This nice Airline 602 has been abused badly
Large cracks on top I reinforced with 2 Ton Epoxy.

Now I need ideas on repairing the large chunk gone from the bottom.
Thinking of Bondo and a piece of screen mesh ??????
\ Ideas

Will be Painted in the end


Thanks
Bob T

My way of repairing bakelite with large sections missing like that is to either find a donor cabinet that has that section, then shape a piece to fill it and epoxy it, or use Lexan and epoxy it in place. But, it is harder to match the thickness of the bakelite with the Lexan though. Better off finding a broken donor cabinet.

BTW, don't use Bondo. It never lasts and is much more fragile than bakelite filler or lexan.

Hi,
I agree that Lexan or even Plexiglass would be good filler material. As it is hard to get the surfaces flush, I would leave the outside surface just a 'hair' low. (2mm maybe) Then with the inner side securely fastened and supported, you could fill the outside with a thin layer of resin. It will flow out across your roughened plexiglass. Roughening with coarse 80 grit will give the resin more grip and resist peeling later.
On the inside, you could use the resin with fiberglass cloth to help back it up further. There is no real strength of the donor piece on the flush edges. That's why we need to back them up.

With the donor piece being thinner than the existion bakelite, you can add resin to both sides. The Lexan/Plexi is more like a base, then you finish adding thickness to that.

After the stuff hardens it is time for block sanding. Fiberglass resin sands/shapes well. I don't like to use Bondo as it never really hardens as well as the bakelite. But, a person could use a very thin (less than 1/8") to surface the outer side.
A quart of fierglass resin will last a long time, and once you have worked with the stuff you will like it. I'd avoid Bondo if at all possible. Bondo does make a fiberglass product though, but I do avoid the 'plastic filler' pink stuff.

Hey, Bob, that's a pretty easy repair. I have done it many times. I would use some smooth-on like what I used on my buddy boy cabinet (see thread) and cast a mold over the area shown so you can retain the profile of the bottom of the cabinet. You may need to use modeling clay for dams et al. Then once its cured, move it to the edge of the radio and cast it using epoxy resin using a small piece of fiberglass cloth for strength. You will need to cover the holes with clear tape of course.

I've replaced a chunk out of a bakelite cabinet bottom with a piece of clear acrylic as used in storm doors. It was the same thickness as the bakelite. I cut and sanded the piece to fit perfectly, then bonded the two together using J-B Weld. It made a very strong bond. The excess "weld" material can be sanded off the bottom, and the bottom of the radio masked off and painted, if wanted.