Ekco AD65 case repair.

[Station X]

I have to build up an Ekco AD65 case with filler to replace a broken off piece. See attached pictures, apologies for the quality of one of them.

The threaded boss is a new one I made. It has a 10mm long knurled tang on the rear which is glued, with two part epoxy, into a hole drilled in the case. It should support any filler material.

The question is what filler material should I use. I've seen Isopon P38 and Isopon P40 suggested, but my stocks of these have gone off. I tried some fibre glass resin with the addition of some hardener and it went off well in a flexible mould. It's quite hard though and might be difficult to sand to final size.

I'm thinking I could build up a temporary mould of some sort and pour in liquid resin.

Any suggestions welcomed.

[newlite4]

What about Milliput two part epoxy putty? That would go off rock solid and could be coloured to match the original.
Neil

[Lloyd 1985]

I've used fiberglass resin before with success, even used it to make new knobs! My Bush VHF80c that I repaired with it a few years ago is still holding together. It may set very hard, but it does sand down easily with wet and dry.

Milliput is also good, I've been using the black version to repair a smashed up slate clock, although it says it's black, it's more of a grey colour, which matches the slate nicely.

Regards,
Lloyd.

[Robert Darwent]

Hi Graham,

A couple of videos from forum member Aerodyne (Tony Thompson) that may prove useful with your AD65 bakelite repair;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ff6DlppOMpc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sCopbnPED0

Regards

[Station X]

Thanks for all the replies. I'd actually started the job before Robert posted. Sorry Robert.

No one recommended P38 or P40. As I didn't have any of either and most of a kit would be surplus to requirements I decided not to go down that road.

So it came to a choice between resin or Milliput. As I had resin to hand and I'd have had to buy Milliput online I decided to use resin.

I made up a mould using plastic angle cut from the lid of old box used to hold CDs. I knew it would come in handy sometime! The angle was clamped in place and the joints sealed with Blue Tack.

I then poured in a mixture of resin and hardener until the bottom of the meniscus was level with the top of the brass boss. After half an hour I "cracked" the mould and you can see the result. It looks better in real life than it does in the pictures. There are no low spots, only high ones.

I'll leave it to fully harden overnight and tackle the sanding tomorrow.

[Station X]

Here's the result of a bit of hand sanding. It's an awkward job rather than a hard one. I've a bit further to go yet.

Once it's done I'll polish the scratches out of the original case with Brasso and give the repair a dose of brown permanent marker pen.

The repair won't be visible, even with the back off, as it's one of the chassis mounting pads.

[Nickthedentist]

I'm impressed, Graham.