ABS paste

[sconlon68]

So I've made a paste. It's a little bit chunky still, but it's definitely working.

I started with a small glass jar, and cut up scrap pieces of abs (from the visor area). I cut them as small as I could. Something like a paper shredder sized chit.

I slowly started adding about a 1/4 teaspoon of acetone at a time and stirring with a wooden craft stick. Eventually I got a paste, but still had range of viscosity.. something between a very wet spackle and spackle with chunks in it.

I think if I do it again, I'll put in the acetone first, and start adding small pieces a few at a time to get the consistency smoother.

How long does the paste take to solidify? Seems fairly quick. I'll wait an hour and see how it sands at that point.

[Chopper]

When I make ABS paste, I usually cut the scraps up pretty small, put it into a baby food jar, and then add some acetone once I've accumulated a decent amount of scrap.

Acetone evaporates pretty rapidly, so if you add too much, you can always add a little bit more abs scrap, or let some of the acetone evaporate.

Once sealed, I usually let the acetone dissolve the scrap for an hour or two, only opening the jar to mix it a bit.

And even once the paste in the jar started to harden a bit, you can always add a bit more acetone to get it back to a decent viscosity again.

I typically wait a day before sanding, depending on how thick you've laid it down. It's more difficult to sand if it's only half dried, so I tend to wait until I'm certain that everything is solidified.