ABS repairs

[RocketHurricane]

I wanted to share the progress I'm making on fixing up my Attex 400 Chief. It had a pretty nasty repair to a crack that started at the muffler hole and went down the side and under the bottom almost to the middle. The repair used just about every material imaginable. As I tore it off it was like an archeological dig. The first layer was fiberglass/resin. next was a piece of thin sheet metal riveted on. Under the metal was something that looked like bondo, and finally there was silicone caulk filling the actual crack. It actually seemed to be water tight, but it was really nasty looking and was starting to peel/crack off. I have repaired this by cleaning off all these layers of crud down to clean abs, and then I welded the crack together. After that I covered the welded seam with some yellow abs goo I made from a mix of yellow and orange legos. After the goo was fully cured I sanded the seam down to get a smoot surface, and covered the entire crack area with fiberglass cloth soaked with a thin mix of the lego based abs goo. Next I will add a layer of the glass/abs on the inside to fully reinforce the crack.

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Here is my Lego ABS Goo:

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[flippy]

nice job!

[JoeMeg]

Great looking work! Good idea using the Lego blocks.

Joe.

[hydromike]

Legos. Friggen genius.

[amphibious drew]

Legos. Friggen genius.

Friggen pricey. If i saw my kid melting his legos down he would have a tan hide. Those things cost a fortune. I cant believe that its cheaper than buying yellow abs from a supplier and paying shipping. I mean how many yellow blocks can get get in a $7.99 lego set. Considering its a 10 or 15 piece set youd be lucky to get 7 pieces.

[hydromike]

If you've retained any thing from your youth, you've got a bushel basket of this stuff.

If not, pay shipping.

[RocketHurricane]

I forgot to mention how I got all the yellow legos. There is a Lego store here in Minneapolis, and they have a deal called "Pick a Brick". You get as many Legos as you can fit into the small cup in my photo for $7.95. I filled the cup up with the small yellow bricks, plus a handful of the little round orange ones in the photo. I couldn't find anyone that sold yellow ABS sheet. I did buy a 12" square sheet of white ABS from McMaster-Carr for $7.76 plus shipping, so the Legos are actually a great deal if you have a store nearby - plus they a nice color match for Attex Yellow and are already in small pieces for easy melting in acetone! I used the white McMaster ABS to make "welding rods" for filling the big cracks. I have plenty of yellow lego goo to do the rest of the repairs and for laying on the fiberglass reinforcing of the cracks.

The best part of the whole lego thing was when I went to check out at the Lego store. The kid at the checkout asked why I was buying so many of the same size yellow bricks. When I told him I was going to melt them into a goo, he looked like he was going to cry...

If you don't have a Lego store nearby (or a stash from your childhood in the basement), you can do the pick-a-brick thing from there online store:

http://shop.lego.com/en-US/Pick-A-Brick-ByTheme

[Bobber]

Hi Rocket,
I am working on a similar repair to a ST300D (first 6x6). Which method is a stronger repair, using the fiberglass cloth soaked in goo or backing up the repair with a piece of ABS sheet? Color is not an issue for me as I plan to paint the tub after all repairs are done.

[mustangwagz]

Sweet mother of jesus, i like it! wish i had known lego's we're abs..lol.. especially YELLOW ones. lol i did my abs with plastic pipe collars i had, but for yellow, id have paid the local hobby shop for them! lol i remember having 2, plastic 55 gallon drums full of lego's..i sold them both for 10 bucks a piece..wow...i screwed up! hahaha. i miss them too..but now i like the Technic's...their cool! instead i dump my money into the attex, other gas powered toys (...a bunch of em..) and NITRO RC's..

anyhow...good job rocket man! i like your mad professor ideas! Muhahaha!

[fluiddude]

I forgot to mention how I got all the yellow legos. There is a Lego store here in Minneapolis, and they have a deal called "Pick a Brick". You get as many Legos as you can fit into the small cup in my photo for $7.95. I filled the cup up with the small yellow bricks, plus a handful of the little round orange ones in the photo. I couldn't find anyone that sold yellow ABS sheet. I did buy a 12" square sheet of white ABS from McMaster-Carr for $7.76 plus shipping, so the Legos are actually a great deal if you have a store nearby - plus they a nice color match for Attex Yellow and are already in small pieces for easy melting in acetone! I used the white McMaster ABS to make "welding rods" for filling the big cracks. I have plenty of yellow lego goo to do the rest of the repairs and for laying on the fiberglass reinforcing of the cracks.

The best part of the whole lego thing was when I went to check out at the Lego store. The kid at the checkout asked why I was buying so many of the same size yellow bricks. When I told him I was going to melt them into a goo, he looked like he was going to cry...

If you don't have a Lego store nearby (or a stash from your childhood in the basement), you can do the pick-a-brick thing from there online store:

Pick A Brick | LEGO Shop

LEGO LAND!?!

[RocketHurricane]

Hi Rocket,
I am working on a similar repair to a ST300D (first 6x6). Which method is a stronger repair, using the fiberglass cloth soaked in goo or backing up the repair with a piece of ABS sheet? Color is not an issue for me as I plan to paint the tub after all repairs are done.

Bobber

I've used both cloth and abs sheet on my Chief, but it's still a work in progress so I can't report on how well either holds up yet. I only used abs sheet reinforcement in areas on the upper where the engine cover wore a slot through where they come in contact. I haven't split my upper and lower hull, so I didn't have access to put cloth on the inside of the crack in the upper. I cut a piece of abs sheet to size, coated it with goo, and slid it through the crack. I used sheet rock screws and scrap wood blocks on the outside to pull it tight up against the crack. It made a very sold repair.

Where I have access to both sides of a hole or crack in the lower, I weld the crack, and then put glass with abs on the inside and outside of the hull. I think this will be very strong. i think the goo will cure faster and more completely with the glass cloth than sheet since it is so porous. I put some on a scrap of abs and it is not coming off again!

[RocketHurricane]

Ironically I've decided to paint my Attex a green camo similar to what it had when I bought it. All those yellow legos have died in vain! at least I will know it's all yellow underneath the paint.

[Bobber]

Hey Rocket,
I agree, both methods are simple. I have the tub empty right now, and I will probably beef up the corners and make a few minor modifications. I want to add a winch and change the engine compartment to clear the air filter before paint. You are ahead of me on the bodywork and it looks like you are making good progress. I just hope to finish in time for ice fishing this year.

[Bobber]

Are the metal corners on the first gen Attex something I should take the time to fabricate? I just ground off all the junk (Bondo, RTV, & Fiberglass) off of the back of the tub to fix the cracks. The corners were half rusted away, so off they went. Is there any real advantage to keeping them?
Thanks.

[amphibious drew]

Its just some extr protection from impacts. If you leave them off, i would reinforce the corners with some goo-soaked fiberglass cloth.