ABS Plastic Repair?

[akira700]

Hi,

Folks at auto supplies places are dumb...

I need to get some ABS plastic repair solvent.
To glue up a tab thats on my front cowling.

Its usually in a powder with a solvent that you apply
via syringe. Anyone know where I can get some near Boston/Dedham?

[nt650hawk]

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/cat...mance+Polymers

[Murph]

3M used to make this stuff called 50/50...it came in a dual syringe..I've repaired many fairings with it.You can even drill and tap it..Its like liquid plastic..my brother gets it for me from Napa where he works..they changed the name recently..I'm picking some up this weekend so I'll post it when I find out...I know they stock it in their autobody section...

[richw]

Methyl Ethyl Ketone MEK will dissolve ABS and can be used for solvent welding at almost every hardware store

[Murph]

why would you want to dissolve ABS...? The 3M stuff is like liquid bondo for plastic, I even formed tabs for fairings outta it...strong as nails

[richw]

He said solvent

also if you had good surfaces then wetting with MEK and then holding them together will creat a chemical solvent weld

[akira700]

Methyl Ethyl Ketone MEK will dissolve ABS and can be used for solvent welding at almost every hardware store

That's what I got! At Home Depot in the plumbing section.
Only $4!
Tired of epoxy type solutions failing due to it not being the right
chemical for the job. This stuff (see photo) does the job.
Its nice in that its viscous enough to stay put when you apply it.



This is what I was gluing up:





All part of my replacing the headlight wiring harness to try to
rid myself of my mystery short circuit. Here is my new harness installed
and the old one lying there... In taking all this plastic off I have a hunch that
I have pinpointed the main culprit of my problems... think its the leads to
Camshaft Postion Sensor... not sure what it does but it wires are pretty beat up.. think from a low side I had at Louden a few years back. well see...
At least in the mean time I have fixed up the cowling so the head light assembly will be stable.

[Murph]

Ok, thats actually used for plumbing applications,I don't know what kinda strength your gonna get outta that bond.The stuff I use is the same stuff the bodyshops in my area use..dries quick,sandable,and its lasted..over 6 years on my Ninja fairings...

[akira700]

why would you want to dissolve ABS...? The 3M stuff is like liquid bondo for plastic, I even formed tabs for fairings outta it...strong as nails

Not sure about the 3M stuff (when you get it please post up a photo, I'm always interested in having new solutions to various problems) but MEK is the only stuff that actually chemically reacts with the ABS. So that it actually welds the stuff together, other types of adhesives sort of float on top of the plastic and eventually fail. I think they use this stuff to make giant fish tanks from acrylic sheets, strong stuff!

Thinking after this stuff sets I will then put a layer or two of some fiberglass just to solidify the area a bit more. this piece holds both the head light on and its the post for RAM air cover to hitch on to.

[akira700]

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/cat...mance+Polymers

Thanks Gino,
Sucks though the photo of the product is too low rez to see
what it actually is. Since it just says "plastic" its hard to know if it
would work. There are so many different kinds of plastic that some
adhesives don't work, I've found.

[Murph]

Just found it on the 3M website..3M Scotch Weld High Perform. Industrial Plastic Adhesive
Catalog#4693H ...never had to use any fiberglass backing with this stuff...I'd heat up the plastics with a heat gun..bend em back as close as I could get them and fill in the gaps with the 3M stuff..it was expensive...like 40 bucks per tube...

[yesterdayze]

Try Plastex. Sounds like the powder stuff you mean. It is pricey though.

Ebay

I prefer to use plastic epoxy rather then fiberglass resin if I have to do reinforcing. Mix some of the fiberglass sheet strands in for strength. I do this because I have found that over time the resin tends to vibrate and crack off plastic while the plastic specific epoxy you can get at like aubochon, lowes, homedepot etc doesn't seem to.

[akira700]

I prefer to use plastic epoxy rather then fiberglass resin if I have to do reinforcing. Mix some of the fiberglass sheet strands in for strength. I do this because I have found that over time the resin tends to vibrate and crack off plastic while the plastic specific epoxy you can get at like aubochon, lowes, homedepot etc doesn't seem to.

good idea... it seems to be the same idea... the plain resin doesn't "adhere"...