Thread: Solvent adhesives... why don't more people use them?

ok i went to the body shop today and my buddy told me old bumpers are abs. so i took a few sheets i cut out by hand and started slicing and dicing it up. how long is it supposed to take to melt with the acetone?

all bumpers aren't abs.... theres pp, ppoe, & a bunch of other identifications.... I'm sure some will work, others won't...

theres usually an identifing id cast in the plastic... some are abs, but most aren't...

yup i highly doubt its abs. its been sittin in acetone for like 3 hours now and nothing melted.

Try going up to your local car audio store and ask if you can buy the broken dash kits they have. Every shop has a box of broken dash kits or the extra pieces that come with the kit. I melt these down all the time in some MEK. Hell if you live near Panama City, Fl. and want to make the trip, I'll give you all that you'll need for many projects.

My WRX's bezels are made out of Polycarbonate ABS - it has PC-ABS stamped right on it.


Will solvent adhesives do the trick?

And do I need to find PC ABS stock for it to work?

my dash panels all said PC-ABS on the back, but they still melt with acetone/MEK. And still get stuck good by the gloop

You'll need to ensure that there are no traces of silicone cleaning products on the parts, and its better to rough sand the places being joined to key the plastic a little better.

k this will be officially my first post on here...well i think. Been looking around this forum for awhile now and came across this brilliant idea. I recently tried doin this process on my 2004 Honda Accord lower compartment.

First i cut the edges of the lower compartment and threw them into sum acetone and nothing happened? The plastic is suppose to turn into sum kind of paste within 5 minutes rite? I was thinking that maybe the lower compartment was not ABS plastic at all. I let it sit over night as well to make sure and nothing happened. Does anybody noe wat kind of plastic that lower compartment is for the 7th generation accords? Is there a solution for this because i really like the idea of making 2 plastic peice bond to form one instead of the whole bondo idea. But it looks like im heading in that direction. Please HELP!!!

If you use lumps of plastic instead of pellets it will probably take a few days to melt! My pellets took the best part of 3hrs to melt. Don't make it too runny though as it will be hard to control

The bumper repair kit is by far....EASY! Bonds very well and easy to use. Forget waiting for ABS to dissolve. total time on this project should be about 4 hours from start to finish.

Turbocad...thanks for shedding some light!