ABS Guitar Case - Repairing ABS plastic using slurry method

[carlsim]

Not a question, but some useful hints to repairing cracks in ABS guitar cases. 

 

I recently acquired a beat up fender hard case which was decent inside but clearly had suffered in it's life. It was thrown in with a bass I bought. I don't usually use hard cases but having done some touring recently, I did think that a decent hard case which I wouldn't mind if it got a bit more scuffed wouldn't be a bad thing. The biggest issue with the case was the feet on the bottom. All four had broken through and 1 had left a gaping hole exposing the polystyrene. Hmmm... what to do...

So I tried the usual superglue methods... no dice. I tried 'plastic welding' the crack together. Ok, but no real strength even when try to insert staples within the welds. There must be a better way.

Youtube - i came across a guy who had used an ABS slurry to repair his roof box. OK.... I will give it a try. Essentially it is dissolving plastic in Acetone.

I tried first of all cutting up some tie-wraps (not all are made of ABS but worth a try) and stuck them in a jar of nail polish remover (I didn't tell the wife!). No luck - clearly not ABS plus I don't know if nail polish remover is neat enough anyway.

So, a friend of mineworks for a screen printers and gave me a sheet of black ABS plastic. Perfect! Bought 1L of acetone from Amazon and away we go. He did say to me he wasn't sure if it was ABS or HIPS, but after some research, apparently they both dissolve in Acetone anyway. However, I had some black Lego bricks at hand as they are made of ABS plastic.

So, a jam jar, 50g of ABS plastic sheet cut into small squares to get them in the jar and 125ml of Acetone - the next day I had what resembles a thick black tar. One hint - keep shaking and stirring! Also, get a wider jar rather than a narrow tall jar. Much easier to stir as it gets quite thick and stiff.

Get an old paint brush and literally paint the stuff on. It hardens quickly although thicker coats I left overnight. 

I removed the inside polystyrene so I could coat inside and outside (small cracks could be done form the inside to save appearances) and I am left with a pretty solid hard case.

It isn't pretty by any means, but the work is all on the bottom of the case so nobody is going to really see it. I relocated the feet and all is good.

 

I have attached a couple of pics - as I mentioned it isn't pretty but it's solid and in a day of being more frugal, if I can repair it, I will!

 

So if anyone is wondering, it is a great method for repairing anything of this ilk.  

[PaulThePlug]

Other option may be the Plastic Welding types for motorcycle panels and car bumpers... if you have all the bits.

[Bigguy2017]

I've had good results with glass fibre tape + epoxy on the inside, then an epoxy / slurry crack fill on the outside.

Sand off any lumpy bits and finish with Plastikote black satin rattle can.

 

[TheGreek]

All good ideas.

I had an original Musicman case (logo in large letters across the middle) which was damaged.  I contacted lots of online case repairers in the hope it could be repaired professionally with no luck.

I ended up selling it here in frustration IIRC. 

Possible Dragons Den opportunity?