Hell , new with using bondo filler, can anyone tell what the best stuff is to clean my tools after using them to bondo, i.e. spreaders, mixing board etc..
Could not fine anything on can , just want clean for next time and what is the best type of board to use for mixing filler? Thanks

Scrape off the chunks and soak the tools in "ACETONE", wipe 'em with a paper towel and don't breathe the fumes.

I use some gas on a rag .

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I've found if you use a little lacquer thinner on a rag before it dries rock hard it will do the trick. Also a small piece of Scotchbrite with laquer thinner will get the stubborn stuff off....WEAR GLOVES! Buy a box of latex gloves and wear them...it saves your hands and your vital organs! Use a respirator.

i mix mine on a scrap piece of 1/4" plexyglass and clean with laquer thinner on a rag

I've always mixed bondo on thick scrap cardboard and just throw it away when I'm done. Spreaders are easy to clean because they flex and bondo pops off.

Let your bondo dry on your spreader and then crack it off both sides. If you do not want to do that then wipe clean with laquer thinner on a rag.

Been doing this stuff for about 25 years, I found a long time ago it pays to use nice tools and clean them while the filler is still wet.

I use a nice piece of aluminum (bought from the paint store for mixing filler on) a nice semi flexable three inch wide putty knife and plastic bondo spreaders from the paint store.

I use the putty knife to and the spreader to mix the filler, transfering it off one tool with the other tool onto the board to get a thoroughly mixed filler. Then after spreading I clean them up with a red scuff pad and lac thinner kept in an old 3M compound bottle with a squirt top.

Clean the extra filler off into the garbage, squirt some thinner on all the tools scrub them with the scuff pad and then dry them off with a shop rag.

Each time I use them they are crystal clean. By the way, if the putty knife gets a burr on it I sand the edge on a piece of 180 paper stuck to a flat piece of metal. The bondo spreader is "trued" every once in a while on a piece of cardboard. It works MUCH better than the 180 sandpaper I had used for a long time (trick I learned just recently on a forum :) ).

Brian

And for goodness sakes as mentioned before, WEAR LATEX GLOVES!!

Brian

Thanks for the help guys. Will keep all this advice in mind, have a second question about bondo. Starting to put on a second layer as first did not get all imprefections out , high and lows spots, etc... having to hand sand now, how do you know how far to sand down too, to get ready for primer and paint for a good finish? Thanks

By hand and eyeball! I also have a flexible straight edge to help...

Patience helps too, everytime I screw something up it's because I was in a hurry...

Good luck, Rg

I have been doing body and fender for about 12 years here is what I learned.
get a empty coffee can or a metal can with a top, buy a red scotch brite pad from your local body and fender supply tear off a corner of it and put it the can, fill the can about 1/4-1/3 with laquer thinner. after you apply your bondo clean your tools right away with the saturated scotch brite pad before it dries and then put the pad back in the can and put the top on (thinner evaporates pretty fast) you can use that pad over and over as long as you keep it in the thinner with the top on when finshed. when you wear out that piece then just tear off another piece and keep going. conserves a lot of thinner and keeps product waste to a minimum

Martin, are you running the edge back and forth on the cardboard to true the edge on your spreader? I have been doing that for years but on the panel I am working on. It heats up the edge when you "stand up" the sreader and go back and forth and gets it hot and trues itself laying it over ever so slightly to clean up the edges good as well.

Exactly, I just learned that trick a few months ago on a forum. It REALLY works well. For years I had a piece of PSA 180 paper stuck on a metal beam near my stall that I used. But it left the spreader "fuzzy" and just figured that was the best it got. But this cardboard trick works super, it is SMMMMMMMMOOOOTH.

To me, the smoother I can get my skim coat on, the less sanding. I look at that skim coat as a coat of primer, works for me.

Brian