[crashmasterd]

Has anyone had any experience with one of the Plastex plastic repair products for fixing bodywork and such? I need to make some small repairs to my rear bodywork before painting and would like some advice, if you would.

I suppose I could just use epoxy, but I'm not so sure about it's compatibility with this type of plastic. Is it ABS? The bottom of my tank actually says "Ascerbis"!

I've also found links to something called Three Bond Plastic Repair Kit. Is this better, worse, or exactly the same thing? Is there something better than either?

Due to my situation I see no reason to spring for an expensive replacement piece of bodywork, and the repair wouldn't be very big. It's all getting painted anyway.

Any advice is appreciated.

~Crash

 

[Devious2XS]

I am not familiar with the products you mentioned.

You might try going to a local RC (remote control) hobbie shop and picking up a bottle of CA (cyanide acrylic) cement. It is a great glue for plastics.

If you add baking soda to CA, it acts like a filler - for small holes and to fill areas where parts need fitting. It gets HARD and is nearly machineable when cured.

I hope this helps.

[ This message was edited by: Devious2XS on 2007-02-07 14:27 ]

 

[Motard-Menace]

Crash,

You might also want to look into purchasing a plastic welding kit from Harbor Freight Tools. It is not too expensive and is something you can use over and over. MCN did a nice write up about it a few months back and it got good reviews for an inexpensive set up. I don't even need one but I've been meaning to get one. Its that tool thing Devi talks about, can never have enough........... :-D

 

[Devious2XS]

******* - I got one. Works pretty good too.
I still use a lot of CA - ever seen a PVC, slide throttle, individual runner, intake manifold? :wink:

[ This message was edited by: Devious2XS on 2007-02-07 14:45 ]

 

[speedcubed]

Crash,
Try these guys http://www.urethanesupply.com/ i bought a repair kit for the faring on my daytona great people to work with.

 

[rs_tt]

I`ve had success with the pastex,easy to use and dries in twenty minutes,I used it to recreate 2 broken tabs ,I have`nt tried painting tho, i think its sandable too.A friend swears by the white abs plumbing cement.
I`d use the plastex again becase you can make those small missing bits
My 2.2cents

[ This message was edited by: rs_tt on 2007-02-07 15:03 ]

 

[crashmasterd]

Thanks for that link, Speedcubed. That answered all my questions. They have a form of Plastex (called Plastifix) that they recommend, as well as plastic welding and Epoxy. Apparently what I have is ABS, and all of these methods will fix it.

I may stick with Epoxy, because I'm familiar with it's use and have quite a bit of experience with it.

Devi, I think the Plastex stuff is exactly what you are talking about: a Cyanoacrylic with a powdered plastic filler. I just can't find any actual information about it's formulation.

On the other hand, I may try the Plastex method just to learn something new.

I'll keep you all updated.

 

[Motard-Menace]

Devi,

Thats pretty funny stuff. So that plastic welder from Harbor Freight works pretty good huh. I guess I'll be heading down there this weekend. Just need to figure out what to tell the wife. I'm going to the grocery store honey should work......

:-D

 

[Drunktank]

When I hit a tree with my jeep.... I put a bunch of duct tape over the damaged plastic and wrote 'BAD TREE!' on it with a marker

Maybe speedy would look sexy with something like that.....

 

[Legman]

On 2007-02-07 17:23, Drunktank wrote:
When I hit a tree with my jeep.... I put a bunch of duct tape over the damaged plastic and wrote 'BAD TREE!' on it with a marker

Maybe speedy would look sexy with something like that.....

In place of Bad Tree, Crash could put..."Dumbass rider''....
ha ha ha........sorry Crash....couldn't help it :razz:

 

[crashmasterd]

On 2007-02-07 19:01, Legman wrote:

In place of Bad Tree, Crash could put..."Dumbass rider''....
ha ha ha........sorry Crash....couldn't help it :razz:

No problem my man. I just chock it up to the perversions of living below the equator. I would take offense, if it weren't so true.

I have a better idea: "Gravity Sucks!"

 

[crashmasterd]

I've been playing with the Plastex stuff now for about a week. It works pretty good, and on the whole I'm pleased. The stuff is stupid strong, and even if I were worried about it you can imbed fiberglass mat in it for extra strength. It bonds quite well to the ABS that the bodywork is made out of. It also sands easily and seems to be exactly the same stuff as the ABS once it has cured.

Good things: Bonds quickly and can be used to mold tabs and/or protrusions. The molding bar that comes with the kit is simply great. Heat it up to 150º F and you can mold it like clay, then when it cools it hardens until it's about like tire rubber. The Plastex stuff won't stick to it at all. Great for re-creating those little tabs you've broken off. Also, the Plastex fills cracks neatly and can be dammed with regular packing tape or electrical tape. This produces a nice smooth finish that requires little sanding. Because of the fast set time you can do a lot of work in a short amount of time. However, be sure to give it a couple of hours before sanding.

Bad things: The Plastex bonds quickly, and partially sets up in about 10 seconds. This can make it difficult to move it to where you want it. At the same time it can flow down into areas where you don't want it to be unless you are careful. The raw liquid doesn't stick very well to painted parts, so you really need to remove any paint from where you need the repair. I found the substance to be difficult to use as a body filler due to it's short working time and it's tendency to hump up like a weld. For finish work I would still use some kind of epoxy filler.

Basic techniques: The included video shows the guy putting a couple of drops in a cup full of the powder and lifting that up with the eyedropper to use like a welder. I was unable to make this technique work very well. I found it was easier to fill the gap with a generous amount of powder and then use drops of the liquid to spread it out into a weld like seam. This works well when filling molds too. With any crack it is best to V out the crack quite a bit and scrape all the paint off both sides. Then use packing tape (the clear plastic stuff) to cover the cracks on the "good" side.

Anyway, so far so good. I'm liking the stuff and I'm seeing good results so far. Can't wait to see how it paints.