brunnhilde's cassette toilet - part 9

I wanted to explore all options of modifying the shower pan. A few days ago on my trip to Tap Plastic I drop by the largest plastic supplier which also in the area. I brought with me the two pieces of the shower pan to see if they can tell me what material it is (I tentatively identified it as ABS and then acrylic in previous posts), and if there is a method to create a strong glue joint equal or stronger than the material itself. Surprisingly the 4 staffs cannot positively say what it is. There are a number of different answers. They said it is not acrylic as acrylic does not melt as easily as I described to them. Polystyrene receives the most votes. One person initially said it look fiberglass but later polystyrene or styrene.



I also talked to the plastic company about making a shower pan from scratch. They told me they will need a mold from me... I didn't pursue it further because I know they will do heat forming and my old pan would just deform.

I went to Tap Plastic with the intention to come home with some polyester resin and the white pigment to conduct compatibility test. While there I also want to explore gluing pieces of similar material to form the rough shape of the dam and to cover the semicircle void. Tap Plastic will sell me enough 1/8" polystyrene sheet for just around $8. I expressed concern of not able to form tight glue joint mating surface for the capillary cementing. The young staff told me they have a viscous adhesive that will bridge the less than tight mating surfaces.

I decided for now the best approach is to use fiberglass cloth to make the needed alteration. By bridging sufficient area and using adequate layers of fiberglass cloth I should be able to achieve the needed stiffness at the void. Compared to the thermal plastic the fiberglass is magnitudes stronger. I bought the polyester resin, catalyst, and pigment.

 bond strength test

 thermal acceleration of curing

 a few test spots

 roll of fiberglass - here is the hard work begins

fit check of the shower pan with the toilet before putting on top coat - the dimension are within 1/8" tolerance