MGMagnette@aol.com wrote:
>
> My computer shouldn't allow me to send a letter without a topic, but it did,
> anyway:
>
> Why I like lead over Bondo... Bondo catalyst is a fume that eats brains.
Hmmm... I am going to go out on a limb here and say that that
is not a "professional" opinion of the harmful effects of the
toxicity of cream hardeners.
> Lead dust is a particle that also does nasty things. Fumes are more difficult
> to filter out than particles...
I really just don't want lead dust in my shop. You can wear
a breather when sanding, and I recommend it and do so with
plastic as well.
However, the dust lands on the floor, and then it might be raised
the next dozen times you sweep the place. It's just a toxic subtance
that I don't really want to make 50 grams of it "disappear" into
the air of my shop to fix a panel.
I guess the same thing could be said about asbestos brake dust,
but with lead you actually remove a LOT of material during finish
sanding, unlike the traces of brake dust that may be around.
> Another reason is that lead seems more forgiving to me. I once really
> screwed something up with Bondo... and removing the excess and the rest of
> the mistake was nigh on impossible.
??? A grinder goes through bondo like the preverbial hot
knife and butter situation.
> When a car with Bondo is hit, the Bondo cracks and falls out. Lead dents.
> To re-repair a Bondo patch is much more difficult than re-repairing a lead
> repair.
With either repair, you should really strip it all away and
start from the metal anyways. If you repair one dent with a slab
of lead, then the car gets hit again, I really don't think you
want to leave the old lead on and just start piling more in the
dent.
> High wear parts on cars, like the door edge, just aren't suitible for
> Bondo.
That's a misuse of filler anyways, no matter what kind
of filler is used. Filler is not meant for construction, it's
meant for smoothing.
> Why is Bondo the industry standard? Industrial size body shop containers
> of it are DIRT CHEAP. Lead bars are very expensive, as well as tinning butter
> and all that other stuff you need. (Hence the original post, who sells these
> supplies cheaper than Eastwood??) Also, Bondo requires no real skill to make
> it look right. Glop it on, sand it off?? The tools, plastic putty knife, are
> cheap. Lead working tools, like maple paddles and propane torches and what
> not are more expensive.
I don't think the relationship between "expensive" and "good" makes
any sense.
Bondo is most used for a lot of reasons. It's fast, it's easily
workable, it's forgiving, and all kinds of things that make it
easy to turn out work.
Again, since when is that a bad thing? It's the old "building
ships in a bottle" argument. Why are you equating lead being
more expensive and more work to it being better?
--
Trevor Boicey, P. Eng.
Ottawa, Canada, tboicey@brit.ca
ICQ #17432933 http://www.brit.ca/~tboicey/
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