Repairing ABS Plastic

[Kubota 2350]

I've seen a few posts on here about broken plastic parts on your tractors.
These can be repaired to like new with ABS pipe glue, the repair will only work if the broken pieces have never been glued before.
Glue the pieces back together with the glue and let dry, this is important.
When the glue has dried good, place a piece of fiberglass reinforcement cloth on the back side, (if you need a stronger repair) and cover with more glue and let it dry.

Be sure not to use PVC glue, it won't work.

 

[bpattie]

I've seen a few posts on here about broken plastic parts on your tractors.
These can be repaired to like new with ABS pipe glue, the repair will only work if the broken pieces have never been glued before.
Glue the pieces back together with the glue and let dry, this is important.
When the glue has dried good, place a piece of fiberglass reinforcement cloth on the back side, (if you need a stronger repair) and cover with more glue and let it dry.

Be sure not to use PVC glue, it won't work.

thanks for the tip

 

[brandoro]

Good tip, maybe not just for tractors.
I notice the tail light housing on my R75/6 is cracked, it might be ABS. Maybe I'll try to repair it before trying to get a new one. The bike is 34 years old but new ones are probably still available, a few years ago I needed a new brake master cylinder and they were still a stock item.

 

[Kubota 2350]

Good tip, maybe not just for tractors.
I notice the tail light housing on my R75/6 is cracked, it might be ABS. Maybe I'll try to repair it before trying to get a new one. The bike is 34 years old but new ones are probably still available, a few years ago I needed a new brake master cylinder and they were still a stock item.

Be careful with your tail light lens repiar, this glue is black.

 

[brandoro]

Be careful with your tail light lens repiar, this glue is black.

My post said tail light "housing". Also black so it will work out nicely.

 

[Kubota 2350]

My post said tail light "housing". Also black so it will work out nicely.

My Bad!

 

[Travelover]

I had a crack in my Femco canopy and I used the ABS pipe glue (very carefully with an artist's brush) and it worked great- very strong and looks good.

I buy these artist brushes at Harbor Freight on sale for about a nickel apiece and just love them for little jobs like gluing and painting touch up.

 

[whistlepig]

I have a small crack in my ATV fender. Is the plastic on an ATV ABS?

 

[PILOON]

ATV is most probably PVC.
While not the best, hot glue guns do a reasonable job as the glue sticks are essentially PVC that you melt into the joint.
Kinda use the gun tip to preheat and melt or fuse the PVC surfaces as you apply the molten glue stick over the damaged area.

On ABS patches, another thing that I often do is apply a well glued patch on the backside where it does not show to act as a doubler. Helps if moderate heat is applied to preform the patch to fit curved areas. Naturally some moderate pressure is great until it dries and sets.
C clamps or even a bag of sand works good.

 

[whistlepig]

Thanks piloon. I'll give the glue gun a try.

 

[dave1949]

There is also ABS canoe/boat repair material. I used it on a canoe once, made a very tight, solid, sandable repair patch.

It comes in a stick form about 1" dia. and about 8" long. I'm thinking it was the same stuff Billy Mays was hawking on TV a while back. I miss Billy

Anyways, you might try a boat shop too, if they selll ABS canoes, they will have it.

Dave.

 

[yomax4]

Most ATV plastic is HDPE or PE High Density Poly Etheylene or just Poly Etheylene. Normal raspair is with a Hot Air Gun using HDPE Rods. Little trick to it but Very Strong when done. Also called Plastic Welding and I do a Lot of it. Not much out there for glue for PE because its kind of like Nylon.
Good Luck..

 

[IslandTractor]

Harbor Freight has a few plastic welding sets that cost under 75 bucks. They also sell packages of plastic welding "rods" for about six bucks and as I recall one of the three types of plastic rods is ABS. I haven't used the ABS rods for a repair yet but I have used the welder to repair other types of plastic and it works well. Much stronger repair than glue for edge to edge repairs IMO. I am no artist with the thing but I have salvaged a number of busted parts that experience told me I could never fix with epoxy or other glue.

 

[mjncad]

Various liquid glues used for gluing acrylic will work too since one component of ABS plastic is an acrylic derivative. Just be careful with the clear liquids as they tend to run everywhere due to their low viscosity. An artist's paint brush will work well and so will a diabetics hypodermic syringe. The bottle with the hypo needles are worthless because the air pressure inside the bottle makes controlling the stream impossible.

However, for larger repairs, the black pipe glue may be better since it has fillers in it that will give a better structural joint.