Most body fillers contain a solvent called styrene. Customer must notify us within 14 days of receiving product if there is a shipping error. Developed in 1955, this original auto body filler formula is another way that 3M applies science to life and helps you rediscover the excitement of owning and operating like-new vehicles. Does body filler have to be applied to bare metal? Our Specialists receive specialized product training at 3M headquarters and work closely with 3Ms local product specialists. Use During the Fill Stage of the 3M Body Repair System Even a small repair can seem complex at first. Put filler on rust, and (the rust) may continue to grow, he said. What you are working with needs to be properly prepped BEFORE you apply any body filler. Which, sometimes means going the extra mile - literally. Bondo mixed to the color swatch will begin to cure in less than 10 minutes at room temperature. Carefully squeeze a small amount of hardener near the filler and quickly stir the two together just until its a uniform color. Applied correctly, Bondo repairs are durable and long-lasting. For more on Bondo, go to makezine.com/fond-o-bondo. Cut and sand Once the Bondo cures, its time to sand. "I am repairing a boat front hull chips that are small. The edges of the filler should feather out to the existing panel. Stage 3 Paint. Fillers might contain corrosion resistance and slow the process, but theyre not gonna stop it, he said. The only time you will have problems applying filler in very humid conditions is if the metal is visibly wet from moisture. Start with these tips for mixing, preparing surfaces, and finishing. Polyester-based car body fillers just dont hold up in a wet environment. Generally, if paint will stick, so will Bondo. Caution: Bondo is flammable keep away from heat, sparks, open flames, and hot surfaces. What's the right ratio of hardener to Bondo? Dont wet sand filler. If errors are found in our items/case or pricing, Pack-n-Tape reserves the right to honor the price or correct the error. If you add 1 line of hardener across the top of the dollop of Bondo, it takes about 15 minutes to dry after applying. For small repairs, you can bog directly over the bare metal. 2012 - 2022 Pack-n-Tape. Filler is too absorbant and you can have problems getting it dry plus you could cause moisture to wick through to the metal or weaken the bond between the filler and the substrate. Can You Leave Your Car on While Pumping Gas? Another point to note is that the talc in body filler is hygroscopic, meaning it readily absorbs water. ShippingWe ship within the lower 48 states. If necessary, knead the tube of hardener to get uniform consistency. The order subtotal is less than the minimum allowed value ($35.00). After 45 minutes its cured enough to be painted. A free program that lights childrens creative fires and allows them to explore projects in areas such as arts & crafts, science & engineering, design, and technology. Bondo Body Filler products include directions that help you easily create just the right mix for your auto repair job and allow for same-day repairs. Return shipping is at your expense. He loves music and musical instruments, computers, birds, electronics, furniture design, and his wife not necessarily in that order. Now that you know a little more about plastic body filler, you can start working with it the right way. Keep the part you are going to bondo in the house also until just before you do the bondoing. This article has been viewed 100,787 times. Applying body filler over epoxy primer provides maximum corrosion protection for the metal. Body filler doesnt shrink or pull away from the sides of properly prepared holes or cracks (or fender dents). By using this service, some information may be shared with YouTube. Our entire sales staff has access to online and field-based training as well as enhanced product information. It is formulated to be non-shrinking and permanently durable. Let it thoroughly dry, then paint. Is the cured Bondo the same hardness and durability if too little hardener is used (resulting in a slow cure) or too much hardener is used (resulting in a fast cure) or just the right amount of hardener is used? on Bondo 101 Basic For Working With Plastic Body Filler, Community Rallies Around NAPA Store Owners. Why would you waste time laying down a gorgeous paint job if you know the gigantic blob of plastic body filler behind it could actually pop off in the future? Art recognized the impact this could have on his customer and went to work exploring any and all options. Stage 4 Finish. If a product is suspect of being defective, only a portion of the suspected product may be returned until the factory completes required testing to determine if the product is within specification. Your choice here will be recorded for all Make.co Websites. 9. You can use plastic or metal spreaders, choice is up to your personal preference. Learn to mix Bondo and save money, as Bondo, also called body putty, is considerably less expensive than a body shop. Bondo Professional Fast Dry Filler, Gallon, 4 per case, Thank you for subscribing to the newsletter! You cannot slather some Bondo over rust and expect it to stop the rust or stick to it for that matter. If your automobile is rusty or you get in a collision and the damage isn't too extensive, you can patch the dings with a body repair product called Bondo. Body filler that will be exposed to water should be painted. There is not a more maligned automotive product than bondo. With a palette knife, quickly apply the Bondo, leaving some excess material to be removed. You can use both in conjunction to save ancient, fragile woods. Art (on right) going the extra mile for his customer. Theres a critical point in the curing process where excess filler, while still slightly flexible, can be removed quickly and easily with a body-filler experts roughing tool of choice, a Stanley Surform. It was never intended to fill large dents, rust, or other major body damage. Stage 2 Fill. Check out all thepaint & bodyproductsavailable onNAPA Online or trust one of our 17,000 NAPA AutoCare locationsfor routine maintenance and repairs. Sand with at least 220-grit paper between coats. Dont use body filler on full gas tanks, or anywhere that gets hot. Moisture could get absorbed and give you big problems later in the repair. If you are smoothing out a gas tank, that is great, it you are trying to fix a rusted out gas tank, this is not going to do a good job. First-time Bondoer? Automotive expertise from NAPA AUTO PARTS. If you add too much hardener, the mixture will gel too quickly. You do not want to apply body filler to anything that is thicker than about a 1/4. Car AC Lines Freezing Up? Experiment to get the right Bondo mixture. Nearly every high-end custom car or restoration has some amount body filler on it. Don't use metal tools like screwdrivers to mix Bondo because doing so may add grease or oil to the Bondo mixture. Allow the putty to dry 15 minutes at 77 degrees F (25 degrees C). Buy plastic body filler at hardware stores, auto-parts stores or discount department stores. Be vigilant; do as much shaping as you can before Bondo fully hardens. Returns require a Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA) number. The Bondo brand name was created in 1955 by Robert M. Spink, just a few years after the use of lead body solder began to be prohibited. Maker-written books designed to inform and delight! An American Original Born from a time when auto body repair involved heat-shrinking metal and pouring lead, our Bondo Body Filler has been helping vehicle owners and auto body professionals for decades. Larry Cotton is a semi-retired power-tool designer and part-time community college math instructor. References. Once it has completely hardened normally in 25 minutes or less Bondo Body Filler can be sanded using various grits to achieve as smooth a finish as required. We are dedicated to bringing you value for the long haul. These are estimates and could change if special circumstances prevail.Shipping ErrorsCustomer must notify us within 14 days of receiving product if there is a shipping error.Incorrect AddressBe sure to pay close attention to your shipping address information on the checkout page. Fillers and putties will normally work OK over properly sanded (80-180 grit) cured OEM paint. Metal spreaders last longer and provide a more defined edge, but plastic spreaders are cheap and can be custom cut to match shapes. Art has instilled these same values in everyone here at Pack-n-Tape and our everyday activities. Do You Need To Prime Bondo Before Painting? Add 2 lines and it takes about 5 minutes to dry. Last Updated: September 10, 2019 Do not slap Bondo onto a smooth painted surface, it is not going to stick very well. Image may vary from actual product. Eventually the filler will shrink and possibly crack, or even pop off! ConfidenceIn order to partner with 3M as a Strategic Distributor, Pack-n-Tape has demonstrated our companys strength and our commitment to providing ongoing support to our customers. The paint should be sanded off, to the bare metal, and then apply the filler. You only want to mix what you can use in about 10 minutes. The general rule of thumb is that if the dent it deeper than 1/8 you need to do metal work first. wikiHow is where trusted research and expert knowledge come together. That way making sure the metal has no moisture on it. Remember adding more hardener will shorten your work time so mix and spread quickly., Your email address will not be published. The Gas Light Goes On: How Many Miles Until Empty? Too much hardener in a warm environment will reduce working time, but too little in a cool environment can result in maddeningly long curing times. Use hardener with dye in it so you can see when the mixture is mixed evenly. Better to have a little too much filler and sand it off, than have to mix up another batch of filler for a low spot. Unused mixed filler will be wasted, so dont return it to the container. If the repair is larger, or youre looking for a longer-lasting job, apply a base coat of epoxy primer before laying on the filler. How long does car body filler take to set? I Accidentally Put DEF Fluid in a Fuel Tank. This fast-curing body filler spreads easily and will adhere to correctly prepared surfaces. The customer is responsible for providing correct shipping address information. The mix is crucial. Use 60 to 80 grit paper to sand down below rust, deeper scars or to sand down and begin to shape body filler, such as bondo. We hope you enjoy shopping at Pack-n-Tape, 3M Fall Protection (DBI-Sala, Protecta, etc), Which, sometimes means going the extra mile -. His career began in the car audio industry as a shop manager, eventually working his way into a position at Rockford Fosgate as a product designer. If it is hotter (above 85 degrees), use slightly less, if is colder (below 65 degrees), use slightly more. Will Bondo harden without enough hardener? A project collaboration and documentation platform. Please note that warranty periods and services vary by manufacturer and product. After applying the first scratch coats of Bondo to fill a dent, you can sand it down with 80-grit sandpaper. Dont confuse Bondo with JB Weld, the two are not the same. Clean any Bondo on your skin and tools before it hardens with soap and water if possible, or with lacquer thinner. Your email address will not be published. 7. 2. Bondo Body Filler is a two-part putty compound used to repair dents, dings, holes, rusted areas and scratches in vehicle exteriors. For rust repairs, you must first remove any rust scale from the metal. Over the years he's learned what it takes to satisfy a customer. Air orders typically ship same day if orders are entered by 11:00am Mountain Standard Time. Before adding any filler, you should get the metal fairly close. You should use a direct to metal (DTM) primer to help top coats stick to the metal but its not needed under body filler most of the time. Box 813, Lafayette, CO, US, 80026-0813. 2. Plastic body filler is most often referred to by the brand name Bondo (made by 3M), and its bad reputation comes from decades of poor application and misuse. For example, how much hardener should I mix in with two ounces of Bondo? Many bodyshop men of that age were not sold on the idea of using plastic body fillers, but over time, it became apparent that the lightweight, easy to use nature of body filler was a benefit over lead. If an order is shipped to an incorrect address provided by the customer, the customer takes full responsibility to retrieve the package or will be responsible for the full cost of the items shipped.PricingAll products on this site are sold for profit. This simple two-part solution includes a resin-based filler and a hardener. Cut in with heavier grit sandpaper and work out to about 80 grit to leave a tooth for the following skim coats. wikiHow is a wiki, similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. If there are holes in the metal, you are much better off cutting it all out, patching it with new metal, and then working the body filler from there. This is the original formula for quickly and easily repairing vehicle exteriors and other metal surfaces, as well as wood, fiberglass, concrete and more. Do you have to sand between coats of Bondo? Using light pressure, you can knock off large amounts of filler to rough-in the shape needed before the filler hardens, making sanding more labor-intensive. If you add too little, it increases the amount of time for it to cure, and if you don't add enough it will never cure. We use cookies to make wikiHow great. If it's a sunny day and you can't work in the shade, then avoid temperatures higher than 85 degrees in the sun. With your stirring tool, transfer an appropriate-size blob of Bondo to a piece of Formica. Once the metal is primed then you can apply a filler primer (2K) to help hide scratches and minor surface irregularities. Pinholes are caused by air entrapment within the plastic body filler and are exposed during the sanding operation of the filler by the body man. If you are shipping to a new address, please allow 1 day extra for ship-to account setup. You also assume responsibility for insuring the returned item.Items must be returned in "as new" condition in the original packaging and have all accessories, blank warranty cards, and users manuals.A minimum restocking fee of 25% or more, depending on the item, manufacturer policies, and circumstances. Topics such as microcontrollers including Arduino and Raspberry Pi, Drones and 3D Printing, and more. Bondo mixed to the color swatch will begin to cure in less than 10 minutes at room temperature. However, this is usually only a stopgap without using a hardener as well. How long before I can prime over body filler? 3. 7. Learning how to use Bondo the right way isnt as hard as you think. Yes, epoxy will stick to Bondo. All rights reserved. Mixing Bondo with the hardener is almost an art form. All Rights Reserved. In cooler climates, putty may take 20-30 minutes to dry. Now What? Allow the putty to dry 15 minutes at 77 degrees F (25 degrees C). Get hands-on with kits, books, and more from the Maker Shed, Skill builder, project tutorials, and more, Subscribe to the premier DIY magazine today, Community access, print, and digital Magazine, and more, Browse and Vote on Your Favorite Projects, Learn More About the Amazing Maker Awards, Graphics and More to Help Spread the Word. At this point the customer must follow our return policy. Simply troweling on the filler may look like the easy button, but that slab of filler may decide to fall off some day (weve seen it happen). Do not whip the body filler while mixing it. After applying the first scratch coats of Bondo, sand it down with 80-grit sandpaper. 6. Properly mixed, body filler will begin to thicken in 10-15 minutes, and be fully cured in 30. Our websites use cookies to improve your browsing experience. When product is available, ground orders typically ship after a 3 business day warehouse processing time. What happens if you put too much hardener in Bondo? Save over 40% off the annual cover price for a full year (4 issues) of Make. 3. If you add too much hardener, the mixture will gel too quickly. Apply filler within seven days of applying epoxy primer to maximize adhesion. In addition to its uses in repairs of typical vehicle surfaces, the filler is also suitable for repairing other surfaces including wood, steel, aluminum, fiberglass, and concrete. With stock located over 100 miles away, his customer was facing a shut down situation. With extra lead time and direct access to the latest and greatest in 3M products and pricing, we are poised to help you keep your business on the cutting edge. Most of this comes from experience, but you can get close to the optimum mix with this tip- use 1:1 ratio of inch diameter of filler to inch-length of hardener. You should not be able to feel where the metal stops and the filler begins. If there are no streaks in the filler or areas that are darker or lighter, it is mixed well. Sudden Soft Brakes: Don't Panic With These 3 Tips, 6 Signs You May Have a Bad Water Pump On Your Hands, Rossi Wins on Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course, Empire State Proves a Challenge for Sweet & No. A 4-inch diameter of raw filler needs a 4-inch ribbon of hardener at room temperature. Work in a well ventilated space; outdoors is best. This Simple Hack Lets You Shift to Neutral, If Your Car Battery Won't Hold a Charge, Try These 4 Steps. Conversely, if theres an area you dont want Bondo to stick to, apply a release agent (see tools and materials) or use Scotch tape or wax paper. If you are using a lot of filler or doing some shaping with the filler, you can use 36-grit sandpaper when the filler is in the green stage, this is solid, slightly rubbery, but not fully hardened. Required fields are marked *. Plastic body fillers are intended for small dings and smoothing out warped panels, not a major repair itself. Stop when youre close to the final shape, then smooth with progressively finer grades of sandpaper. Exposure to styrene can cause respiratory irritation. It will take about five minutes to mix it up and apply it. Applying Body Filler / Bondo The application of filler material can expose you to some hazardous materials if you do not take appropriate precautions. Not to mention that lead body solder is very dangerous to work with given the need for a torch to heat it, lead fumes, and even lead dust from sanding. Wipe the filler as smooth and level as possible, but leave plenty of extra filler above the surface level to sand the repair smooth. A celebration of the Maker Movement, a family-friendly showcase of invention and creativity that gathers together tech enthusiasts, crafters, educators across the globe. Curing time depends primarily on ambient temperature and how much hardener you add. The premier publication of maker projects, skill-building tutorials, in-depth reviews, and inspirational stories, accessible by all ages and skill ranges. If you add too little, it increases the amount of time for it to cure, and if you dont add enough it will never cure. Body filler is exothermic, meaning it creates its own heat when curing. To be on the safe side get out your trusty hair drier set on hot/high. How long does it take boric acid to kill carpet beetles? The mere application of body filler over a substrate wont stop rust, Miller said. For more information on how to use plastic body filler, chat with a knowledgeable expert at yourlocal NAPA AUTO PARTS store. Mix the bodyfiller with the correct hardener according to the makers instructions, making sure it is well mixed and totally streak-free, preferably within 2-3mins to allow working time on the panel before it begins to set.