Filler/Bondo problem

[Grauwulf]

Hopefully someone can help me out with this. I just finished filling some button holes on a wooden control panel for a project I am working on. I filled the holed with Bondo and sanded everything smooth, but no matter how hard I try to feather it, once the cp was painted black, you could still see the 'seam' between the bondo and the original wood. I am going to be doing 2 MAME cabines with recessed joystick bolts and trackball plates. I want to try and avoid the same thing happening. Can anyone offer me any pointers to avoid having the 'seam' show on the edges of the drilled/routed holes on my cp? I have searched the board here and haven't found anthing addressing this exact issue.

[whammoed]

Did you use a primer then give the primer a light sanding?  Never had this problem, but I do use primer.  You could try skim coating the entire surface with bondo if the problem persists.

[Grauwulf]

I've used standard primer, filler primer and spot putty, still end up with the same result I'm afraid. I'm sure it has something to do with the way I'm working it, but I have no idea what. I've used bondo on cars with no problems, and I've rebuilt the coner of a cab with it as well. It just seems that anything that has a very sharp, defined edge is giving me grief.

[whammoed]

Can you post a picture of the problem? (if it shows up in a pic that is...)

[NiteWalker]

Make sure you vacuum away any dust that may be inbetween the filler and the hole's edge. Also, try multiple thin coats rather than filling it up in 1 big glop. If all else fails, would it be too difficult to fabricate a new cp?

[Grauwulf]

I went over everything with a tack cloth before painting. And this is was on a project I'm selling so I was not interested in investing the time in making new control panels. I'm trying to avoid having the same thing happen with my new panels I will be making for my MAME machine when I go to recess the mounting bolts and trackball plate.

[NiteWalker]

A tack cloth works great for surfaces but like you said, the problem is where the filler meets the wood. Again, I suggest vacuuming the surface. Maybe try a very thin top coat after you wipe it down with the cloth after sanding. It may close the gap for you.

[prOk]

I would suggest you look into a product called 'Evercoat' at your local auto body supply shop.  This is very similar in nature to bondo, but it is instead a polyester fill.  Evercoat can fill extremely tiny crevices and sands smooth like plastic unlike bondo that is porous.  It also paints very very well and will run about 22 bucks for a quart container of it so it is not cheap.

I have a 'how to' on it on my website:
http://www.rgvac.com/restoration.asp?projid=18

Give it a look.

/brian

[NiteWalker]

Very nice! I took a look at your example on your site. I may look into some of this stuff.