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The types of paintless dent removal tools and techniques used by many "old school" technicians are about as varied as people themselves. www.DentToolsDirectUSA offers PDR Tools that are freshly designed to access all new models of automobiles. Dent Tools Direct USA offers lifetime guarantee on all dent repair tools.
Some technicians have an assortment of tools greater in number than can be counted. Other technicians have a few "trusty" rods that they use and some they may have even made. Much of the variety is due to the way the PDR industry started in its infancy. Years ago when PDR was starting, there was no consensus on tooling, training, techniques or even what PDR was and could do. Technicians were left to toil away experimenting and trying different things until they discovered what worked and most often what did not. There also was very little communication with other technicians to support your findings, so the result was a variety of techniques used with very little consistency.
The most noticeable difference between many technicians is the type of reflection device used to read the dent or find the tool's location underneath the panel. Surely you have seen many wild combinations of colors on a light or dent board, painted stripes or pin stripes, electrical tape, some so wild they seem better suited to be used in a psychiatry office rather than in the auto industry. Despite all the differing combinations, all can be boiled down to one of two basic techniques, either a hard line technique or a soft edge technique. Both techniques have some advantages and some draw backs but I will discuss both in hopes of leaving you with a clearer understanding of each technique.
A hard edge technique uses a sharp contrast between colors to produce the reflection of a line or lines on a panel. When pressure is exerted on the tool it causes the reflection to pinch, or in this case the lines to pinch look much like an hour glass shape. Where the lines pinch or touch is the location of the tool underneath the panel. When these lines are placed over a dent, they circle the dent somewhat like a figure eight and when the tool tip presses on the bottom of the dent it causes the figure eight to squeeze or blink like an eye. This technique has been commonly taught for years and can be an easy way to get started because it is simple to understand once seen and properly demonstrated. However there is one major drawback to this type of technique, it works great as long as the dents are small or shallow. This technique depends on the metal being flexible enough to bend a great deal so the reflection can move, then you can see where your tool tip is.
Most dents as you know are not small and most have some kind of crease or sharp point that stiffens the surface area making it resistant to pressure. So when working these types of dents with a hard edge it is very easy to cause poke marks in the bottom of the dent and not even know it because you are focusing on the circumference of the dent and not the bottom of the dent. Whew, (wipes forehead) that was a mouthful. Technicians who are taught this way eventually learn to feel there way through a dent or get really good at fixing poke marks often referred to as high spots or bee-stings.
These common problems led to what is referred to as the "soft edge technique" or the "fog". This techniques uses a soft transition of color rather that a sharp one. For instance black fading slowly to white or white fading to black. When this reflects on the panel it simply illuminates the sheet metal and the natural texture of the panel. When the tool tip presses up on the sheet metal it causes the soft edge to gather to a sharp one wherever the tool tip is. The way it works to light up a dent can be best described by using the example of the sun rising over a valley. When the sun first begins to rise over a valley, only one side of the valley is lit up, the other is left shadowed. This is what a dent looks like in a soft edge, the side closest to you is lit up and the side of the dent farthest away is shadowed. Where the two colors meet is in the middle is the bottom of the dent. This works to your advantage because any change in the slope of the dent is going to affect the coloring. For example the shaded side suddenly has white spot with in it or the illuminated side has a shadowed side then you know the metal has been bent in that area and needs to be taken care of.
Basically, if this technique is used you learn to see inside the dent rather that watching the circumference which can greatly help when pushing large or deep dents. Obviously this makes a whole lot more sense once viewed and properly demonstrated but this one simple technique can allow even a beginner to tackle large and more difficult dents once thought only to be reserved for those master technicians. Well hopefully this has made some kind of sense of the differences you are seeing being used out there in the field and why they might be using a certain technique or tool. Today there have been so many advancements made and so many veteran technicians willing to share what they have learned that the person entering the field today doesn't find themselves alone.
For more information, please visit http://www.dingking.com
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Copyright 2007, The Ding King Training Institute, Inc.
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