Filling in holes in panel

[tonyjohnson]

I need to fill it and redrill 4 small holes in the instrument panel. I misaligned the holes to mount my clock. I am considering

1. Taking the panel to a welder

2. Using a product like JB weld

Any thoughts or suggestions?

[cfiidon]

I assume you want to move the clock slightly. One possibility might be to drill, countersink, then rivet the holes. Re-drill the correct ones. Grind down the shop heads on the back side if they interfere. But I would think that JB Weld would do just as good a job as hole filler.

Don

[tonyjohnson]

Don,

I enlarged the holes to properly align the clock. The original holes had it canted. So, I need to fill the holes and redrill them to eliminate the slop.

[Greg Arehart]

I would think either of Don's solutions would work. Alternatively, some microbubbles and epoxy, since its not structural.

greg

[Bob Axsom]

If the holes don't show and you now have the clock aligned properly there is really no need to do anything. The potential for defective workmanship drilling into an area containing two different materials is not zero. Oversize or slotted holes are not uncommon for fine tuning instrument alignment.

Bob Axsom

[Ironflight]

Another solution is to make a little trim bezel out of .040 with the holes drilled properly to the clock. Then slot the holes in the panel - the bezel hides the slots and makes the clock look like "big iron" with little cut-off corners. Trim plates hide many sins....

Paul

[Mike S]

What Bob said.

If they do show, and you want them filled, dont weld them, too much chance of distorting the panel.

Your instrument panel is probably .050" or so thick, maybe more. You can do a double countersink, and rivet it with a slightly long rivet----then grind off the shop head, and the double countersink will still hold the rivet in.

Been there, done that.

[Mike S]

Originally Posted by Ironflight

Trim plates hide many sins....

Paul

Sounds like the voice of experience

[Brantel]

JB weld does great for this type thing and after you paint over it, you will never know it is there.

[chaskuss]

Originally Posted by Ironflight

Another solution is to make a little trim bezel out of .040 with the holes drilled properly to the clock. Then slot the holes in the panel - the bezel hides the slots and makes the clock look like "big iron" with little cut-off corners. Trim plates hide many sins....

Paul

Tony,
How far off are the original holes from the correct ones? If you simply had to slot the holes, perhaps you could simply install flat washers to hide the mistake. If it requires larger flat washers, you could trim them to fit around the clock.
If washers won't hide it, I like Paul's idea.
Charlie