filling holes in metal control panels

cleverlyj

Well-known member

Donor 2011
Joined
Aug 6, 2003
Messages
14,653
Reaction score
513
Location
Northglenn, Colorado
so, i have a arcadeshop multi williams panel i need to fill the holes in. it is their sheet metal non wood panel. so, i read on here somewhere that you can get flat metal plugs and epoxy them to the underside of the cp and then bondo the top smooth. does anyone know where to get the metal plugs? looking online at home depot and lowes i don't see anything there. someone referred to them as electrician's plugs.
 
If you have a welding shop near by, use them there not that much and its done right thats what I have done in the past, your going to spend all that money on a overlay you dont want the plugs falling out.
 
If you plan on installing plexi then you don't need to fill the holes in. If you don't then I would find a metal shop or like Jehuie said, epoxy some sheet metal or flashing to the underside.
 
I didn't buy plugs. I just used a little piece of sheet metal and epoxied it underneath and filled with bondo and it worked well.

This is a tried and true method. Just rough up both metal pieces so the epoxy holds well, then fill with bondo. Other techniques for holding the metal in place: countersunk pop-rivets, spot welder.
 
thanks guys. jehuie, i think i'm gonna try that method, or i was thinking of epoxying 1 1/2" fender washers with the smallest diameter hole i can find and then bondoing that.
 
Yup.... When I fixed mine, I just went into Lowe's and checked the electrical isle...

Picked up a few "electrical box" covers... think they are like 4" X 4".
Think they cost .45 each or so. Worked perfectly.
 
Yup.... When I fixed mine, I just went into Lowe's and checked the electrical isle...

Picked up a few "electrical box" covers... think they are like 4" X 4".
Think they cost .45 each or so. Worked perfectly.

Just picked up some of those last night and stuck them over some holes, I was going to report back with how they worked. Apparently perfectly. That's good to know.
 
this is ONLY good if you simply want to patch holes.
In my case, I needed to patch a few, and MOVE a few holes.

If you try to drill a new hole anywhere you have placed the replacement metal- the epoxy will fail.

I used fiberglass hair/ resin (bondo brand) to fabricate areas where I needed to drill. Just FYI.
 
this is ONLY good if you simply want to patch holes.
In my case, I needed to patch a few, and MOVE a few holes.

If you try to drill a new hole anywhere you have placed the replacement metal- the epoxy will fail.

I used fiberglass hair/ resin (bondo brand) to fabricate areas where I needed to drill. Just FYI.

That is exactly what i was worried about. My plan was to put clamps in the area that I was going to drill out. I have a feeling I'm about to destroy a perfectly good CP...
 
I didn't buy plugs. I just used a little piece of sheet metal and epoxied it underneath and filled with bondo and it worked well. I posted a thread about it somewhere....stand by....

Here it is. Smalltownguy2 told me how to do it: http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=206411

Yeah, I second what's been said above - if you just need to patch a hole, you can epoxy something on the back and you'll be good.

Otherwise you'll need to weld a blank to the back, grind away the burs, and then re-drill your replacement holes using a stepping bit. Once you have the new holes drilled in place, you can fill in your gaps with bondo and sand clean.
 
this is ONLY good if you simply want to patch holes.
In my case, I needed to patch a few, and MOVE a few holes.

If the new hole is near the location, I usually punch (vs drill) the new hole first in the CP, then get a larger piece of sheet metal that will cover both holes, pre-punch a hole the patch sheet, line up the new holes, then epoxy/bondo it in place.
 
If the new hole is near the location, I usually punch (vs drill) the new hole first in the CP, then get a larger piece of sheet metal that will cover both holes, pre-punch a hole the patch sheet, line up the new holes, then epoxy/bondo it in place.

That's what I ended up doing as well. Because as stated earlier....when I tried to punch through one that was epoxied already it busted the epoxy and I had to start over. Fortunately, I had not yet spent time and effort on Bondo at that point.
 
Back
Top Bottom