would you use blending strictly for finishing? or could you used it before a glue pull to make the pull easier? how would you approach a medium sized dent?
Hi Joshua, good question, usually blending for me, is a way to finish a repair but often with the dent removal process it is necessary to 'open up' the dent, this in simple terms is using a hammer and or knock down to tap around the dent to actually make it larger which when done correctly can help to lift up the centre spot aka the lowest part of the dent, you may see pdr techs 'hammering' around a dent before a glue pull and whilst similar is a different repair technique than blending. Othertimes when we are using hammering techniques before finishing we may be softened the metal or releasing tension that is restricted the metal flow, I hope that makes sense?
@@LearnPDROnline yes quite interesting, i just tested this out on the rear quarter of my truck and it does work for the most part, i started with a glue pull first in 3 spots and i guess it wasnt such a good idea because it turned the dent into 3 smaller ones which were high in the middle but overall still low, i guess i should have hammered around the dent the release some of the tension and it would have been easier to pull it out to the correct level. then blended it at the end. its my first time for PDR but definitely not the first time for panel beating and spray painting.
Sounds like your blending tool or hammer is tapping metal to metal? Or does it have a nylon face? I’ve tried lightly tapping on a 12 year old paint job and it left marks. With nylon. Perhaps it was cold. Or perhaps it was my blending hammer that I used.
Hey Rick, yes its a metal tip on my blending hammer but I usually add a small layer of tape just in case the tip is not perfectly smooth where it gets knocked around a bit in my tool box but you should be able to blend metal to metal as blending should not mark the paint, it may be aftermarket paint on the vehicle from a previous repair or perhaps the tip of your hammer was not perfectly smooth and clean.
Hey mate great videos, I have a hail damaged car and there is many small dints on the roof and bonnet. Would you recommend starting from the middle or an edge?
Thanks Miles, I'm not a hail tech myself but when I did some hail damage a few years back I would divide my panels into sections and work on one at a time to avoid overwhelm, for example divide a bonnet into 4 and work on all dents in one section. Its important with hail to move around though and check your angles constantly cross checking work as you go, depending on your set up you can have multiple lights at once to limit how many times you need to physically move your working position. I also found it helped to work every dent I could see from one angle and then move and do the same again this limited how many times I would need to move and set up as opposed to repairing one dent 100% and moving each time, this will save time. As I say I am not an expert with hail though so do seek some other views and opinions too!
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@@LearnPDROnline thank you for taking the time to respond 👍🏼 that’s a good idea I was thinking about it but never actioned it so since you say it’s a good idea I’ll give it a try. Look forward to seeing more from you.
Good question, the correct hammer really depends on what you are doing, I have my standard cheap hammer for knocking down with, that has a little weight to it so its great for the transfer of energy between hammer and knock down, but if carrying out blending I will use a much lighter hammer as its more about hammer technique, my go to is aluminium (the shane jacks hammer) but I also have a carbon fibre one nearly twice as long which is great when i need distance and reach. Blending is most commonly used on roof rails so a light weight hammer can be easier on the arms too :)
