To what extent can this bent faceplate be fixed?

There's a rippled bend in this faceplate. Unclear how previous owner damaged it. The back of the faceplate has a vertical indention. I'm not sure if the indentation on the rear is a point of impact or where someone clamped it and tried to bend it back in position.

Thoughts on what caused this?

To what extent can the ripple visible from the front side be flattened out? (I'm not concerned about the indentation on the back which no one sees.)

And if it can be fixed, what is the best approach to do so?

 

A few more pics

 

All I can discern is a vertical indentation in the back of the faceplate. And from the aging in the indentation it's probably something done at the factory and passed as acceptable. The angles on the front don't show a ripple or a bulge that I can see even under magnification. Take a picture of the faceplate tope edge facing the camera with the faceplate laying on a smooth FLAT surface. A piece of thick glass is practically perfect for this.

 

Here are a few more pics. It's hard to photograph on my smartphone, but when the light hits it it's very noticeable.

Below are the best angles in which I can show the slight ripple (tried from the top but photo/lighting didn't come out well). Because the bend doesn't appear very sharp or angled, I'm hoping there's a good way to flatten this into original position without it being noticeable.

 

For clarity, here are arrows showing ripple.

 

Honestly, I see it,but it's so slight, that I feel it was a manufacturing defect that FISHER passed. It almost looks like the press shear hold down bar got a little rambunctious.
It's gonna be all but impossible to get that out without damaging the anodize or the lettering, and very expensive to boot. The metal has been compressed on one side, leading to a slight bulge on the other. It can't be just bent back as it looks like it's been that way a long time and the metal has "set". Try to bend it back and chances are it will fracture along the crease in the back. Probably the best way to get an absolutely flat faceplate, getting the ripple out it would most likely have to be put on a CNC milling machine, then re brush the aluminium, re-anodize, and re-letter it.

 

First inclination is to leave it alone.

Looks like it was struck on the back, which means to flatten it you'd have to hit it on the front. Not impossible to do this by laying it on a flat surface as a backer and gently tapping the front to smooth it, but honestly I suspect the damage from flattening it would look a whole lot worse than the minor ripple you have now.

 

Do you know of any companies that can do this turnkey for a reasonable cost? Or would it be cheaper to find a donor unit with a flat faceplate?

 

I agree that any attempt to fix that is just going to make it worse. I would just leave it alone since it appears so slight, but I understand the compulsion to get it perfect. I bet that when the faceplate is mounted on the receiver under normal lighting conditions, it is even less noticeable. Maybe give it a couple weeks to see if you can live with it before trying anything. Would probably be cheaper to find a new faceplate than to try to get that one perfectly straight or refinished.

 

This hypothesis seems plausible. Here's a better view of the back of the faceplate. It looks like an errant hold down. I'm surprised this passed Fisher quality control considering the high price of this unit back in the day.

 

It's more noticeable than the pics suggest. If it can be improved, I'm game, but certainly don't want to make it worse.

 

The only thing I could think of is stick it in a vise and squeeze the shit out of it. Make sure you line the jaws with wood blocks tho.

 

Hardly noticeable, I'd leave it alone....my 2 cents. Al

 

i could possibly be made better with rollers .. might take some time and thought setting up the rollers .
you might have a slight chance of finding someone with the correct tooling set up to this for you . i guess it would be rather expensive .

 

I used to make sheetmetal repairs to airplanes, I'm very familiar with aluminum. Any force sufficient to straighten this is going to affect the sheen of the anodizing/finish on the front. I'm guessing someone caught the corner on something and bent it out. What we're seeing is their best effort in bending it back. If this was mine and I couldn't live with it I'd buy a replacement and sell this one. Even with the defect the condition is still very good overall.

 

I had to bend back two faceplates on Scott tuners : they are now better looking as the face is straight but the paint and finish took a hit. You risk to make it worse...

 

Thanks - can you post photos of the Scotts (before and after)? Did they have the gold anodized finish?

 

This

 

The 350 had some kind of champagne finish and it definitely cracked when I bent it back in shape. Same with my chocolate brown LT-110. IMHO, don't touch it. Sorry, no pics as I'm moving soon and the tuners are already boxed...

 

The best way would be to make a matching punch and die with the formed shape to reform the damage. It should be 4" long and made of tough steel(stainless would also work.)
Then squeeze the damaged portion until it is reformed. You must be careful to not go too far and leave a mark. It is tricky but it could work.