Help Wanted

[tartansailor]

Need someone in the Mid Atlantic States with an English Wheel to roll out small dents in a rear banana wrap. Since I can't seem to post pictures here, I can email pics. Please reply to: rjp103atcomcastdotnet
Richard

[pinkflamingoes]

If you can't find someone with an English wheel, try Colin Hyde at https://sites.google.com/a/colinhyde...ions.com/home/
I am saving up a little dough to send mine to him to have them smoothed out.

[Silver Hawk]

Be careful with english wheel - AS aluminum is very soft and will expand easily when pressed making bulge if not careful. I used a round ball the right size in very soft dirt - worked well.

[dbj216]

You might be surprised how good you can get it with a bag of sand and a hammer. Just go slowly with soft taps with the sandbag supporting the piece. Tap, tap, tap and look and feel. Slow and easy. The road rash dents can be smoothed out considerably. Some folks use a roller, but alas, I don't have one.

Just as soon as I get them done, I'll kick up a piece of road debris and dent it again. My Airstream gets used.

David

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by dbj216

You might be surprised how good you can get it with a bag of sand and a hammer. Just go slowly with soft taps with the sandbag supporting the piece. Tap, tap, tap and look and feel. Slow and easy. The road rash dents can be smoothed out considerably. Some folks use a roller, but alas, I don't have one.

Just as soon as I get them done, I'll kick up a piece of road debris and dent it again. My Airstream gets used.

David

Actually, you can dent the old aluminum banana wraps by thumping them with a finger.

There is a fiberglass banana wrap available, that is even gel coated.

They can easily be painted whatever color one chooses.

Andy

[Frank's Trailer Works]

Originally Posted by dbj216

You might be surprised how good you can get it with a bag of sand and a hammer. Just go slowly with soft taps with the sandbag supporting the piece. Tap, tap, tap and look and feel. Slow and easy. The road rash dents can be smoothed out considerably. Some folks use a roller, but alas, I don't have one.

Just as soon as I get them done, I'll kick up a piece of road debris and dent it again. My Airstream gets used.

David

Thats how I do it. I had a project where we found some brand new ones, never installed. They cost a fortune. The aluminum is so soft that after a year they look like all the ones we tapped out previously.

[tartansailor]

Thanks all for the informative replies. Yes, Colin has done some excellent English Wheel work for me in the past for which I'm well pleased. The problem is that he's 1000 miles round trip from me; and you know the cost of shipping panels. Looks like I'll just have to remove some more dented panels to justify a trip. Yes, a volley ball did a number on one of my roof panels, and the other banana wraps could use some attention.
Richard

[dbj216]

My 86 has the fiberglass banana wraps. They are much more resistant to damage than the soft aluminum. I did not know they were available for the mid sixties body style. I would thank they would be too thick to slip between the shell and C channel. Might be worth exploring.

David

[pinkflamingoes]

I'm aboutto run down to the automotive training school at our local community college and see if they have the wheel, and will maybe do it for me. Let's see what happens.

[Frank's Trailer Works]

an English wheel is used to stretch metal into curved shapes. It is used to make banana wraps but is not really the tool to remove dents. It will do the job but will do so by curving the metal further. As suggested by David, a shot bag and hammer is what is needed.

[Silverflames]

I was able to do a pretty good job using the rubber handle of my hammer. The metal is real soft, and you can even push some dings out with you fingers.


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