What would be the best way for me to fill in button holes in this situation?

[nitz]

Ok, my cab is a generic one that I bought and gutted and had to build a new CP for. I put pinball buttons in on the sides. I'm going to be overhauling this thing over the next month or so as there's a lot of stuff I'm not happy with (first project, lots of mistakes ). I'm thinking of moving the CP down a fair bit to make it more the height of the old Midway Pacman/Galaga style cabs (my favorite cabs!) and also because vertically challenged people and kids have a slight bit of trouble playing and having a good view of the screen the way it is now.

Thing is, I would need to plug up the pinball holes and drill new ones lower. This isn't like a CP where one side of the hole is never seen. Both sides will be seen, so I need a way to plug them and paint over them so that A) it doesn't look like crap, B) touching it doesn't make whatever I used to plug them with push through! I'm a little afraid of that happening if I just use wood putty.

Crap, I wish I hadn't drilled these things in the first place until I was sure my CP was where I wanted it!

Any ideas?

[brock.sampson]

Assuming 1 1/8" hole get a 1" dowel and cut a couple pieces off just short of the thickness of your cabinet side thickness.  Screw a wood block from the inside to the side of your panel then glue/nail/screw the dowel to that piece.  That will fill most of the void of the hole.  Use bondo to fill the rest and sand smooth.

[nitz]

I'm sure that would be nice and strong, so it's a good idea, except that the "inside" side of the hole would be very visible right above my control panel, so I don't really want a block of wood stuck there. I'm wondering if my only option then is to fill it in with wood putty and hope that's good enough. I suppose as long as no one pokes and prods at it, it probably will be, and if I do a good enough job, no one should know it's there. I wonder if it's possible to get 1 1/8" dowels? Maybe super gluing one of those in there would work better?

[bkenobi]

You could use a hole saw to cut a plug that's 1-1/8"+ and then use a dremel to make it fit perfectly.  Then, use wood glue to make the bond.  Finally, use bondo or wood filler to make the surface solid and smooth with sand paper.  I can't see pictures due to my work's filters, so I'm assuming this should work for you.

[nitz]

That would be exactly what I'm looking for. I guess I was kinda hoping there might be a ready made solution like someone who sells button hole plugs or some other substitute I could buy - my tool collection is pretty limited. I may just have to see if I can find a buddy who can lend me a hole saw and dremel.

Thanks.

[bkenobi]

If you have a drill and a local Harbor Freight, you can get a set of hole saws for ~$6.  It's not great, but it does work.  I've used a set for several years and curse it every time, but it does the job so I haven't replaced it.  If you have ~$30, I bet HD, Lowes, or Sears would be a good place to check out (if you are in the states anyway).  Sand paper can fix the hole size, but it will take longer than a dremel/die grinder.  Harbor Freight probably sells a knock off dremel for ~$10-15.

[nitz]

I'm in Canada actually.

Heh heh, didn't even realize a hole saw was an attachment for a drill until you told me - this is why I gutted an old cab instead of built myself - my knowledge/skills of woodworking is pretty pathetic!

Well, I may be making a trip to Home Depot soon, so I'll just pick up a set of hole saws if they're fairly cheap. I have access to a drill. And I'll probably just use sand paper. I have no prob throwing a little elbow grease into a task if it can save me some money.

Thanks again.

[Don]

You can buy button hole plugs from Ozstick (an Australian arcade company)

http://www.ozstick.com.au/prod_btns.html    - near the bottom of the page

[bertthedefender]

I took a leaf out of the "chop shop book of car repairs" when doing a similar thing to my cab:

I stuffed the button hole with screwed up paper and used bondo to fill the outside then once it had set, pulled all the paper out and did the same on the inside of the hole - it was the simplest solution that meant I didn't have to get the tools out! 

[Bender]

I just put tape on one side and did bondo in one pass done in 5 min.
Sanded and re-drilled right trough the bondo, great stuff!!!

[nitz]

Sorry, kinda flaked out on my thread here for a couple days, been pretty busy!

You can buy button hole plugs from Ozstick (an Australian arcade company)

http://www.ozstick.com.au/prod_btns.html    - near the bottom of the page

Thanks for that. Had a look though, and the fact that they're a bit domed kinda bothers me - I want this to look and feel like the holes were never there as much as it possibly can.

I just put tape on one side and did bondo in one pass done in 5 min.
Sanded and re-drilled right trough the bondo, great stuff!!!

Now that looks nice! And the fact that you could drill through it and have it look that nice seems to indicate that it's strong. Is Bondo just a brand name of wood putty? I do have some wood putty that I used to touch up some chipped out spots on my cab. It did seem to dry pretty hard, but to me it seems like it would just break apart if I tried to drill a hole through it. Maybe I'm wrong. I guess I'll give it a try. The worst that could happen is that it doesn't work too well and I'll have to just go buy some bondo.

Thanks for all the help guys!

[Bender]

Bondo is NOT wood putty but a two part epoxy
wood putty sucks
Bondo Rocks!

[Marsupial]

Bondo is an automotive filler, its used to fix rusted cars.



I would put a wooden dowel, and fill with bondo. Let it set, sand, prime, paint, it won't show at all. Unless you do a crappy job

[Beretta]

wow that CP looks great, i've heard bondo suggested several times in the past.

how thin can you get it? i mean could you fill tiny gaps with it? i was under the impression it's a fairly "thick" stuff to work with.. can it be used to fill in small gaps.

also where is the best place to buy it? you have to mix it up right?

[Bender]

I've filled pretty small cracks with it, but maybe not hairline probably a 64th or bigger would be fine

[Beretta]

hmm thats pretty small, sound like great stuff, thanks for hte advice..

btw whats a good place to get it? i dont suppose wally world sells it do they?

[Marsupial]

They should have Bondo at Wally World, in the automotive section. Otherwise, most hardware stores would have it, automotive repair shops and places like that. A small can should be around 10$.

In Canada, we get it at Canadian Tire.


Its a putty, you can pretty much puch it into most any cracks, then use a spatula to remove excess.

Let it set, it hardens rather fast but for best result wait a bit before sanding.

[nitz]

Hmmm, sounds like I should probably pick up some bondo next time I'm at Canadian Tire then. I've heard a lot of people on this forum talk about fixing up the wood on their cabs with wood putty or bondo and I always just kinda assumed they were the same thing.

Bondo is NOT wood putty but a two part epoxy
wood putty sucks
Bondo Rocks!

Actually, I did find the wood putty a bit difficult to work with when filling in all the chipped out wood in my cab - thought I was just clumsy/doing it wrong or whatever, but maybe it's not the greatest stuff to use then. Since I'm gonna be buying bondo and repainting my cab anyway, I might even dig out the wood putty and use bondo instead - I really didn't get the putty to smooth out quite as much as I'd like.

[Marsupial]

no matter what you use, you need to sand it afterward.
You start low grit (50?) but climb up to when you are satisfied.

And take pics of the process, its always fun to have pictures!

[92greenyj]

Bondo for sure. Thats what I use at my arcade i work for to fix stuff like that. When our games all first arrived, our Smokin Token unit was beat up from shipping. one of the bottom corners had been totally busted apart. So we went over to ACE hardware and got a tub of bondo and some white spray paint. few hours later it looked good as new and even now, 10 months later, you can't tell anything was ever wrong with that front corner

[nitz]

no matter what you use, you need to sand it afterward.
You start low grit (50?) but climb up to when you are satisfied.

And take pics of the process, its always fun to have pictures!

Bondo for sure. Thats what I use at my arcade i work for to fix stuff like that. When our games all first arrived, our Smokin Token unit was beat up from shipping. one of the bottom corners had been totally busted apart. So we went over to ACE hardware and got a tub of bondo and some white spray paint. few hours later it looked good as new and even now, 10 months later, you can't tell anything was ever wrong with that front corner

Sounds good!

I'm in the planning stages of my cab refurb right now, and I think I might do my CP rebuild before I get around to filling in these holes and the chipped out wood. But I'll definitely post some pics in this thread when I get to it!