Restoring cabinet beat up edges

[epetti]

I'm making a MAME cabinet out of an old Mortal Kombat converted to Point Blank cabinet I got.  I've stripped off the side art, removed the adhesive, sanded it down, getting ready to put a fresh coat of paint on it.

I was going to just use wood putty to fill in a few random holes and dings on the inside of the cabinet, but there's corners and edges are all pretty beat up.  Looks like this cabinet hit one too many walls in its lifetime.  Is there any good easy way to fix up all those edges, or should I just put a fresh coat of paint over it all and live with what is obvious fresh paint over dinged edges.  I don't want to sand down all the way to the wood if I can avoid it, and even if I did that I think it wouldn't solve this problem.

Thanks.

[kahlid74]

Pictures would greatly help but figure this to be no different than patching a hole in your car.  You're basically going to mold/create new wood out of a substance that is or isn't partial wood.

So depending on how bad the corners are you can do the following:

• Cut off the entire bottom and replace it.  Another guy did this where he cut off the bottom 6 inches of the cab and then rebuilt it with MDF and 2x4's
• If the sections are small, maybe only an inch is missing you can can little inch blocks and then use a jig saw/router with guide to cut out the offending wood, then wood glue/clamp the new corners and sand
• Lets say the corners are mostly fine but really just mangled.  You can use a saw dust/glue mixture/slurry and fill it in to a more workable surface.  Then sand
• You can use Bondo and mold new corners.  Lots of work but very good results as you may have to make several passes.  Also don't forget eye/breathe guards as bondo dust is ugly.

[epetti]

Thanks for the tips.  Photos of the problem areas posted.  Sorry they're a little blurry, but they should give the idea.

[Dekieon]

That should be fairly easy to fix, I would say either use bondo, wood filler, or if you have fix sawdust, you can just mix it up with some wood glue to make a thick paste.

What ever you choose to use, just fill in the areas and sand smooth, that sould fix it right up.

Then you just need to do the primer/paint thing to finish.

[DLinkOZ]

I've used Dap's (I believe it was Dap) Plastiwood with great success.  Just give it time to cure, then it sands easily and you can recreate some very crisp corners.  I liked it due to no mixing, just open the can get started.

[kahlid74]

Those aren't too bad at all.  Bondo/Saw dust-wood glue slurry will do the trick.  It's going to take time, but you can do it.  Just be patient and make damn sure to wear a mask when sanding.

[nadcraker]

Hello,

I have a MK2 cab that I am fixing up, and I have the same questions, so thanks for the info. 

However, it seems like the cab is covered in vinyl/laminate/something and not painted?  Can I really paint over that stuff? Especailly at the edges where it has started to flake off, won't that just come up over time? Reminds me of trying to paint over wallpaper or something, just doesn't seem like the right way to go. 

[epetti]

So far it has not been an issue for mine.  The very bottom layer appeared to be laminate and there were several layers of paint over it. I ended up stripping off some but not all of the paint and putting on a fresh coat, and it was fine, but we'll have to see how it holds up over time.