Does Bondo adhere to plastic? I'm thinking through ideas for my blank-face computer and this is a pretty vital part of it. I want the face of my computer to have a perfectly smooth appearance and the Bondo is gonna have to stick to it. Anyone try this before? This is on an Enlight case's front plastic pop-off thing.
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Bondo and plastic
- Thread starter Skier
- Start date
BellaCroix
[H]ard|Gawd
- Joined
- Mar 25, 2004
- Messages
- 1,054
Will it work? Yes
Would I try it? No
I've worked with enough Bondo and other body fillers to have noticed a little something that happens with fillers... when you mix the hardener with the resin it gets hot. Now I'm not talking hot enough to burn you or to start a fire... but the first time I mixed it I used a small plastic bowl and the Bondo did a hell of a job warping the bowl.
Body filler is really made for more "durable" surfaces. If you're looking to patch small areas in plastic just hit your local hobby shop. Look for "contour putty". My favorite is the green variety but the Testors white putty is pretty good too.
I used Contour Putty to fill the stamped "Supermicro" logo on my 750a years ago... the fill was smooth, did not damage the case, never cracked, and looked great!
Just my 2 cents.
-BellaCroix
Would I try it? No
I've worked with enough Bondo and other body fillers to have noticed a little something that happens with fillers... when you mix the hardener with the resin it gets hot. Now I'm not talking hot enough to burn you or to start a fire... but the first time I mixed it I used a small plastic bowl and the Bondo did a hell of a job warping the bowl.
Body filler is really made for more "durable" surfaces. If you're looking to patch small areas in plastic just hit your local hobby shop. Look for "contour putty". My favorite is the green variety but the Testors white putty is pretty good too.
I used Contour Putty to fill the stamped "Supermicro" logo on my 750a years ago... the fill was smooth, did not damage the case, never cracked, and looked great!
Just my 2 cents.
-BellaCroix
BellaCroix said:
I've done my fair share of Bondo, mostly with woodworking, and I haven't ever noticed it getting warm. It's never warped anything I've made it on and I didn't notice it giving off enough heat to be noticed. I never did try sticking my hands in it, though.
I'm looking to do a fairly large area. Think a little under two feet that needs to be covered, some of it as much as a half inch thick. That fact right there makes me really wary of choosing Bondo - I did a lot of research on Bondo usage for a different project (painted the bumpers on my project car, they look great now
), and anything a quarter inch or so is asking a lot - the Bondo is most likely going to crack.I might try fiberglassing it by putting a mesh over the front with some kind of backing and go that route. Should be a little bit more durable material.
BatteryAcid
Limp Gawd
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2002
- Messages
- 371
check out the "bondo bucket" thread in the worklogs section. Bondo will adhere to the plastic of a case bezel, but take from pretty heavy grit sandpaper to it first. It flakes off pretty easily from the plastic unless its scratched up really good. Its not much of an issue in my project but it may be in yours. Actually here's a direct link to the worklog, follow the first link if you want to see it done right. The first page is just me showing the world why i should never do auto body work.
www-scf.usc.edu/~agevorki/worklog.htm <- don't do this
www-scf.usc.edu/~agevorki/newstuff.htm <-do it this way
www-scf.usc.edu/~agevorki/worklog.htm <- don't do this
www-scf.usc.edu/~agevorki/newstuff.htm <-do it this way
Bondo and Fiberglass both heat up when you mix in the hardener, it is a chemical reaction that sets the material up. You can adjust the amount of heat by how much hardener that you apply. If you don't believe mee mix your fiberglass with 10 times the recomended hardener and wait five minutes, the smoke off of the material will be your first clue that it is hot. it will also shatter the material when it finally cools off.
If you are doing the front of your case use Bondo, and add a little fiberglass resin to it. use a little bit more hardener for the bondo than normally used, you want a pale pink color when mixed not red, put it on and let it sit over night. it will make the bondo alot tougher and less likely to crack under abuse. it will not crack under normal use and put up with alot of wear and tear.
The amount of hardener to use is something that takes time to learn so that the material sets in the correct amount of time for it to have the maximum strength, and not have you twiddling your thumbs waiting on it to finally set up.
Take your time and do it right and it will last as long as you want it to.
If you are doing the front of your case use Bondo, and add a little fiberglass resin to it. use a little bit more hardener for the bondo than normally used, you want a pale pink color when mixed not red, put it on and let it sit over night. it will make the bondo alot tougher and less likely to crack under abuse. it will not crack under normal use and put up with alot of wear and tear.
The amount of hardener to use is something that takes time to learn so that the material sets in the correct amount of time for it to have the maximum strength, and not have you twiddling your thumbs waiting on it to finally set up.
Take your time and do it right and it will last as long as you want it to.