If your plastic instrument panel has cracks, you have two options: replace it entirely or try to repair it. Because both options are expensive if someone else does the work, people often put off simple repairs like this until the parts are ready to fall off the airplane and are not easily repairable. The way to save money for your new airplane and not be embarrassed by what your interior looks like, is to do the repair yourself.
Because trim is not considered an airworthy item, it may be repaired by the owner as long as it doesn’t involve removing any airworthy item. Most panels are held in place by just a few screws and some retaining pins stuck into grommets, so removal is fairly straight forward. Removal of the panel is suggested to make the best repair. If you don’t want to remove it, you may do the repair in place, but it will not come out very pretty because the adhesive will end up on the wrong side.
Most interiors are made from ABS or AES, both of which can be treated identically for all intents and purposes when using PlastiFix.
If you have a tight fitting crack that doesn’t carry a lot of stress you may opt to use a thin cyanoacrylate adhesive like Insta-Weld that will wick into the joint. For most areas, I would recommend using PlastiFix because it is much stronger and can withstand a lot more vibration and stress. PlastiFix is an acrylic based adhesive similar to what dentists use to make dentures. It is super strong, sandable and paintable and it comes in black, white, or clear.
With all plastic repairs, you begin by cleaning the plastic with something like Super Clean Plastic Cleaner to remove all contaminants from the joint that will impede adhesion. Be careful what cleaners you put on ABS as many will dissolve or stain it! Test a small area if you are not sure if it is safe.
The next step is to v-groove out the crack on the backside using a Dremel tool. For the strongest repair you would do this on both sides of the part, but for most panels a one-sided repair is fine. A one-sided repair also eliminates the need to retexture the panel.
Make the groove go down to the front surface of the panel or about 99% of the way through.
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