[Leica] Dent... Now Cured!

[telyt at telus.net (David Young)]

Hoppy suggested I buy a neat device for straightening filter rings, 
but [a] I need the lens for tomorrow's Pond Hockey tournament & 
couldn't get one fast enough and [b] I'm too cheap.

And Douglas Sharp kindly suggested a tool I could make!  When I have 
some spare time, I'll build it, for future use.

But, since speed was of the essence, here's what I did.

I took the largest hole saw that I had, and cut a hole in a scrap 
piece of 2x4" wood and then cut the piece in half.  The hole was not 
quite large enough, so I used a sanding drum on a Dremel tool to make 
it somewhat larger - virtually the size of the outside of the lens 
hood.  Then, to make it all even, I used a "flapper" sanding disc in 
a drill press, to evenly sand out the inside.

While I was at it, I used the two sanding methods to round off the 
end of a stick of scrap plywood.

The "tools of the trade" can be seen, 
here:  http://www3.telus.net/~telyt/dent.htm

To cure the lens hood, I placed either the rounded end of my stick or 
the core, from the hole saw, over the dented bits, and then carefully 
"thumped" on them with a small Jeweler's hammer, I happen to 
own.  Careful "thumping" with any small ball-peen hammer should do it.

It took much longer to build the wooden blocks than it did to effect 
the repair.

The result?  The lens shade collapses as it did originally, without 
binding.  There is a small mark in the paint, on the exterior, where 
the lens hit the ice, but reshaping the hood did not cause any of the 
paint to flake off.  So far... so good!

Thanks to you both!

Cheers!