Kurt Geisel wrote:

> My understanding is that such repairs aren't commonly made. If it's a
> shallow, smooth dent, they can try to pull it out with a suction cup. If
> it's crumpled, they look to replace the segment which is a very expensive
> operation. Now I'm not sure why... it's a fairly thin guage of aluminum
> which might have something to do with it. It used to be, after all, that
> people would hand-hammer aluminum car bodies. But then I guess you need the
> forms on which to do that (and the car bodies were much smaller scale).

Others will know more about this than I. But one of the problems with hammering out aluminum or aluminum alloy panels is that the material "work hardens" and becomes brittle. So you have to heat it with a torch from time to time (carefully, the stuff will burn if you get it too hot!) and anneal it to
get it back into a workable state. Otherwise it will crack, or worse.

I don't think this is for the faint of heart, nor for those who don't know exactly what they're doing.

John

Susi and John Burchard
Tepe Gawra Salukis
saluqi@ix.netcom.com