I had an engine intake tube that had quite a little dent in it. I forgot to take a pic before I took the dent out, but here's the result. The tube looked like it was almost dented on puropse and had flown that way from the look of it from the inside. It had a nice, wide dent with about a 3'4in radius. Not sharp, not shallow, almost perpendicular to the axis of the airflow about 1/4 to 3/8ths inch deep. I had a mechanic friend look at it and he said either replace the tube or take the dent out.
I found a new tube on ebay for about $38 with shipping but I figured I could give it a try to take the dent out. So I took a piece of an old weight set I got from the dump and made this dolly that I polished and stuffed into a vise. I then placed the tube over the dolly and started slowly working my way around the perimeter with a body hammer and eventually the dent was out. I took a three-day metalworking class from Kent White a few years back and the techniques I learned came in handy! Just about an hour and a half total time and it's good as new. Now, off for cad plating.
