Posted by Lee Stofer on July 18, 2002 at 07:51:46:
In Reply to: Dent eraser posted by runswithscissors on July 17, 2002 at 08:54:55:
Tony,
I don't believe anyone would rent a Dent Eraser unit out, mainly for the liability issues Jim alludes to below. When I purchased a unit for my shop in January, the list retail price for the UMI unit was $895.00. There are cheaper ways to assemble a set-up to do the same thing, but UMI has addressed safety issues and is a single source for a well thought-out, relatively safe-to-use unit. It is not some magic wand, but a tool that requires much physical effort, careful use, and a bit of dent-removal skill, just like the rest of my dent tools. I dent removal tools that work much better than this, the only catch is that you have to disassemble the instrument to use them. Do you not have a good instrument repairman in the area who can help you out?
I'm sorry to get into semantics, but please don't say you're "restoring" an instrument when you are just taking a few dents out of it and polishing it up. Maybe I'm a bit off here, but I consider restoring an instrument to be returning it to factory-original condition. I also do some auto restoration, and one of my pet peeves is when an ad for an antique vehicle says "restored", then tells of the new V-8, mag wheels, power steering, etc. They didn't restore it - they hot-rodded it! OK, I'm off the soap box now ;^)
Lee (maybe a little too severe) Stofer