Chipboard preservation suggestions?

[nam9]

Hi!,

Picked up a new cab recently that is a mix of raw and laminated chipboard.
I'll start with a wood-glue/water mix to seal up some crumbing edges, but any suggestions for the raw panels themselves?
I'm just thinking something that may soak in and offer some further longlevity really.

Cab in question (raw chipboard is on back and base).



Suggestions? Thanks!

Neil

 

[Hexen]

For open edges and panels I always use SIKA EverBuild 502, and even on splitting edges (then clamped) works wonders. Mixed into a thick paste with sawdust, it's a perfect filler and can even be used to build up missing corners. It's ridiculously strong and dries clear. As a seal, add about 10% water and brush onto open chipboaard and coat twice.

 

[Mikonos11]

Here's a trick: fill all the cracks and gaps with wood glue, as well as the edges of the wood. Wood glue is easy to clean if you've applied too much. When it dries, its white color becomes transparent. The best part is that the wood will become very hard and will seal it against moisture and dirt.

To finish repairing the furniture, you have no choice but to hand-paint the melamine grain. There are many video tutorials online for this. It won't be easy because you have to match the paint to an analogous color, but it can be done, and these videos will show you how.

 

[Hexen]

Here's a trick: fill all the cracks and gaps with wood glue, as well as the edges of the wood. Wood glue is easy to clean if you've applied too much. When it dries, its white color becomes transparent. The best part is that the wood will become very hard and will seal it against moisture and dirt.

To finish repairing the furniture, you have no choice but to hand-paint the melamine grain. There are many video tutorials online for this. It won't be easy because you have to match the paint to an analogous color, but it can be done, and these videos will show you how.

hand-paint the melamine grain

Use 'Magic Sponge' to clean away the ingrained filth, gently. Then use a Shoe Shine sponge, silicone impregnated, or Simoniz dashboard shine in small quantities with a cloth. You'll be suitably impressed. Never brush paint or spray the melamine, it always flakes off in the futire and looks horrific, and someone will have the nightmare of removing the bodge... like teeth with cheap veneers. Conservation is better than restoration, ask any museum.

 

[aeroflott]

if you want to go full bore, I've used this with good results in the past on the bases and back doors of cabs. Soaks in nicely and hardens up soft wood:

 

[Hexen]

Focus: Preserving the object in its current state, minimizing intervention and change.
Goals: Preventing further damage, maintaining the object's authenticity, and ensuring its long-term survival.
Considerations: Conservation is often seen as more ethical because it respects the object's history and avoids potentially irreversible changes that could alter its meaning for future generations.

Understood, most machines were hacked, drilled, modified, upgraed, and generally disrespected by their operators in the day, and finding prisine unmolestad examples today is rare. Returning them to original condition is best, yet ideally using original parts from the time of manufacture. Filling holes, removing padlocks and aftermarket anti theft devices, and electrical bodges is fine, maybe the scuffs and fag-burns should stay. Each to their own.
Obviously, it's difficult to obtain a 74LS04 with an identical date code and batch number, so restoration of boards/monitors etc. is the only realistic way. I have a huge stock of 70's/80's sockets and ICs though, just in case. And I'm guilty of replacing rusted screws with stainless, unless they're 'specials' which are acid cleaned then refinished by hand.

 

[nam9]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone.

I'll probably need to clamp up around the base, but I've seen worse swelling
Will check out that wood hardener, or some equivalent.
I have painted laminate before and.. well... it hasn't flaked, but I should just have removed it an added new for the hassle it gave me.

If i can touch up the scratches then i will try to keep the current laminate.
Does the shoe shine / Simoniz dashboard shine compare to using white litium grease?
I have used that before for laminate cleaning... worked well on a red laminate. Not so sure about the wood effect.