Vehicle body element dent system and method

A method of producing conditioned vehicle body elements and testing, comprising:

• providing a vehicle body element;
• providing an impactor including:
• a ram supported by a dent impactor frame, the ram also connected to a carriage that articulates with the dent impactor frame;
• an impactor head connected to the ram and guided by the carriage;
• a body element support including a rotating portion moveably coupled to a support base;
• and
• a mounting element movably coupled to the rotating portion of the body element support, the mounting element including at least one support adapted to couple to a vehicle body element, thereby fixing the vehicle body element to the body element support;
• positioning the vehicle body element on the body element support in a horizontal orientation;
• placing an impactor head on the ram of the impactor and charging the ram to a specific level of potential energy;
• lowering the dent impactor so a frame base of the dent impactor is adjacent to the vehicle body element;
• releasing the ram causing the impactor head to strike the vehicle body element, creating a dent of a repeatable size and depth in the vehicle body element, thereby creating a conditioned vehicle body element;
• and
• using the conditioned vehicle body element as test material to evaluate a skill of a user tasked with removing the dent in the conditioned vehicle body element.

A vehicle body dent system, comprising:

• a body element support including a rotating portion with at least one slot, the rotating portion being movably coupled to a support base;
• at least two locking mechanisms coupled to the support base, whereby the body element support is configured to have the rotating portion locked in a vertical orientation or in a horizontal orientation relative to the support base;
• and
• a mounting element including a means of attachment to a vehicle body element, the mounting element being releasably coupled to the rotating portion at the at least one slot, allowing the mounting element to be secured to the body element support in more than one location, whereby when the vehicle body element is secured to the body element support, the vehicle body element is positioned in a horizontal position or a substantially vertical position;
• wherein the mounting element is comprised of more than one standoff adjustably mounted to the body element support by use of the at least one slot in the rotating portion of the body element support;
• and
• wherein each of the one or more standoff is comprised of a standoff extension with an extension tab on a first end, the extension tab including an elongate slot provided for mounting of the body element to the standoff.