Bondo dust on toolbox

[whisperinsam33]

I'm about to buy a matco box from a guy in a body shop. His pics show it covered in dust from the shop. I have never cleaned this kind of stuff off a box before. Anybody out there know if I'm in for a hard time? Better still, can anyone tell me how best to do the cleanup? TIA, sam

 

[Eslader]

If it's really just bondo dust you could blow most of it off with shop air and then wipe it with a damp rag. Sanded bondo dust doesn't adhere to anything.

If he spilled bondo on it before it dried, that's a different story.

Just swipe your finger across it before you hand him the cash to make sure it'll come off.

 

[bmwpowere36m3]

^ +1

If its truly bondo dust, most should blow off. The rest wiped with a moistened cloth or mild cleaner.

 

[Billy Jack]

If there's that much bondo dust, I'd be willing to bet there's also some primer overspray. If it doesn't come off with just a good washing, use an automotive clay bar, available at any auto parts store.

Bill

 

[nczo6]

yea if it just dust a microfiber and detailing spray will work just fine. Treat the box just as you would a car in reference to paint. I just got done buffing an older snap-on box and it looks 20x better I really was set on repainting it but not now used a porter cable DA with an orange pad and meg's 83.

 

[fordnut85]

If there is that much dust on it I would look at the drawer slides too as you might need to spend some time cleaning and greasing them.

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

 

[Bill Bowman]

Trust me. It has **** in every nook and cranny. And, it's not dust, it's overspray.

 

[2oolhound]

I bought a c-man box from a body shop. It had been there a long time. I took all the drawers and sliders out and cleaned sanded, scraped etc. The box came out really nice in the end but there was work involved.

 

[whisperinsam33]

Man, thanks guys. The big revelation was that it is almost totally overspray. More work than I envisioned, and the seller decided that he would back away from my offered and accepted price. No worries here but thanks again for the great responses. sam

 

[toolenthusiast]

If there's that much bondo dust, I'd be willing to bet there's also some primer overspray. If it doesn't come off with just a good washing, use an automotive clay bar, available at any auto parts store.

Bill

If there's enough primer overspray on there that it looks like bondo dust in pictures, you're gonna have a bad time with a claybar. That's wool pad or paint thinner territory, and I'd be very reluctant to use thinner on a toolbox.

 

[Richard Cranium]

You will be happy that he changed his mind. It would of been more work then it was worth.

 

[countryroad82]

My boxes live in a body shop, as I read through the comments my thoughts were confirmed, overspray. My old Craftsman box is covered in it and if I cared it would be a monumental task to remove lol.

 

[fatfillup]

I almost never buy a box from a body shop. The dust destroys the slides over time. I have taken them apart and hot water pressure washed the slides and while they did clean up they were still a bit "crunchy" even after being lubed. Hard to sell a box with crunchy slides.

I have used lacquer thinner to remove paint drips and it hasn't gone after the base paint on newer boxes.

 

[Farmall 1066]

Almost every body shop box I see is absolutely filthy and beat to ****.