TubeNet

I wanted to ask anyone out there if they would have or know of someone who might have used dent erasers available for sale. This is a useful tool to get rid of those large dents on tubas and sousaphones.

Hank74

I have used the dent eraser for about 8 months now. My school bought it to repair the 46 sousaphones that we use. With that many it almost pays for itself in the first year. With the repairs I've done so far, it already has. I think it was origionally developed for sousaphones.

If you want one for just 2 or 3 tubas I'd say borrow one. And if you're using it for your own personal horn and want near perfect results, find someone who's very experienced or just send it to the shop. The dent eraser probably hasn't been out long enough for anyone to get tired of it.

I assume that you're talking about the magnet-and-ball stuff. Yes, they're useful to someone who knows how to use them and yes, you can do a fair amount of damage with one. They're pretty much limited to use on shallow dents in larger branches. Don't try to use on a bell or even the stack leading up the bell.

One of the problems with a dent eraser is that it can exert force only in one direction--outwards from the center of a branch. What this means is that the potential for distorting the shape of a section is pretty high--and VERY high when working on an inside (convex) curve.

There's no real substitute for dent balls, rollers and burnishers.