looking for epoxy to weld plastic together

[99gagt3x00]

ok tossing a pillar pod in the outback and i'd rather weld the two pieces of plastic together than use screws or rivets.. anyone have any experience with epoxy or anything i can use to weld the two pieces together. one is a stock piece from a subaru and the other is a pillar pod..

[Professur]

First you need to identify what plastic each is made of. It's frequently impressed on the back side as a recycle code. Failing that, carving a thin sliver off and burning it and comparing the burn characteristics with a chart.

http://www.boedeker.com/burntest.htm

[99gagt3x00]

the pillar pod is made from ABS plastic..don't have the pieces at my house right now. but what ever is used to make interior pieces in a subaru..

[Professur]

Mismatched plastics are notoriously hard to glue up. I'd pull the pillar, take a bit that's normally tucked under an overlap and on the inside of it, clean it with rubbing alcohol, abrade it with medium grit sand paper, and see if your favorite epoxy will stick. You've got to get all the mold release off it or nothing will stick. The sand paper will give it some tooth. Might be enough.

[Ghost]

is it gonna be actual plastic welding or can JB Weld do it?

[99gagt3x00]

what ever works and will hold up and not separate later on.. i was planning on maybe using what ever it was to bond the two together and then color match the whole thing as close to the stock color as possible.. the black kinda stands out..if actual plastic welding is easier and will stand up better i'm not against buying a plastic welder within a reasonable price of course.

[Professur]

You can do a lot of plastic welding with a 15W soldering iron. I fixed the broken coolant overflow bottle on my wagon with one and some plastic spoons. No problems all winter.

[99gagt3x00]

well i got one of these weller sp23l it's a 25w iron with a tip that's seen better days so i may try that out with some scrap pieces.. i bought a better soldering iron station not long ago so i'm not too worried about this one..plus it needs a new tip anyway..

my next thing is to find something to color match as close as possible the whole deal..

[Frosty]

You will probably want to find some interior dye, not paint. Eastwood and SEM both carry a line of good dash/plastic dyes for automotive interiors. You will need to buy 3 things: a plastic cleaner to remove wax/grease from the part, a prep spray to get the plastic to accept the dye, and then the actual dye color itself.

[99gagt3x00]

i looked at SEM but couldn't find a damn thing.. i know they make the stuff because i have seen people use it to do what i'm doing but with a grand am..

[Frosty]

What color are you looking for ?  SEM products are available in a lot of places, including Amazon.

[99gagt3x00]

it's the light tan that's inside the car..the camera makes it look grey..i looked at semproducts.com and could not find what i was looking for/maybe i was looking in the wrong section..

 

 

well i found this place just now and it looks like i'm going to have to either go out to my car and bring the pillar piece inside or bring the one i got home to match the color.

http://www.yourautotrim.com/semdye.html

 

the places i found say Beige but my interior is way lighter than this..

http://www.autobytel.com/subaru/outback/2003/color/

[Frosty]

Hmmm...looking at the SEM color chart, Camel is a very popular automotive tan interior color. If its a light tan, there perhaps Santa Fe. Palomino, or Buckskin. 

 

Do you know what the official color of your interior is from Subaru? 

[99gagt3x00]

nope can't find a thing listing the colors other than gray and beige..looking at my pic i'd say it's more along the gray side ...

 

i'm leaning towards the 15083 silver from the chart they sell for 1.00

[Professur]

Have you thought to try asking at your local subbie dealer? They frequently only get generic interior parts and have to colour them inhouse

[Frosty]

Pro has a point. You may be able to buy the same dye/paint the Subaru dealership uses. Expect it to be pricey though.....its what dealers do.

 

Here is a link for you....I also find SEM paints on Amazon.

 

http://www.stockinteriors.com/items.asp?MakeId=26&ModelId=401&MainCatId=16&Desc=Subaru_Impreza_Paint_and_Dye

[99gagt3x00]

the one from my car is the bottom piece.the grey one..