I'm such a dweeb....how can I "unmake" a hole?

jehuie

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I'm such a dweeb....how can I "unmake" a hole?

So...I wanted to punch some holes in a metal control panel to add a couple more buttons so I bought the Harbor Freight knockout punch set here:

http://www.harborfreight.com/knockout-punch-kit-91201.html

image_15331.jpg


Which at $25 is a great deal and they work quite well so far....

Anyway, in the product description and all over the box it says this:

Includes punches and dies for 1/2", 3/4", 1" and 1-1/4" pipe and conduit.

Which I (wrongly) assumed meant that they punched holes of those sizes. So I grabbed the third largest one which I thought was 1" to punch the holes, figuring I'd need to dremel it out a bit to make it fit. Went to work, punched the hole. Inserted the button and....it fell right through.

Went back and measured and the third largest one measures...yep....1 1/4".

Crap.
 
Man that sucks...
They say "measure twice cut once", but I often find myself measuring four or five times as I'm prone to doing things just like that all the time.

A little bondo and some sheet metal should fix you right up though... :001_scool:
 
Man that sucks...
They say "measure twice cut once", but I often find myself measuring four or five times as I'm prone to doing things just like that all the time.

A little bondo and some sheet metal should fix you right up though... :001_scool:

No time for that. We're having a bunch of people over next weekend and I really want this game working. I just got back from the hardware store where I bought some thin plexi. I figure that by using a couple hole saws I can fashion a small plastic washer that I can put on there. It should hardly be noticeable other than slightly raising the button. Perhaps I'll raise them all by the same amount.

You are right about measuring carefully...I thought I did. Just never thought to measure the tool itself!
 
Go for an annulment before you consider filing for divo...

Oh, wait.

Nevermind.
 
Maybe just plexi the entire top of your cp which would bring all the buttons to the same height and look like it was meant to be there.

Anyway...hope you get it fixed :)
 
Maybe just plexi the entire top of your cp which would bring all the buttons to the same height and look like it was meant to be there.

I made a little washer and it looks ok I guess...but I think you are right. It would look better to make an entire plexi cover. Of course then I have to drill all the holes just right on that as well. And it's a Centipede style control panel with the wraparound art...so do you think that would look weird?

Or back to the bondo thing...what's a good process for filling in a hole? Magically attach a piece of metal to the back and fill the hole with bondo? How do you attach it? Will it drill out ok later for the button? Never worked with bondo before.

a time machine will fix that issue.

Got one I can borrow?
 
I made a little washer and it looks ok I guess...but I think you are right. It would look better to make an entire plexi cover. Of course then I have to drill all the holes just right on that as well. And it's a Centipede style control panel with the wraparound art...so do you think that would look weird?

Or back to the bondo thing...what's a good process for filling in a hole? Magically attach a piece of metal to the back and fill the hole with bondo? How do you attach it? Will it drill out ok later for the button? Never worked with bondo before.

I think either method would look ok. Plexi is a pain to drill through if you don't have the proper bits to do it.
Bondo is similar to duct tape...a million uses. It's a little more than $10 for a nice sized can at your local auto parts store. It bonds to metal and even wood and dries ready to sand very quickly. I mix up a batch, apply and usually let it sit for a few hours before sanding.
What you'd want to do to fix your control panel is use epoxy to attach a piece of sheet metal to the back of your cp covering the hole entirely. Then you'd apply the bondo to the top hole which now has the piece of sheet metal at the bottom to hold the bondo. Sand smooth and re-punch or re-drill your hole through both the bondo and new piece of supporting sheet metal underneath.

I'm probably making it sound more difficult than it is, but it really is simple and quick task. Coin ops used to use the same technique BITD on their hacked up control panels and to fix missing chunks of wood on their cabinets.
 
So...I wanted to punch some holes in a metal control panel to add a couple more buttons so I bought the Harbor Freight knockout punch set here:

....

Which I (wrongly) assumed meant that they punched holes of those sizes. So I grabbed the third largest one which I thought was 1" to punch the holes, figuring I'd need to dremel it out a bit to make it fit. Went to work, punched the hole. Inserted the button and....it fell right through.

Went back and measured and the third largest one measures...yep....1 1/4".

Crap.

>.<

IMHO, think about welding...

...a metal slug (or washer) can be welded into the hole to make it smaller or shut.

And the weld can be applied to the bottom of the CP so you don't have to sand it.

The hard part will be keeping the slug level and keeping your CPO from lifting off (due to the heat).

Local community college, auto body shops, and sheet metal shops are good places to find welders.

If you want to get fancy, they can also probably bondo fill the top side CP gaps and sand the work area smooth so it's ready for paint or an overlay application.

In any event, should be quick and easy work.

Best of luck.
 
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I second the welding suggestion, but as tyranix pointed out, the heat will destroy the cp overlay. It might be messy, but one of those fiberglass repair kits that they sell in auto parts stores might work okay.
 
I did this once, and this is how I fixed it:

Cut a few plexi squares, and epoxy them in place:

IMG_6857.jpg


Then, fill the holes with bondo, and sand smooth. If you have artwork on the top of your panel that you need to protect, then cover the artwork with a protective layer of masking tape, and then you may sand the bondo flush without harming your CPO.

IMG_6872.jpg


Once the filler is flush, just re-drill your hole with a forstner bit.
 
Thanks everyone for the tips. A forstner bit can drill through metal? I thought they were only for wood.
 
Thanks everyone for the tips. A forstner bit can drill through metal? I thought they were only for wood.

It can, but as Bungy said, do NOT do that. :rolleyes:

A meth-head drilled through my gas tank on my truck trying to steal some gas from me, and it actually went through, but also set him, my truck, and my neighbor's fence on fire... :mad:

Get a stepping bit set from Harbor Freight.
http://www.harborfreight.com/2-piece-titanium-nitride-coate
 
It can, but as Bungy said, do NOT do that. :rolleyes:

A meth-head drilled through my gas tank on my truck trying to steal some gas from me, and it actually went through, but also set him, my truck, and my neighbor's fence on fire... :mad:

Get a stepping bit set from Harbor Freight.
http://www.harborfreight.com/2-piec...n't know why meth-heads always get a bad rap.
 
It can, but as Bungy said, do NOT do that. :rolleyes:

A meth-head drilled through my gas tank on my truck trying to steal some gas from me, and it actually went through, but also set him, my truck, and my neighbor's fence on fire... :mad:

Get a stepping bit set from Harbor Freight.
http://www.harborfreight.com/2-piec...the time. It could have been really bad then.
 
Thanks everyone for the tips. A forstner bit can drill through metal? I thought they were only for wood.

The op was referring to drilling through the bondo, epoxy, and the plexi with the forstner bit, NOT through the metal.
 
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