even buy a quart of primer and reducer (in California) for fifty bucks, right? And just think ... you'll only be $49.65 in the hole, thx to the generous tipper ... BTW ... do you think the 'dentor' rides and, if so; what bike?

[HobbyMan]

I doubt the denter rides. Or he wouldn't have been so careless around my bike. I cannot justify spending $50 on something that does not mechanicaly improve the bike. I have a strict budget and this cuts into other more important things. You learn a lot of things when you use this philosophy. Right now, it is definitaly worth $50 because most of the dent is gone. Some dents can never be completely removed. I am going to keep trying. Eventually when I become a millionare(no make that billionare) I am going to have the paint matched and have a bunch of it made.

[prometheus578]

forgive us our dents as we forgive our dentors

Wiz, that was truly inspirational.
Better than my motto at work...
"We're not happy, till you're not happy."

[BLUEJEEPLAB]

I used Pops a Dent on a ding I put in the Battle Cruiser by leaning it over onto the garage door frame (don't ask). It worked to get the dent out, but I ended up pulling a quarter sized peice of paint off on the last pull. I think with original paint, I would have been okay, but PO had painted the tank. Not sure what kind of paint, but it was very thick, lots of work I am sure. I was heart broken, but now the BC has a very nice blue coat, more in tune with my personality (I like blue, doesn't mean I'm blue, or that I am a deviate or ... Honey, where's the Prozac?)

[HobbyMan]

If that happened to the stock paint there would be hell to pay. Someone would have to tie me down to prevent bullets from flying.