Filling "cracks" in aluminum

[ARKM]

I have a piece of curved aluminum epoxied to another curved piece of aluminum. I did not set the top piece on properly and there is a noticable gap or "crack" if you will, between the pieces in a couple of places. The epoxy (JB Weld) has already set and I don't wish to make the pieces again from scratch. That said, is there anything I can use to fill the gap that would look good? Any help would be appreciated.

[Kal El Rah]

more J-B, just prep the surface so it can get a bite, simple.

Remember that it is workable like Bondo.

[ARKM]

Yeah but I need it to be the same color and reflectivity of the unpolished aluminum... if such a filler exists. It can be shinier I suppose. The parts won't be painted and have to look somewhat pretty (it's for a saber hilt).

[Kal El Rah]

Picture please.?

[ARKM]

[Kal El Rah]

By your picture it looks like the curve(to shallow) is not correct on the attached piece, only thing is to try getting the piece off, a good placed chisel and a wack should separate the pieces and jusat clean it up and make the curve the right depth. I know this may sound dumb, but dry fit the piece several times and take into account the JB thickness.

[Swordlord]

My suggestion is to use acetone to dissolve the JB Weld; clean the parts; cut/file/sand the parts so they fit properly; re-join the parts.

That probably sounds like a lot of work, and it might be, but getting parts to fit right makes a nicer looking finished piece. One of my building practices - whether it's plastic models, gold & silver pieces, or sabers - is test fit everything before you put it together, especially if it's got custom parts. Just my $.02 of OCD.

[ARKM]

The piece was test fitted before hand but I glued it on at apparently a slight angle. While the curve wasn't perfect it would have looked better had it not been glued on at a slight angle.

If I can seperate the two pieces, I will be replacing the top rectangular piece with a new one. I can't soak the parts in acetone as the rest of the saber (that you can't see) has permanently attached parts (also using JB Weld) that are also painted. However I can mount the hilt in a vise and use a dropper to get acetone only where I want it to go.

Kal, I don't want to try a chisel as I will probably mess up and score the hilt.

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I'll see what I can do. This hilt has given me nothing but trouble on several parts and it's getting me frustrated.

[Kal El Rah]

ARKM,

As SL stated using acetone should soften it up, JB is just a metal powder within the mixture of the epoxy mix.