I am in the middle of smoothing the panels on my 67 chevelle.I am having a problem with the filler feathering and sticking in certain spots.I am filling over bare metal and using Rage body filler.Any suggestions would be helpful.Thanks markl..

If the metal is properly prepped then it could very well be the filler... Just because you bought it today does not mean it has not set on a shelf somewhere else for months or even a year...

Has your metal been DA'd with 80 grit for the filler to bite into?? are you going over fresh metal or has it been sanded a while ago???

Regardless if it wont feather and stick, I am really apt to think it may be bad filler... Babbob, Martin,Barry,MrCleaner6 etc... would probably know even better...

For applying filler directly over bare metal, I always recommend roughing up the metal with atleast 80 grit paper, courser is better, as it gives the filler something to grip. The metal also has got to be clean of any dust or other contaminants. Once the filler has hardened, it should feather out just fine.

Aaron

If the metal is sanded with 180 grit or coarser I'd say maybe there is some kind of contaminant on the surface, flashrust? oil from your hands? or maybe an incomplete mix?

I was taught a good technique for applying bodyfillers years ago by an old timer that really knew his stuff. Basically you apply the filler in one swipe then scrape off with the next swipe and then reapply. This helps to make sure the filler has a good bond to the surface of the metal and that there are no airbubbles trapped between the filler and the metal. So apply, scape, then reapply. I have zero problems with fillers and have been applying it this way for years-try it-simple...

Another thing that really increases filler adhesion is use epoxy primer over your bare metal then apply the filler over the epoxy. Fillers stick better to the epoxy than bare metal and epoxy sticks to bare metal excellent and also provides a first layer of metal protection. Filler flexibility also improves when used over epoxy. When filler is used on bare metal the adhesion is mechanically by gripping the sandscratches/texture, when filler is applied over an epoxy within it's recoat window the adhesion is more than mechanical. I suggest using Southern Polyurethane's Inc. (SPI) epoxy, it's the best epoxy available IMO.

Evercoat makes the best fillers IMO, I use Rage Extreme for most of my work, and Everglass and Glass-lite, Easysand glaze for minor imperfections. But I've also used the regular Rage, Rage Gold, Glazecoat, Metal Glaze, with good results. The only things to watch with all polyesters is they need to be mixed well if they set for a long time and make sure they are kept sealed so the solvents don't evaporate making the products thicker than it should be. The glazes in the plastic flip open squeeze tubes dry up quickly and I've bought a few bad ones that had been in stock for too long. Ramble, ramble, Bob

Yep, 180 is plenty as far as I am concerned.

If there is dust on the surface or if you started sanding too soon, if it isn't cured well it will roll off.

I use a version of Bobs recommendation for scraping the first pass back off. What I do is apply the filler VERY liberally with a nice full spreader and PRESS the filler "into" the metal with a lot of force, doing the same thing as Bob says, I just back off on the pressure so a bed of filler is below the spreader as I apply it with the force. I then go back with the still loaded spreader and apply the coat I want with less pressure so the film stays thicker.

Brian