Restoring or replacing the plastic

[bcg]

Those of you that have redone your interiors, how did you handle your aging plastic? Mine is cracked in several places like shown and I'd really like to do something about it. I'm going into annual at the end of the month and that would be a good time to deal with it.

 

Buy new? Where?

 

Send it somewhere for repairs?

 

Repair it yourself?

 

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[Pinecone]

For mine, I am paying an interior shop to repair and paint them.  Along with new carpet, redo the seats, etc.

[Jsno]

I mix ABS plastic chips with MEK in a jar and put the lid on overnight.  It will make a paste that you can use to repair the plastic.  Once it hardens, sand it smooth.  If the plastic is warped, I use a heat gun to warm up the plastic until pliable and shape it.

You can get the chips on Amazon.  Be careful of the fumes.

[bcg]

I mix ABS plastic chips with MEK in a jar and put the lid on overnight.  It will make a paste that you can use to repair the plastic.  Once it hardens, sand it smooth.  If the plastic is warped, I use a heat gun to warm up the plastic until pliable and shape it.
You can get the chips on Amazon.  Be careful of the fumes.

I'm going to try this. It would be nice to be able to save my checklist stickers and this should let me do that. Thank you!

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[Fly Boomer]

5 minutes ago, Jsno said:

I mix ABS plastic chips with MEK in a jar and put the lid on overnight.  It will make a paste that you can use to repair the plastic.  Once it hardens, sand it smooth.  If the plastic is warped, I use a heat gun to warm up the plastic until pliable and shape it.

You can get the chips on Amazon.  Be careful of the fumes.

Does the new, fake MEK work?  I assume that since real MEK has been regulated out of existence, the new stuff probably doesn't have the same characteristics.

[ArtVandelay]

I use Permatex Plastic Weld Adhesive (Cream color).

[EricJ]

3 hours ago, Jsno said:

I mix ABS plastic chips with MEK in a jar and put the lid on overnight.  It will make a paste that you can use to repair the plastic.  Once it hardens, sand it smooth.  If the plastic is warped, I use a heat gun to warm up the plastic until pliable and shape it.

You can get the chips on Amazon.  Be careful of the fumes.

^^This or something similar.   You can often "weld" ABS with an old soldering iron or similar as well.    ABS is really easy to work with and rework if you're reasonably handy.

[bcg]

I use Permatex Plastic Weld Adhesive (Cream color).

Thanks, I'll give that a go. Did you do anything to reinforce the patch?

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[bcg]

^^This or something similar.   You can often "weld" ABS with an old soldering iron or similar as well.    ABS is really easy to work with and rework if you're reasonably handy.

I have a plastic welder but, I've never gotten great results from it. As old and brittle as the plastic is, I wouldn't be super optimistic about the result here. It's a 1963 C so we're talking about 60 years of UV exposure.

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[Fritz1]

see what Vantage Plane Plastics has and what it costs, old ABS is brittle, repair is tedious and may just crack again next to the glue joint, use old parts as drilling and cutting template for new parts

[0TreeLemur]

The plastics in our '67 C were not that bad, but pretty cracked in places.   In those locations, I used epoxy/fiberglas on the back side.  When the epoxy oozed through the crack, using a Dremel I ground it down and used a pointy bit to restore the stipple, then painted all.

[Fly Boomer]

2 hours ago, ArtVandelay said:

I use Permatex Plastic Weld Adhesive (Cream color).

That looks handy.  Didn't know there was such a thing.  Says it will fill gaps up to 1/8 inch.  Thanks.

[AH-1 Cobra Pilot]

ABS dissolves in acetone.  That might be preferable to MEK.

[ArtVandelay]

Thanks, I'll give that a go. Did you do anything to reinforce the patch?

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Not for cracks, but for a hole I imagine you’d need to layer fiberglass mat or piece of plastic underneath and then bond it and smooth it out with the Permatex.

[M20F]

2 minutes ago, ArtVandelay said:

Not for cracks, but for a hole I imagine you’d need to layer fiberglass mat or piece of plastic underneath and then bond it and smooth it out with the Permatex.

Trust Art he knows laytex.

[Utah20Gflyer]

Save yourself some headache and just use abs cement that you can buy ready to go from Home Depot.  Use white fiberglass drywall tape to reinforce broken areas or areas that seem brittle.  I did my headliner which broke into 50 pieces as a result of an “incident” and it is stronger than ever and looks great.  
 

clean areas with acetone before applying the abs cement.  It will melt the surface very slightly to prep it to accept the abs cement.  Picture below is after it was all done. I not only had to piece this back together but was also missing pieces and had to form areas using tape as a mold and abs cement and the fiberglass tape to replace missing areas.  

[hammdo]

I followed the Jaeger approach… the patching material is very pliable. All info in my thread…

 

Before:

After:

-Don

[Jsno]

20 hours ago, Fly Boomer said:

Does the new, fake MEK work?  I assume that since real MEK has been regulated out of existence, the new stuff probably doesn't have the same characteristics.

MEK is still available in home improvement stores.  It's the real stuffthough I have been told that it is recycled and not virgin.

[Jsno]

17 hours ago, EricJ said:

^^This or something similar.   You can often "weld" ABS with an old soldering iron or similar as well.    ABS is really easy to work with and rework if you're reasonably handy.

I have used a plastic welder but have been more successful with the MEK mix.

[Pinecone]

23 hours ago, Fly Boomer said:

Does the new, fake MEK work?  I assume that since real MEK has been regulated out of existence, the new stuff probably doesn't have the same characteristics.

It should  Easy to test, put some in a jar with ABS chips, wait overnight and stir or shake.  If the chips are intact, it doesn't work, if you have a liquid/paste, it works.   References I have seen say that ABS is soluble in ethyl acetate (MEK substitute).

That said, real MEK is still available, but maybe not through home box stores.  But you would also use Acetone, which should still be available.

[N201MKTurbo]

I got my last can of MEK from an auto paint store.

[Kelpro999]

Is it actually abs? It looks like it but my ‘62 is polyester. In my Piper days  I’ve used Plasti-Kote ultra vinyl as a bonding cement for reinforcement pieces on the backside. It’s a good paint for abs/pvc that cross links with the surface and provides a satin finish. Not sure if it’s the same formula today as it was. 

Edited August 10, 2023 by Kelpro999

[Huckster79]

I’m going to be attempting same thing. Once done I plan on painting it with duplicolor fabric and vinyl paint- I used it on a crappy car interior and it came out looking new! It’s very thin so doesn’t fill in texture and such- very nice paint for this type of thing 

[Pinecone]

SEM paint is the one typically used for aircraft interiors.

[Huckster79]

1 hour ago, Pinecone said:

SEM paint is the one typically used for aircraft interiors.

I just googled the difference- I’m going to change course- same steps but going to go the SEM route- sounds like a consistently better product!