Repairing cracked or broken interior plastic

[Richie_Rich]

I've been out of the SQ game for a while now, but still have misc parts laying around.

Well, I replaced the 1.5DIN radio in my C5 Vette with a double DIN.

This requires cutting up the radio surround or buying one from a company that modifies them.

Having spent a lot of time here at SQC along with the frugal person I am, I couldn't bring myself to pay for something I could do myself.

 

Cutting up and gluing the radio surround is actually pretty easy.

The surround is made from ABS plastic.

ABS plastic dissolves in either Acetone or MEK.

MEK is supposedly better, but all I had was acetone.

I started trying to scrounge around the house for black Lego pieces then happened upon a broken rear speaker tray for a Conquest.

I shaved a bunch of pieces into one of those plastic squeeze bottles and poured in some acetone then stirred it around with a screwdriver until it was all dissolved and was like a molasses consistency. Add the acetone sparingly. You can always add more if it's too thick. Too thin means you'll be shaving a lot more plastic to try and thicken it up

 

This got me thinking of all the broken radio surrounds I've thrown out over the years for various Conquests I've had.

Also I've pitched rear speaker trays because the tabs broke off.

 

Using the dissolved ABS plastic, I could have saved every one I ever tossed.

 

If you have a cracked or chipped piece of plastic trim, determine if it is affected by putting a small drop of acetone on it.

If so, find some other interior trim for donor plastic or raid your kids Lego collection. Use something like a rasp or file to make shavings, then mix with acetone or MEK. It takes several hours to cure, but it's just as hard and becomes a part of the trim when you use it.

 

Here are a couple links. There may be better ones out there, but this is how I found out about it.

 

This one is over 30 pages long and actually started before they knew about the acetone or MEK.

http://www.mp3car.co...se-them.html

 

This one, you have to scroll down to the third post

http://forums.corvet...-audio-faq.html

Edited February 17, 2013 by Richie_Rich

[ESIrType?]

Great info, thanks! I'm sure a lot of us will use this to save out 25 +/- year old trim! It's amazing how brittle it has become.

 

Shawn

[HeroJr]

Very neat idea! The third post you talk about in the Corvette forum link also discusses a SEM Texture Coating product (SEM #39853) that would probably be useful to replicate some of our plastic bits' texture.

 

Rather than an ABS sludge, I will probably use Aves Apoxie Sculpt to repair broken plastic bits. It is used in the taxidermy industry as well as by plastic model scratch builders. I have used it before, it smooths with water, so it is easy to actually "sculpt" with. I plan on using it when I redo some of the small trim bits that have warped and "sludgified" in the sun, like the little handles that let you fold down the back seats. It sticks to existing plastic really well, too.

 

Aves Apoxie Sculpt:

http://www.avesstudio.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&product_id=28&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1&vmcchk=1&Itemid=1