Thin walled aluminum drum

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Hukshawn

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My Delta drum sander. I got it from a highschool several years ago. The drum is dented. One significant dent, and a few other minor ones. It doesn't cause issues, just noisy as the dent goes around hammering the work piece. I mainly use this sander for cleaning and leveling, and finish sanding is done on the stroke sander. So, finish isn't the issue, it's noisy and I don't like that it's dented.
I've always thought about pulling the drum out and skimming a layer off on the lathe. The dent is about .011" deep, however, the wall thickness of the drum is only .100". That's not a lot of meat...

The dent is between gussets, but I have way of pushing the dent out, I considered riveting and a dent puller, but the .100" is likely too thick for that.
I have aluminum arc welding sticks, but that would likely destroy everything.
Maybe brazing? Can you braze aluminum?

Looking for suggestions. And if that doesn't work, the dent will remain and I will move on in life.

IMG_20180317_141816.jpg
You can see the void in build up where the dent is here.

IMG_20180317_143224.jpg

And the thin wall. There is a web structure with a center hole for a shaft, so, making a new drum would likely not be possible as I'm sure this drum material was extruded for this purpose.
Delta does not support parts in Canada anymore. Parts for this sander are not available, so I've been told.
 
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Oh, the epoxy. I didn't think of that. Aside from the holes, that would be the easiest, and least potentially destructive method to try first. And I still have lots of jb weld left after the vise resurrection. How does the epoxy like being cut down to a feathered edge tho? I could just shave off .002-.005" to skim the whole drum. But how would the epoxy hold up to a lathe cut being so thin?
Or, hog down the epoxy on the lathe, then belt sand to level and smooth. That shouldn't take anything off the .100"

I feel a good question here could also be, how thin do you think that tube could go before it would be an issue? .100 seems thin, but it's quite strong. Would it really effect it if I took off .010"?
 
Maybe you can make something to press into the hole to pop it back out from the inside
 
I emailed alumiweld with question regarding my repair and turning it smooth. See what they say.
Ideally, that's the product/method I'm looking for. The repair wouldn't alter the weight of the drum enough to send it out of balance.
 
That works good but you need to get a new SS wire brush and only use it for aluminum.
 
Yes, I've known that before. I don't have a clean one, but they're not expensive. I've also heard cleaning with acetone is recommended.
 
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