I am working on my interior. I have reinforced my driver door panel. While I'm working on my driver side I moved onto my plastics.

The area around the cup/handle was snapped so I JB welded it back and it's just fine.
However, I want to strengthen this plastic piece as well as many others to prevent cracking.

I tried putting JB weld in an area to see how tough it would make it. The JB weld just peeled right off though for some reason. After I saw that I realize that putting massive amounts of JB weld underneath the plastics was just not gonna work out.

I saw that plast-aid stuff and think that might be a good thing to use.
Also, maybe fiberglass resin.

So I'm wondering, what other items could I use on the plastics to reinforce/strengthen them?

 

I don't think JB weld bonds very well to plastic. You could try roughing up the area with some 200 grit or so sandpaper and see if that helps. I've used that plastic weld stuff with good results. I don't know much about fiberglass, but I'm sure that's an option too.

 

I know there's a fiberglass cloth you can get and mix it with a chemical. I can't remember the name of it though. My father in law and I use to use it at the shop for plastic and such.

You can lay it on the back of the plastic. It will give it a strong hidden back layer.

 

I did but I think it's just not working well for what I want to do. By plastic weld you mean that Plast-aid stuff?


I just looked up Durobond and it gave me paint results. Is that what this stuff is?

So basically fiberglass? Resin with fiberglass is what you are saying? Or is it something that is special for plastics?


As good of an option as fiberglass sounds, I think it would just be to messy and create more problems than anything.

The plast-aid stuff sounds like a good option but it is basically plastic. The failing point of these pieces are that they are plastic.

 

I bought a large package of Plast-aid, I'll post up my result when I get around to using it.

 

You can use epoxy. Mix up the stuff and put a layer of it in the unseen parts of the plastic. I'm doing this and it seems to be working.

 

Most 2 part epoxies have problems bonding with plastic also, especially smooth plastic.

 

I am about to embark on a similar task. After focusing on the mechanicals and now to the interior, I am amazed at the incredibly cheap plastic components that make it up. It's like a Yugo! I look forward to hearing about others success. I did find a somewhat on-topic discussion on refurbishing Cessna interior plastics here:

http://www.airmod.com/articles/PDF/cpaaug07.pdf

Dave...

 

so that ^^^ is just a process of reinforcing plastics? Well what product do they use? Does it say?

 

A lot of the article is about process, but what I found most interesting is the homemade adhesive made from ground up plastic and acetone. Then using that adhesive to bond a plastic doubler on the backside to strengthen it. The other process was to use modelers' thin fiberglass sheets to strengthen the plastics, but it looks like others have already done that here. Now to find some plastic to match the el-cheapo plastics in the car to grind up.

Dave...

 

ok cool. I just looked that up and their are several places that say that.

Mix plastic or acrylic with acetone and let it sit for a while and you will be left with a paste. I guess once all the acetone evaporates it will harden and become completely plastic.

 

So I finally got it fixed. I had a crack that I had to fix so I welded it back together with a soldering iron. Then added more ABS plastic over that. I also welded other small fractures in the plastic. I covered all the welded areas with ABS Cement. I also put ABS Cement in areas that take alot of stress or thin. It came out very sturdy.