FILLING HOLES

[SLIM]

if you were to fill a hole / dent in a frame ,
what filler can you use ?

because i was thinking , that if you powdercoat a frame , the powder sticks to the frame by electrostatic

so will it stick to the filler as well , does it need a special filler or just car filler ???????

anyone done it this way , any probs

 

[breezerboy]

filling

It depends on if it's steel or alloy.

I've filled dents in steel frames before now with brass. Use the same technique as brazing/soldering then reprofile with a file. This is quite time consuming but gives the best results.

If not powder coating, an elastic car body filler is probably fine, and may be the only choice with alloy. I've not tried it, but adding aluminium powder or using a "metallic" filler may give suitable results for powder coating.

 

[rody]

Slim,

Def use 56% Silver braze and not any putty/filler. Silver brazing heats the base material considerably less than required with brass (causing less molecular damage/weakening) and still has superb adhesion characteristics.

If you have a crack or a hole to fill, use 40% Silver...it is less fluid and will bridge more easily.

In my experience, powder does not adhere well to fillers, often giving a different texture.

cheers,

rody

 

[breezerboy]

agree

Oops, you're right, it was silver braze, not brass (couldn't tell you the percentages though).

Thanks for the correction.

 

[scant]

part of the reason FAT frames were so priccey, silver used on cable guides, gussets etc.

I've had powdercoat over car filler & as rody says not great... tho if its only over a tiny hole/dent then you might get away with it

 

[SLIM]

what it is , i am hoping to get hold of a frame off e bay ,
and it has a dent in the top tube , doesn`t look too serious ?

so i was wondering how to go about it , and i saw on another thread about filling dents

so i thought if you can fill holes as well , is it safe / possible to =

1 drill a hole on the reverse of the dent

2 knock the dent out from reverse , and clean it up

3 get the hole filled by welding / brazing / filling and clean up

the only problems i could foresee is the filling of the hole ,
or would the steel fracture on being straightened
i am only talking about a maybe 5 mm hole , just enough to get a small round ended tool in

the bit i was worried about is having the weakened steel on one side from the dent and the other side weakened from the filled hole ????

 

[scant]

how bigs the dent? unless its massive or real sharp (ie potential crack) then its normally fairly cosmetic. in which case filler.

from a car garage perspective. there a tool, small scale weld onto the dented area. then slowly pull the dent out. (I saw this done on MTVs pimp my ride as well

 

[SLIM]

saw that too ....
heres the dent , not too bad which made me wonder about knocking it out
thought about heating it before , but that would weaken it even more

 

[weps]

saw that too ....
heres the dent , not too bad which made me wonder about knocking it out
thought about heating it before , but that would weaken it even more

metallurgists and frame builders feel free to contradict, but i do not see that dent as a structural problem that needs to be addressed. i feel the drilling and associated dent removal techniques will add more stress than it is worth.

i'd just fill something like that with lead body solder and move on (30tin/70lead, workable at roughly 200C). if you want to powder coat, you could look into some of the lead free body solders. they can handle the curing temps without deforming.

 

[scant]

dude, that dents so tiny.. I make bigger in my wallet
seriously nothing to worry about