Fender Rolling 101

[Schwinn Sales West]

Not sure what you're seeing. This is the same roller as has been shown throughout this thread..

LOL, yes kinda hard to explain.

My point was that the top roller does not need to have a concave radius that matches the fender radius to remove the dent. It would work the same way if the top roller was flat, or convex. You would just make more passes, and have the advantage of working different areas of the same dent. The concept is the same as working with a body hammer/dolly, you don't start by smashing the middle of the dent first. @SJ_BIKER even shows one top roller in his photo (not installed) that is a flat roller. I guess what I'm asking, "what is the subtle difference between how these different top roller shapes perform"?

John

 

[WetDogGraphix]

I was observing this photo and wondering why the person is twisting the fender. Is there an advantage to this method? Anyone know who this is so he can be asked?

View attachment 1925708

It looks like the guy is just trying to walk it over a little bit while rolling.

 

[Dave Stromberger]

Any idea on why they would have "knurling" on the (Dan Venturi) wheels? The only thing I can think is if they were motor driven to prevent slipping? It seems counterproductive to rolling out a smooth metal surface.

John

The knurling is to help counter any stretching from the rollers. The knurls kink the metal into that shape, bringing it together... effectively "shrinking" it. You'll see the same knurling on professional shrinking hammer/dollies for metal working.

 

[Vicious Cycle]

That has always been my thought, dents stretch the metal and the knurling shrinks it back

 

[SJ_BIKER]

EXAMPLE #13
Fixing dents around the fender light holes. Light sanding quickly revealed the highs and the lows.
Rolled the edges first with light pressure and careful control. Then worked on the center. In my early days I would go crazy hard in the areas with holes( fender brace and light/reflector). However that causes the holes to stretch and warp leaving odd non circular shapes.

After careful cleaning and sanding and rolling again with cleaner surface more pressure is ok. By pressure I mean turning the knob down further than in the begining.

Once it looks pretty flat I use the reflection of the white house gutter and rotate the fender to see if the gutter line is straight using the reflection on the clean recently sanded fender. You can also use your fingers brushing against the surface to see how flat it is.
I tend to use the reflections and light to see if I missed any areas.

And there you have it. The lead hole is not perfect but it'll be ok as once painted the paint will fill in any imperfections and the light will cover that area so no use over doing it. On on the next problem areas

The lead hole pic below.

Green highlights all the low spots prior to repair. There were many in this area.

 

[SJ_BIKER]

EXAMPLE #14
This nose area has lots of low spots(green highlights) and a few high spots(red spots). Very front edge had uneven surface.

Careful rolling in sections evened out the center and then more care at the front edge

Light sanding was used to keep checking even/uneven surface. Cleaning needed at times and then polish to check for missed spots.

 

[SJ_BIKER]

EXAMPLE #15
This 20 inch Schwinn fender had a fold in the flared end. Did not require effort to fold it over. Just had to muscle it in the roller.light pressure first to get it back in shape starting on one side and moving it over in a good rhythm. Then clamped down with more pressure ..some dolly work needed to flatten the side that buckled ...Then touched up the nose and one ding in the center.

 

[SJ_BIKER]

EXAMPLE #16
This fold over didn't end well. Used a knife , screw driver to lift enough to grip folded metal to get the roller to press down the damage. After it was all said and done it was missing a chunk....not sure what to do....i will either leave as is or cutaway the damage and call it a day.

 

[GTs58]

Looks like there would be minimal loss if you just cleaned it up with a flap sander.

 

[Hoagie57]

Looks like there would be minimal loss if you just cleaned it up with a flap sander.

Is a FLAP sander the same tool aisle as a FLAP jack?