Found me a cheap alternative to bondo.

[IG-88]

I had some corners to fix on my Hyper Sports cab and didn't want to go buy a $20 bucket of bondo that I don't really like anyway so I used what I had.

Water putty mixed with a 50/50 water and Elmers wood glue made these corner repairs a snap.

And what I really like about it is the stuff dries brick hard. So hard in fact that I had to use a hand grinder to "get it close". The palm sander would've taken forever. Made a nice t-mold grove too. With bondo I usually get it chipping out or breaking apart all together. So far this holds pretty good.

And as another bonus, the putty/powder was under $2 for a pound and the glue about $4.5 a bottle. Bondo still may work for larger areas but I won't be using it. If it's that large I'll just replace the wood itself.

Here's a couple pics:

[bkenobi]

I've used this stuff a couple times myself.  It does to a great job of creating a strong surface that can be sanded.  HOWEVER, it is not a very good product to use for primary structure!  I did a corner repair with this stuff and found that the product will break off in a chunk where it bonds with the wood (particle board).  The solution I came up with was to use a piece of MDF for structure and use this stuff to make the joint seamless.

[drventure]

@bknobi Did you mix with Woodglue?

Just curious as to whether that would help the adhesion to the MDF.

[IG-88]

I believe that using this stuff in conjunction with the CARPENTERS GLUE makes a very solid structure. It's held up better to my hand grinder and the router than bondo. If I had a larger area to fix I would definitely use solid wood, like I also said.

[Bender]

Great Idea
What's the dry time?

[leapinlew]

Is bondo really $20? How much was the alternative?

[bkenobi]

I never thought of using wood glue instead of water.  I thought this stuff reacted with the water to make the putty that you apply.  If so, then wouldn't the glue get in the way of that?  Seems like if you were going to use wood glue, you might as well just get saw dust and make your own mix.

But, if you've already tried this stuff with wood glue and it works, then I will have to keep that in mind!

[IG-88]

@ Bender: The dry time was about 30 min to work with. An hour to being to hard to move. And overnite/24hr to workable with tools. That also depends on how much powder you add to the water glue mix. I made mine about the consistency of peanut butter.

@ leapinlew: That was a rounded up figure. The one I saw at Wally Mart was $16.95 + tax for a big one. Smaller ones were around $12 if I remember correctly. My mix combo was under $7, and I think you could lower that some more as I bought the stuff from Ace whose prices are higher than a big box store. Also, I can use the glue and water putty separately for other projects if I so choose.

@ bkenobi: I was a little hesitant at first thinking it wouldn't set up (and it does take a little longer) and then thought it may come out too brittle but in the end I think the glue added a strength that the putty needed, or maybe a touch of elasticity that keeps it from shattering under stress.  but it works.

[IG-88]

Also an idea I had for this stuff that I will try later is that I can make it as thick or as runny as I want.

Another problem this cab has is the old t-mold grove must have gotten a little wet over the years in spots so the grove itself is damaged enough that new tmold won't hold in there any more. The groove has deteriorated to the point that its too wide. I'm going to try and pour a runny mixture into the damaged area filling up the groove then sanding it back flat and re-grooving it with the router. Don't see why it wouldn't work.

[bkenobi]

Yup, that should work well for rerouting the slot!  I don't know how runny you need it, but you definitely want to get the slot completely filled.