Fiberglass for cabinet repair

SuperSprint

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I've seen lots of bondo being used for cabinet panel repair, but not any fiberglass. Has anyone tried it for disintegrating panels? I've used countless yards of 48" rolled glass cloth in amateur rocketry and it's not hard. "Glassing" the side a cabinet panel wouldn't take more than 15 minutes (minus final sanding/smothing) and would yield a very strong an dent resistant product.

Just curious why I haven't seen any references.
 
It would add about 1mm, but for weight would be negligible relative to the cabinet. Probably less than qlb for a whole side.
 
It just isn't as common to use. I've used it, at least the repair material with fiberglass in it...tiger something. Very, very strong for corners, but a pain to work with out of the can. I think if you had damage that needed glass cloth repair it might make more sense to just cut the damage off and feather in a new piece of wood. Cleaner and less filler material required.
 
Totally Different stuff. What we use is very similar to the cloth in a button down shirt. Lay it flat, roll in the epoxy with a painting roller frame with glue roller, allow to dry and trim excess.

Once it's dry, it becomes very stiff and hard. I once put a layer on each side of a piece of 1/2" foam board, put an eye bolt through it, an swung from rope attached to the eye bolt. I weight 215, the piece weighed maybe 4oz.

Not good for void filling, but it would make old flaky MDF very strong and resilient.
 
I know what you're talking about- 1/4 oz cloth or so right?

The only issue is if you have truly flaky particle board, then the finished glass might delaminate without a lot of prep work, which kind of negates the quick solution aspect.

The popular consensus is to use a thin liquid product called "wood hardener" to stabilize crumbling particle board and mdf.
 
There's a point, though, when a panel is distentegrating when you really need to replace the material. Either patch in a piece or build a new cabinet. Sure, that's not original, but neither is bondo or fiberglass. Although a viable option, I can't imagine patching something that's so bad that it needs fiberglass.

My Stargate cabinet has the chipping at the bottom, due to Williams' genius way of doing leg levelers on the cabinets. I'm not real crazy about bondo'ing that, but it's pretty minor.
 
I know what you're talking about- 1/4 oz cloth or so right?

The only issue is if you have truly flaky particle board, then the finished glass might delaminate without a lot of prep work, which kind of negates the quick solution aspect.

The popular consensus is to use a thin liquid product called "wood hardener" to stabilize crumbling particle board and mdf.

Similar, but 4oz cloth. 1/4oz is almost like tissue paper. 4oz is more like oxford cloth.

IIRC, wood hardener is typically just thinned epoxy. When you are applying the glass, the outer layers would get a nice penetrating coat to help bind it together. Obviously if the panel is completely disintegrating, that's not going to help as the layer will just peel off the deeper.

There's a point, though, when a panel is distentegrating when you really need to replace the material. Either patch in a piece or build a new cabinet. Sure, that's not original, but neither is bondo or fiberglass. Although a viable option, I can't imagine patching something that's so bad that it needs fiberglass.

I agree. Perhaps my references to the foam composite panel took the conversation in the wrong direction. I'm not talking about rebuilding a failed panel. Think more like putting a piece of formica on the surface, except that formica won't stick to MDF that's started to "rub off". This would take a panel that has surface problems, perhaps resulting from one too many coatings being removed and seal/consolidate while giving a nice hard exterior surface to protect it from future dings and scratches.

Just a thought. I have some and some epoxy laying around, I may glass some panels and see how they turn out.
 
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