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Is Bondo the right choice?

M

matoch

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 17, 2004
Messages
263
Ok I need to create a flat surface on two different objects. Will Bondo do the job or should I use something else to fill in the space.

The first is the plastic front on a case. It has a hole already cut for a FDD. I want to fill in the hole and smooth the front before I paint it. It looks like this.
floppy.jpg


The Other is a CDROM Tray. I glued a couple CD's onto the tray to bring up the height and to reduce the size of the huge hole in the middle. Basically the goal is to make the top perfectly smooth. (It's not going to be a cd-rom anymore in case you are wondering)

Right now it looks like this
cdrom.jpg



I hope the images work. If they don't work or are excessively slow please let me know and I'll move them somewhere else.

I hope I've explained what I'm trying to do enough to understand. If it doesn't make sense let me know and I'll try to clarify.

Thanks for any information.

James
 
Bondo will work just fine. You will just need to rough up the area you are going to be applying it to with some sandpaper. The hardest part(for me, at least) is getting the surface smooth and uniform. It is kinda heavy, though, so it may not be a good choice for the cd rom tray if it is going to be sliding in and out. I can't really tell how much bondo would be needed on it though, so it might work.
 
Bondo can work, but i would fear that it would eventualy fall out. What would work much better than bondo would be to do a smiall bit of fiberglass work, and then even that out with some bondo. As I have said, bondo is not intended for filling large holes or dents, but for evening out small imperfections like dings, and waves in the side pannel of a car. On a car when you need to dill something big, the better choice is to pull the dent as much as you can, then bondo, or just cut it out all to gether and weld a new pannel in. Or sometimes you can even do some fiberglasing and bondo over it to get it perfectly even with the finish of the car. So yes you CAN bondo that, and wi should work. But it isnt the best choice for a long lasting mod. Know this, bondo isnt designed to sand even with unlike surfaves, fo you use a body filler, you will most likely need to use an auto primer to get the bondo to sand even.
 
Bondo should never be used more than 1/16"-1/8". It is NOT a structural material. It will crack and chip out of that hole. Plus, it shrinks at a different rate than other plastics, thus cracks will form.

Fiberglass would definately be the best choice.
 
Originally posted by PhreakPhy
. . . Know this, bondo isnt designed to sand even with unlike surfaves, fo you use a body filler, you will most likely need to use an auto primer to get the bondo to sand even.
Click to expand...

I just want to make sure I get the idea. First do some work with fiberglass to fill out the bulk of it. Then cover it with Bondo so that I would be able to get it smooth. But before I start sanding Give it a coat of auto primer?

Does the auto primer stop the bondo from chipping or something when you start sanding?


Originally posted by jpmkm
. . . It is kinda heavy, though, so it may not be a good choice for the cd rom tray if it is going to be sliding in and out . . .
Click to expand...

Exactly how much heavier do you think it would be. The two cd's glued into the center brings the center of the tray up to the same height as the outer edges. Basically I would be filling in the gaps around the cd and just trying to make the top smooth.

The only part I wasn't sure about for that one was the hole that's towards the back of the tray. But I think I'll use fiberglass over that part if people think it will last longer.

Thanks for the feedback so far.
 
ok so heres what you do. You done even need the cds in there for the fiberglasing. Get some balsa wood and make some support for the fiberglass for your would be cd tray. Fiberglass it, becareful or it might not fit back into the drive. once wou have your fiberglasing done, i would go ahead and bondo, then primer. That way when you sand you will see the bondo coming through the primer and wou will be able to tell exavtly where your high and low spots are. You may not even need bondo if you do good at fiberglassing. a good auto primer can fill about 1/8 of an inch.

As far as weight, fiberglass is light, bondo is heavy. Use accordingly.
 
Originally posted by PhreakPhy
ok so heres what you do. You done even need the cds in there for the fiberglasing. Get some balsa wood and make some support for the fiberglass for your would be cd tray. Fiberglass it, becareful or it might not fit back into the drive. once wou have your fiberglasing done, i would go ahead and bondo, then primer. That way when you sand you will see the bondo coming through the primer and wou will be able to tell exavtly where your high and low spots are. You may not even need bondo if you do good at fiberglassing. a good auto primer can fill about 1/8 of an inch.

As far as weight, fiberglass is light, bondo is heavy. Use accordingly.
Click to expand...

Sweet thanks for the info.
 
as you are doing work on ABS plastic, why not use something designed specifically for plastics?

Duramix and Fusor are good examples. They are used all of the time in car audio for dash reconstructions. If you want the texture back, SEM makes a product for that, along with color vinyl dye...

Here are some links:

Duramix (recomend 4040): link
Fusor: link
SEM: color selection texture
 
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