In this video, I show you how I repaired and reinforced a large item made out of ABS plastic by painting on several layers of liquid ABS plastic 'slurry'. I repaired several large cracks and strengthened weak areas in the ABS plastic roof of our hardshell roof top tent, and I'm really happy with the results. The rooftop tent no longer leaks and we should get plenty more use out of it. The total cost of the repair was around $65 AUD. You could also use this method to repair other items such as ABS plumbing pipes and ABS motorbike panels.

I purchased ABS sheet from eBay here:
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/253777595...

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REPAIR STATUS UPDATE 16OCT20: We've had the tent on and off the car a few times since completing the repairs about 6 months ago, with the longest time the tent has stayed on the car being about a month. So far so good with zero leaks and the repairs are holding up well. From what I've seen I'm pretty happy the repairs will last a long time.

Full review of this Roof Top Tent (Bundutec Moremi/Extreme Lite) here:
   • Bundutec Moremi (Extreme Lite) Hardsh...  

I did a lot of research prior to performing these repairs, and a lot of people suggest fiberglass, but apparently fibreglass doesn't adhere to ABS very well so I was reluctant to use it. I figured that by making a thick ABS slurry and painting on several layers, allowing drying time between layers, it would add thickness and strength to the original plastic, not to mention seal up the existing cracks. The ABS slurry also has really good adhesion to the original plastic.

To make this ABS slurry, I used a ratio of 50 grams of ABS plastic to 125ml acetone and mixed them together in a sealed glass jar and left for 24 hours. To get the right amount of ABS pieces I used a 600x45x2mm ABS sheet and cut/broke it into small pieces, which equaled roughly 50 grams. I bought the 2mm ABS sheet off ebay for around $25AUD delivered, or they are generally available at most hobby stores.

02:15 ABS slurry being applied

Any questions please post in the comments. Cheers!