?? bondo

[Guest snowshoe]

<_<

About 12 hours ago I used bondo for some filling. I thought I would be doing some light sanding by now, but, the stuff still has a real tacky feel to it. After smoothing it out, I placed the pieces into a small airtight food container to keep the smell from driving us from the house. At the risk of asking a dumb question, was this a mistake? Does the bondo need to be in the open air to cure properly? Also, does anyone know if the stuff can properly set-up in freezing air temps? I'm not talking Antartica , just a comfy -10/-15C.

Thanks.

Tim

[Ricardo]

Putties dry by solvent evaporation. If you are in a hot place this evaporation might take a shorter time.

If you are in a cold humid area, it can take several days to fully cure depending on how thick the application is.

HTH,

Ricardo

[Uni-Brow]

I found that with bondo it has to cure 24 hrs and that was a warm 70 degrees F.

The closed container MIGHT not have allowed the solvent to evaporate.

Good Luck ;)

[Steve Filak]

The airtight container may very well be the problem. Also, when using solvent-based putties, it's important to apply it in multiple thin coats instead of one thick one, as it takes much longer to dry. You'll get less shrinkage of the seam and better coverage if you apply it as thin as possible.

[MickeyThickey]

The airtight container may very well be the problem.

Yup. The solvent will still be circulating within the container, as it doesn't have any way to disperse.

[William G]

;)

About 12 hours ago I used bondo for some filling. I thought I would be doing some light sanding by now, but, the stuff still has a real tacky feel to it. After smoothing it out, I placed the pieces into a small airtight food container to keep the smell from driving us from the house. At the risk of asking a dumb question, was this a mistake? Does the bondo need to be in the open air to cure properly? Also, does anyone know if the stuff can properly set-up in freezing air temps? I'm not talking Antartica , just a comfy -10/-15C.

Thanks.

Tim

Tim,

One other thing that might cause this is if you used too little catalyst.

As this is a chemical reaction it might not have had enough Part B to fully cure the whole thing.

I always add a little more catalyst than needed only because it seems to make the cure go a little faster. But make sure that you don't add to much as the Bondo in my experience will shrink thanks to the uneven mix ratio.

If you do not get a good cure, you do not want to try to add the catalyst to the outside or exposed surfaces because it will not allow the inner parts to cure.

You might have to clean it all off and re do the mix.

On thing that has made my wife a happier person, is that I put anything I am working on using bondo outside.

I have a plastic tub that holds the parts well enough to keep junk off them also I have a hole cut into the plastic to allow air to flow and the solvents to evaporate, this hole is masked with a small piece of coffee filter to keep crud from getting in. this gives me the ability to let stuff like Bondo and some of the other epoxies I use to fully cure with no problems.

I hope this helps...

William G

[Guest snowshoe]

Thanks for all the replys to my post. It appears that the container is too tight and prevents the solvents from dispersing. Have started to store freshly applied parts/material in garden shed. Only draw-back is curing time is slowed by cold air temps. But this is better than have the entire house smell like a paint shop.

Happy modelling.

Tim