Not an urgent requirement- ie I don't have a current repair to do but it it is something that comes up from time to time. To be blunt, I've never found a sure fire way to glue/repair ABS. In particular, the kind of thing you find in car interiors when you get a crack etc. or the fixing 'lugs' break off. I've tried various things, some have worked to an extent but I've never found one I'm confident will 'always' work. I've tried: 'welding' with an old soldering iron, acetone, various adhesives, epoxy, super glue, Gorilla Glue, no more nails. JB Weld seems to be the better of the epoxies I've tried. No More Nails worked rather well fixing some 'lugs' where I could form some 'webs' and get a good bonding area. 'Welding' (with and without a filler, some scrap plastic) is very hit and miss. It is hopeless if you can't hide it and getting a good, deep, weld isn't easy. I've seen references to using ABS slurry- ABS dissolved in acetone in varying concentrations (thin and running to a paste) but I've not tried it yet. The type of things I'm most likely to want to repair are: electronic item cases- the 'posts' where thread inserts go etc, cases for same, may be car interior parts etc., general domestic items. So, what do others use- assuming they've found something that works!

If it isn't load bearing, is small opaque and you just want a cosmetic repair then the stuff sold as Sugru will do as a filler and sticks fine. Worth waiting until it is on an Amazon cut price deal though. Epoxy has worked for me on some load bearing repairs (and clear epoxy on light clusters with a bit of organic solvent based dye added). Nigh on impossible. Tends to initiate stress corrosion cracking and looks a mess where the solvent attacks the outer surface. Polystyrene model kit cement will sometimes do a good enough job if it isn't too critical. You can get problems with the plastic softening and marking if it was clear. The trick is letting the glue part dry and soften the two edges before squeezing them together. If you get lucky it binds together fairly well. Methylene chloride based acrylic solvent glues do not work well on ABS. Mostly slow cure epoxy unless I think something else would do well enough.

ABS Plastics Repair?

Feb 26, 2018 21 Replies

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T i m 8 years ago

Quite,

Someone asked be about re-paining a motorcycle (plastic) front mudguard and I noticed it has a poorly repaired crack across it. I suggested he first repair the crack (reinforce with fibreglass underneath / weld / mesh etc) and he went and got it repainted without.

And of course it's now cracked across the previous crack and so 'spoiling' the paint job he had paid for. ;-(

Cheers, T i m

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alan_m 8 years ago

People mix them incorrectly.

If the two parts are transparent then they should be transparent when mixed. What people do is energetically mix the two products resulting in the mix turning milky with too much trapped air. This is not ideal for bonding, especially with the fast 5 minute epoxies - you are effectively bonding with an epoxy foam.

Heating the mix can make it more runny releasing most of the trapped air but its probably better not to trap the air in the mix in the first place.

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