Repairing Cargo Box

[architect]

What's the best way to repair this cargo box damage? This was being tossed by relatives but figure I could try to repair and get more life out of it for myself.

I have some epoxies that might work against some temporary substrate?

Difficult to tell in the photo but below the right hole is a big chip that would enlarge the whole significantly.

 

[Tom O]

Plastic welding kit perchance?

 

[quitereal]

Got my nephew one of these for christmas

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0BBG4KJCF?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

 

[phaxtris]

rivet a piece of something in from the backside and fill the big voids up with black urethane caulking?

 

[Tecnico]

I’ve always wanted to try plastic welding.

Failing that, maybe pop rivet + reinforcements inside and bond/weatherseal. Might try some of the adhesives used in the autobody trade?

It’s probably High Molecular Weight PolyEthylene (HMWPE, not HDPE). HMWPE doesn’t really bond well but does thermoform quite well.

Interested to hear how it works out.

Edit:

It might be ABS, in that case it will solvent bond quite well. Try a little ABS adhesive on a hidden surface to see if it softens the material. If it is then get a bit of scrap ABS sheet and patch away. Overlap the holes by a half inch or so at least. Clamp the patches until the bond has cured.

D

 

[Jswain]

Soldering gun or a pencil torch & some black zip ties as filler for something cheap to try.

Or some epoxy & paint.

 

[wmetfab]

My vote is bondo plastic filler over a mechanical repair..sheet metal and pop rivets. Thin coats, a bit of sanding, semi gloss black spray after

 

[crittermutt]

Best is plastic weld. Can be done with a soldering gun and a flat tip. Another way is to use fusor 142 adhesive and the mesh drywall tape. Taper back your edges on both sides. Drill some 1/8 holes in tapered edges. Put some adhesion promoter on then the tape. Put on 142 making sure you squeeze it in to the drilled holes to act as anchors. You can use a heavy plastic flim on both sides of the adhesive when wet to smooth out the adhesive. Let it cure with the plastic on. Pull of after cured for a smooth.

 

[Dan Dubeau]

I vote for some sort of plastic welding. My guess is the box is probably some kind of ABS, so it should be weldable. Check for a mold mark on it somewhere.

Another option for repairing cracks is steel insets. You can buy them (here), they are little bent wires, and the tool to heat them up, but I've successfully repaired my recycling bins simply by using stainless safety wire and bending them into my own squiggles, heating with a torch, then pressing into the plastic. It melts in there, and forms a mechanical bond that is quite strong. Strong enough to continue this back and forth game I have going with my recycling pickup guy that constantly tries to break my stuff year after year. Obviously don't work for missing plastic, but something to keep in mind if you have cracked plastic and would like to repair it before it gets worse.

I have also done a small bit of plastic welding with a soldering iron too. Not enough to be considered any type of knowledgeable authority on it, but have repaired abs motorcycle plastics a few times and have produced good results with little experience. If you have donor plastic of the same type you could fill those holes pretty easy, and maybe use some metal inserts for strength if you feel necessary (depending on confidence in plastic weld).