Drill out dent?
11-27-17, 11:43 AM
#1
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Drill out dent?
I'm prepared to be laughed out of town but...
This is one of those 'just to see if I can' jobs.
Is there ANY sense in drilling out a (very minor) dent and soldering in a bottle boss to add strength, as opposed to just leaving it be with filler + touch up?
Dent is very shallow, size of a man's fingernail with a slight 'gouge' at the centre of it. It's this gouge I had considered drilling out as it seems the most likely stress riser. Looks like a chainring bashed it or something.
It's a 2nd hand MTB made from pretty thin steel tubing (Orange, UK, circa early 2000s).
The dent is just above and to the left of the lower bottle boss. I managed to push it out a bit with a bolt on the end of a steel handlebar.
Obviously my solution will leave a random bottle boss not far from the original one and involves a non-skilled solderer adding heat to an already damaged area...
I know someone will ask for pics but my phone doesn't do it well. May do layer if I can.
Thoughts appreciated...
This is one of those 'just to see if I can' jobs.
Is there ANY sense in drilling out a (very minor) dent and soldering in a bottle boss to add strength, as opposed to just leaving it be with filler + touch up?
Dent is very shallow, size of a man's fingernail with a slight 'gouge' at the centre of it. It's this gouge I had considered drilling out as it seems the most likely stress riser. Looks like a chainring bashed it or something.
It's a 2nd hand MTB made from pretty thin steel tubing (Orange, UK, circa early 2000s).
The dent is just above and to the left of the lower bottle boss. I managed to push it out a bit with a bolt on the end of a steel handlebar.
Obviously my solution will leave a random bottle boss not far from the original one and involves a non-skilled solderer adding heat to an already damaged area...
I know someone will ask for pics but my phone doesn't do it well. May do layer if I can.
Thoughts appreciated...
11-27-17, 01:36 PM
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If you can drill, insert and braze up a bottle boss well enough why not just fill the dent with filler rod and be done with it? Why even bother with a torch? Just Bondo it. I wouldn't think a stress riser will be an issue at this location. Andy.
11-27-17, 06:09 PM
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a dent is not a stress riser. If the process of creating the dent managed to crack the steel, which is possible, that would be a stress riser. But there isn't anything you are going to do about it now. Just leave it. Anything else is problematic and messes up the paint
11-28-17, 02:15 AM
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Thought so! It's got a blob of epoxy in it waiting to be sanded and touched up.
Was partly curious as I was after an opportunity to try some modification on a low-risk frame, but can get scrap frames from my job for that. I'd actually be interested to try drilling the ends of a crack in a frame and riding it to see if it gets worse, obviously in a low risk location, both frame wise and geographically...
Was partly curious as I was after an opportunity to try some modification on a low-risk frame, but can get scrap frames from my job for that. I'd actually be interested to try drilling the ends of a crack in a frame and riding it to see if it gets worse, obviously in a low risk location, both frame wise and geographically...
