03-14-2018, 11:06 PM
Bob;
I used to repair a lot of Bakelite radios at one time, and the first thing I would do would be to wash the cabinet in laundry soap, though TSP would work just as well, to get all of the dirt and grease off of it. Then I would use epoxy to glue up the cracks, the normal 24 hour kind, and hold them together with a combination of tape, clamps, and sometimes string. I used polyester based auto body filler (Bondo) to fill any chips or holes, followed by spot putty to fill any divots in the body filler or scratches in the Bakelite. In my opinion epoxy would work as good or better, but Bondo is easy to sand, and was cheaper so I used it. The tough spot to fix is going to be that broken lip between the top and bottom, it's thin material there.
Regards
Arran
I used to repair a lot of Bakelite radios at one time, and the first thing I would do would be to wash the cabinet in laundry soap, though TSP would work just as well, to get all of the dirt and grease off of it. Then I would use epoxy to glue up the cracks, the normal 24 hour kind, and hold them together with a combination of tape, clamps, and sometimes string. I used polyester based auto body filler (Bondo) to fill any chips or holes, followed by spot putty to fill any divots in the body filler or scratches in the Bakelite. In my opinion epoxy would work as good or better, but Bondo is easy to sand, and was cheaper so I used it. The tough spot to fix is going to be that broken lip between the top and bottom, it's thin material there.
Regards
Arran
