crowmadic

Is there a repair man (back yard or pro.) who can tell me the proceedure for removing a serious dent from the bell area of a trumpet. Do you heat the metal first? Do you reshape it with a mallet (what kind of head)? Or do you press it onto a bell form? Surprise me................

Solar Bell

You put the horn in your car and DRIVE to your repair guy and LET HIM DO IT!!

-cw-

__________________
Chuck Willard
The Willard of Oz


"Don't be afraid to see what you see."
Ronald Reagan

The average response time of a 911 call is over 4 minutes.
The average speed of my 9mm is 1250 fps

When seconds count....the police are only minutes away.

crowmadic

That's how it got bent!

crowmadic

Chuck, just kidding. It's not an expensive horn, and I feel like tinkering. By the way, get those fingertips on the valve buttons. Nah, i'm sure you're smokin'!

Tootsall

Regardless of how it got bent in the first place, I gotta go with Chuck. I've had bent bells, dented bells and partially flattened bells. The service guy has always been able to "put it right" within minutes of getting his hands on the horn. I once watched him "rub" the bell with a leather mallet and take out a dimple that I had feared would leave the "reverse dent"... it was amazing to watch.

It would be fun to try some of this stuff on one's own... IF you had the proper mandrel, IF you had the proper tools, and IF you had a "junker" that you didn't worry about if it didn't work out.

crowmadic

"Junker" is the case. "rub the bell with leather mallet" is the kind of input i'm looking for, I hope I get more. Thanks Tootsall...

rowuk

I have taken dents out with a hard wooden spoon. I wax the bell first to keep from marring it while "rubbing" the dent out. Alcohol takes the wax off afterwards.
My wife is not overjoyed with this because we also use it when we cook spaghetti(in the mean time I have bought her a new one and have the old one for me).
I have NEVER gotten a professional appearance doing it myself - it does look better than dented however.

__________________
Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.

BADBOY-DON

"WHEN EVER I FEEL BLUE...I START BREATHING AGAIN!"

Thanks..Ro' that quip of yours.....cracksmeup! :) Trumpet players words to live by!!!

Liad Bar-EL

Quote:

Originally Posted by crowmadic Is there a repair man (back yard or pro.) who can tell me the proceedure for removing a serious dent from the bell area of a trumpet. Do you heat the metal first? Do you reshape it with a mallet (what kind of head)? Or do you press it onto a bell form? Surprise me................

Hmmmm...... It seems that by the responses to your inquiry, people here are non supportive of the proposed trumpet repair forum of which I think you could benefit from.

Getting back to your concern, do you think that a professional would part with his secrets if it meant that it would loose him income? This is a rhetorical question, no need to answer.

If you really want to tinker with the dent in your horn, go to a car body shop and ask them how they take dents out of doors, fenders, etc and then apply that knowledge in a scaled down fashion to your horn. I think that what they would say in simple terms would be to apply heat on one side and pressure on the other side. If you can find something with the correct curve and angle to make the dent flush with its surrounding area, you got it made. Now on what kind of heating device, angle device, hammers, etc………..well these go with the trade of repairing horns. Best bet would be to go to a friendly repair man and watch him do it for you. If he lets you in his work shop, you might want to buy him a beer or a box of chocolates.

Good luck,

Liad