SebaVending Posted March 29, 2016 Share Posted March 29, 2016 Does anybody here have any experience in fixing dents on vending machines? I've attempted a few dent repairs myself using some of the same techniques people use on cars. Namely, heat (torch or heat gun) combined with fast cooling, I've tried bondo on some smaller dents, and hammering dents out with a metal work hammer. None of these have come out quite perfect and these machines usually have a lot of portions that are just not possible to hammer out from the underside. I I was wondering if anyone here has any tips or tricks of their own. Thanks in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cvending Posted March 29, 2016 Share Posted March 29, 2016 Tuff-Fronts makes side panels that stick to sides. Made out of ABS like the front kits. They have been rebranded now as graphicsthatpop.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stengel Posted March 29, 2016 Share Posted March 29, 2016 I dropped a vending machine while on the dolly. Fell back and slammed on the dolly handles. Then we slid it off and just gauged the hell out of it. 2 coats of bondo with sanding in between turned out very well. 2 coats of black rust oleum and I was back in business Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lacanteen Posted March 29, 2016 Share Posted March 29, 2016 Hammer, Bondo, repeat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SebaVending Posted March 30, 2016 Author Share Posted March 30, 2016 Nice. I've used the tuff fronts for front panels but this is the first time I've seen the side panels. I guess i better fine tune my bondo skills for the spots that can't be covered up with tuff fronts. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snickers Posted April 1, 2016 Share Posted April 1, 2016 I have always wondered how the tuff front side panels worked out since there is no trim to hold them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lacanteen Posted April 1, 2016 Share Posted April 1, 2016 I have always wondered how the tuff front side panels worked out since there is no trim to hold them. I have seen them installed and it looked cheesy to me. Not worth the $95.00 or so they charge for them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southeast Treats Posted April 1, 2016 Share Posted April 1, 2016 I used the side panels on a machine about 2 years ago, it is still in service and looks good! Peel and stick. The front was a lot more work, removing all the trim and hardware, but the result was well worth it. Of course, the machine I started with could not have looked much worse so anything was going to improve it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moondog Posted April 1, 2016 Share Posted April 1, 2016 Does anybody here have any experience in fixing dents on vending machines? I've attempted a few dent repairs myself using some of the same techniques people use on cars. Namely, heat (torch or heat gun) combined with fast cooling, I've tried bondo on some smaller dents, and hammering dents out with a metal work hammer. None of these have come out quite perfect and these machines usually have a lot of portions that are just not possible to hammer out from the underside. I I was wondering if anyone here has any tips or tricks of their own. Thanks in advance. Flatten them out as much as possible and use a thick nap roller to paint - hides a lot of imperfections and bondo will probably just fall off the first time somebody bounces the machine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SebaVending Posted April 4, 2016 Author Share Posted April 4, 2016 Just thinking out loud here. But wouldn't I be better off just buying sheets of abs plastic and cutting them to size when I need them? They're simple cuts, and the plastic sheets go for very cheap online, especially if you buy them in bulk. Maybe even make a template and cut a few sheets at once to save time. The plastic and some double sided sticky tape is all I would need, and I'd be saving a ton of money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stengel Posted April 4, 2016 Share Posted April 4, 2016 Just thinking out loud here. But wouldn't I be better off just buying sheets of abs plastic and cutting them to size when I need them? They're simple cuts, and the plastic sheets go for very cheap online, especially if you buy them in bulk. Maybe even make a template and cut a few sheets at once to save time. The plastic and some double sided sticky tape is all I would need, and I'd be saving a ton of money. I have thought about doing this. I used to work at a refrigerator manufacturing plant and we did that with metal. It wasn't hard at all. Depending on how the edges would work with the plastic would be the deciding factor. Without a trim peice to cover the corner it might not look right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SebaVending Posted April 12, 2016 Author Share Posted April 12, 2016 I went ahead and bought some abs plastic sheets from ebay. The sheets are .04 inches thick, 48" X 29.5". I guess they were leftovers from a project. It came out to $180 including shipping for 20 sheets, so $9 a sheet. They came in today and honestly look great. Will post a picture of one sheet for now and Ill post the results once I install on a machine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngryChris Posted April 12, 2016 Share Posted April 12, 2016 That's cool but it seems really thin. Are you going to use an entire sheet or two at a time or just use it to patch dents? Either way, I'm assuming that your sheet metal is thin enough to dent quite easily so you might be best off to fill-in any big dents first before you put your sheet metal on. How are you installing the sheet metal? Glue? Weld? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SebaVending Posted April 12, 2016 Author Share Posted April 12, 2016 @angrychris These are sheets of abs plastic not metal. The tuff front kits I have bought in the past were for machines like the AP 113 for example. Once the trim and hardware is off you can remove the existing panels and replace them with with the pieces of plastic sheet that the kit comes with. The pieces have double sided sticky tape to hold them in place temporarily and then when you reinstall the trim, it hold the sheets in place nicely. This of course is going to be different for the side of a machine or the back because of the lack of trim, and would probably only work well for machines with straight edges. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngryChris Posted April 14, 2016 Share Posted April 14, 2016 @angrychris These are sheets of abs plastic not metal. The tuff front kits I have bought in the past were for machines like the AP 113 for example. Once the trim and hardware is off you can remove the existing panels and replace them with with the pieces of plastic sheet that the kit comes with. The pieces have double sided sticky tape to hold them in place temporarily and then when you reinstall the trim, it hold the sheets in place nicely. This of course is going to be different for the side of a machine or the back because of the lack of trim, and would probably only work well for machines with straight edges. Oh okay, my mistake. I guess I read your previous post about using metal and I simply didn't read the part where you said it was plastic. I hope it works out well. Post some pics when you're done! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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