trim finishing hammer

[pishta]

what you all using to pound out dinged stainless, AL and pot metal trim? HF has a brass/nylon faced lightweight hammer that says it wont mar the surface. Im trying to tap out a few dings in a 65 headlight bezel that is very thin stamped AL. This or maybe a ball pien set?

 

[toolmanmike]

Eastwood has a specific anvil and trim hammer available.

Trim Anvil with Stand
Trim Hammer

 

[Murray]

Also might consider the work surface- anvil, leather bag, block of wood, wooden forms. Marring of the surface- usually these parts re-finishing when done- re-chroming, polishing, painting.

 

[autoxcuda]

Eastwood has some trim hammers. Never seem much in HF. Typically you need some sort of smaller tool to position exactly on the area then hit that with a hammer.

you can look at a cheap HF punch set and grind the ends smooth. An old thick flat head screwdriver with the end bull nosed ground smooth works too.

I use a radiator hose picker at lot. It’s ok to bang the plastic end since you don’t need to hit it hard to move aluminum. It gets in tight places.

Better https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07G4GPY5B/?tag=fabo03-20

ok: Pick and Hook Set, 7 Pc.

For small dings I’ve used a HF automatic punch with the end bull nosed off smooth. Works good on aluminum. It will leave a little ding going out in the outside. Then you file or send that flat. Automatic Center Punch with Brass Handle

Pot metal, I’ve never straightened dents. That stuff doesn’t move around like stamped sheet stainless, iron, or aluminum

 

[barbee6043]

I was working on a pretty dinged up 64 Belvedere grill today with several punches, cold cheisels blocks of wood etc. Sorry no picks but I got it 100% better, not perfect but it goes on a more door and it would not be happy with perfect anything!??
I did see one restored one from SpecialT's for$2200 though! hahahahahahahahahaha

 

[pishta]

Ended up getting a small ball pien and a set of punches that had flat tips for tapping out dents. Works but its hard to get a corner back onto these when they are dinged. Any repair around the squared edge is gonna be a little soft. Thy had no hammer in stock I asked WTH and they said due to the potential of riots, they warehoused most of their hammer and crowbar inventory! Wierd......Its not like Trump was getting another 4 years. Everyone remembered those riots, yet they seems to have forgotten them at the same time.

 

[autoxcuda]

Ended up getting a small ball pien and a set of punches that had flat tips for tapping out dents. Works but its hard to get a corner back onto these when they are dinged. Any repair around the squared edge is gonna be a little soft. Thy had no hammer in stock I asked WTH and they said due to the potential of riots, they warehoused most of their hammer and crowbar inventory! Wierd......Its not like Trump was getting another 4 years. Everyone remembered those riots, yet they seems to have forgotten them at the same time.

I like to use the radiator hose pick to get into tight corners.

the bull-nosed off automatic center punch is in background

 

[pishta]

Id like a metal edge to back the part on so I could reform the edge. May get a piece of 1/4 scrap and chuck it in the vise vertically as a very small edge anvil. Its just a strange shape, the leading edge of the 65 Barracuda headlight bezel that always gets dinged up. I got it beat out pretty close. its soaking in EZ-Off now to strip the anodizing off so as to polish out the file marks made knocking down the slight scars. and high spots.

 

[RustyRatRod]

I have a friend who uses very small trim hammers and bean bags. He does flawless work.

 

[dadsbee]

My favourite hammer... and I'm not a geologist !

Some more of my arsenal and a homemade tool for getting in tight spots on a piece of interior ss trim. Slip in place and rock it to bring the dent up proud, then file, sand and power polish to a mirror.

 

[pishta]

nice work! F'n EZ-OFF of today sucks...2nd application over night and the anodizing is still holding strong. Its a shame as the part is beautiful inside under the black paint that came off. Stuff works great to clean it but its not doing jack to strip it. 220 and 500 grit is in my future along with a few old cassette tapes to pass the time.

 

[dadsbee]

Get some lye (hardware store in the "outhouse" section). Make a dip tank from a box and some 6 mil plastic, add the lye mixture, add the part and watch it bubble. When it turns grey get it out quickly and rinse fully. Start sanding and polishing! I tried EZ-off on my Bee tail panel and it's useless..

 

[barbee6043]

EZ Off=degreaser

 

[halfafish]

I got a variety of hardwood dowels from Lowe's and cut off 6" punches from each one. I think I have 1/8" through 5/8" diameter. Their round shape works most of the time but I've carved some down to be a flat chisel point to get into tight places too. One set of the dowels makes about a half dozen punches or so of each size.

I use a very thick piece of leather for the backer unless it needs a hard anvil, then the backer is a piece of 1/4" plate. A small, like maybe 6 oz. hammer, and I start at the edge of the dent working towards the middle. This gives me driver quality repairs which is good enough for my world.

Lots of good ideas here, I shall be copying some of them for sure.

 

[pishta]

Get some lye (hardware store in the "outhouse" section). Make a dip tank from a box and some 6 mil plastic, add the lye mixture, add the part and watch it bubble. When it turns grey get it out quickly and rinse fully. Start sanding and polishing! I tried EZ-off on my Bee tail panel and it's useless..

That's it, Im buying some good 'ol dangerous lye at Ace Hardware tomorrow. As I remember I did a set 7 years ago (found an old post on instructables with a comment I made) and I did one with Yellow original formula EZ-OFF (mine is blue this year) and the other with 220/500/800 and I think the sandpaper was the better procedure. @dadsbee What was the name of the lye product you purchased?

 

[dadsbee]

Just granules, I'll look at the jug tomorrow and also look up what my mix ratio was from my Bee notes.

 

[dadsbee]

My mix was 8 gallons of water to 48oz of lye crystals. Soak time I have in my notes is 45 minutes, a light scrub and then power washed the tail panel off. That said watch your part very carefully. Too long and you'll have nothing left, why it's good for getting rid of bodies...

 

[pishta]

Got the 90% Sodium hydroxide pro strength granules at Homie Depot and went to work. 6oz/gallon as your instructions (9oz/1.5G in my case) and set timer for 45 min. Damn things went crazy in that mix so after 17 minutes I pulled one out and had a small burn through where some corrosion had already pitted it deep so I took it out, rinsed it and set the next bezels timer for 8 minutes and that was about right for 65 Valiant bezels anodizing. YMMV.
<<Use doubled up nitrile gloves and a respirator or at least a mask and glasses when working with this ****! use a fan or STAY UPWIND! Don't do this inside....vapors are nasty!>>

 

[gzig5]

What ever you use to pound dents out should have the faces ground and polished very smooth or you may transfer unwanted texture to your trim pieces. I didn't see that mentioned. I learned the hard way using a ball peen hammer that had a nick in the face.