Dent repair?

[unclebun]

How big is the damaged face? If a new panel is out of the question maybe cladding it with a thin, wrapped aluminum overlay of the entire damaged panel. Can't tell from the photo what the framing looks like so might not be an option. Fixing the dent will put any future issues or failures on you, instead of the company that made and shipped it.

It's 5'x8' two-sided. .063" aluminum faces flush bonded somehow to a 2" frame which runs the perimeter of the sign. I see no rivets; the face of the sign is completely smooth. The face is divided into two tenant panels which are only delineated by being on separate pieces of printed vinyl.

It is the manufacturer who is asking me and will pay for whatever repairs are made.

Obviously they are trying to avoid having to make and ship another sign, which would really be the ideal solution.

If they were willing to let me know how they made the sign, i.e. how the face is bonded to the frame, a second best would be for me to make a new aluminum face and put it on the frame. If we did that, I'd have a local auto body shop paint it to match the brown, and have the original manufacturer ship me the vinyl panels with the printing on them.

 

[unclebun]

Were you just an installer on this job or did you buy the sign? Either way I'm not sure why it's on you to figure it out... sounds like someone else's problem. Bondo and painting will never make it look like it should. GAC has a good suggestion about making a new face and overlay.

I was just the installer. It's really not on me to figure it out, but the manufacturer asked me to Bondo it, which is why I created this thread--I've never heard of Bondoing a sign face.

That said, the customer is someone I've done work for at their two previous locations. Why they didn't have us make it is a bit of their fault because they called back in December with a somewhat cryptic question about whether we made a type of sign. It seemed like she was asking about a tall sign with multiple tenants, so I was thinking something 20' tall with multiple panels, and lit. We don't make those, so I said no. Apparently none of the other shops in our area even returned their calls. So they went searching on the internet and bought the sign that way. If I'd known they wanted a 5'x8' aluminum sign on 6x6 posts with vinyl graphics, I'd have done it myself.

 

[Gino]

Honestly, I think they should send it the right way. You're gonna see any patch type of work performed. If this is up high on a building, maybe, but if I was the customer, I'd want it right the first time. Unless you can create some need for a small overlay there so it looks like it was purposely put there, have them do it over.

 

[Johnny Best]

Cut a rectangle around damaged area. Pull off vinyl and clean glue off. Mask off area with transfer paper. Sandpaper area and drill several small (1/8") holes where dent is. Insert screw in hole and slowly pull damaged surface even with face. Do this in several places until dent is close to being flat again. Use Bondo just in drill holes and push into holes using putty knife so it mushroomes on inside of metal. Keep Bondo to a minimum and wipe off excess right away. Use the putty knife to keep Bondo flat on surface. After Bondo dries hard sand area flat and prime area with spray can of Zinsser primer (Home Depot).
Remove tape and transfer paper and put new piece of matching vinyl.

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

The labor trying to fix it seems like it would be more than making and shipping new face. I hate they made a multi-tenant sign that wasn't individually replaceable. I wouldn't screw around with trying to fix it, tell them you have no experience with Bondo and to call a body shop. It's on them for building it that way, and they assume the risk when selling online and shipping freight.