If they are small I use a light abrasive such tooth paste. It that isn't enough just leave and call it patina.

I'm interested to hear if there are any pro tips out there as well. For me, I just leave them. A scratch is unsightly, but not as glaringly obvious as a significantly lighter scratch surrounded by an area of conspicuously smooth plastic in a sea of texture.

I guess this is more of a question for the retrobright people. sanding of course will change the texture and make that spot whiter, so I'm guessing its you have to retro bright so the transistion in color and texture isn't as obvious. Anyone want to share.

Don't sand unless you intend to paint. It will damage the surface. As mentioned a above a mild abravise should be ok and you'd be surprise how much dirt and grime comes off by just using wet wipe tissues. The major thing is don't get too ambitious or you will cause irreparable damage.

when i say sand I am talking about like 5000 grit wet sand or higher, like what professionals use on car paint.

Show us what the damage is.

blue scotch brite works well with a little 409.

I'm not sure 5000 grit is going to do much about scratches and dings. Scuffs, maybe. Is that what you're dealing with?

I tried to resolve an unsightly scratch in an N64 controller once. I had to send so deep around it that a hairline blemish turned into one the size of a penny. Not worth it, IMO. Don't subtract material, find a way to fill the gap. That'll probably turn out better.

Depends. Minor stuff I leave alone.

Bigger dents and scratches can be filled with some putty and then sanded. If you decide to paint it later - it will be almost invisible if done well.

For cracks and such I use acetone to weld the plastic back together, it comes out stronger than glue. For actual scratches and such I only wash them clean and leave them be.

Tiido wrote:

For cracks and such I use acetone to weld the plastic back together, it comes out stronger than glue. For actual scratches and such I only wash them clean and leave them be.

For fixing cracks I prefer this glue:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/STRONG-ADHESIVE-PLAS … C/dp/B074KB3QJT

It's uber strong when it comes to plastics (it does melt them slightly). One disadvantage it has - it has very strong odour and it need time to cure as well (it's not instant).

Also for fixing structural parts (like pins on the back of front panels) CA & baking soda method is suprisingly effective: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1meoZaHYZo

I found this video on how to make ABS Slurry. Could this be useful for case repair.

abs slurry
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mh9KF69lfwA

practical use
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q458yFAKrYk

part 2 he does a really sh*tty job sanding and I think he could of done a way beter job filling the cracks and building things up. I don't think the clear coat is suh a good idea, but maybe he is onto something. what he might be onto is while clearcoat might not be appropriate abs vapor bath would restore the finish.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zx_3eABHFqE

abs vapor bath
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-CRpxzj_qc

I welded the broken plastic front fascia, together with acetone. The results far exceeded my expectations.

I then created a vial of ABS slurry by mixing the fingers i cut off a drive bay cover in a glass vial.

Painted over the cracks and filled in the gashes and and a giant hole in the top of the case. So far the results have been incredible, and I took lots of pictures.

Now I wait for the abs slurry to dry, might take 24 hours or so, and I can begin wet sanding it all down. I plan to post a lot of pictures.

I think you guys will be impressed. Because I have never seen this before or anyone ever do it. 🤣

I saw that video of the superglue and baking powder. I think its a viable thing to do for some things. But this is next level stuff you guys will be amazed,

Really looking forward to it! I want to see some methods that worked before I go experimenting on the two cases I'm most sentimental about (which happen to be the two with cracks.)

I learned a lot by doing this. As far as I could tell no one has ever done this before. So one thing is not to put it on too thick or you get bubbles go slow do a brush or 2 let dry. dont keep brushing layer after layer. and 2 make sure you don't have a brush that will dissolve in acetone. I still may go back and keep working this to see if I can get it even better. But I don't want to agonize too much. Knowing what it was before compared to now I think its great.

This is no paint or putty this is repaired by mixing abs slurry.
Dissolving ABS with acetone to paint on
TLDR I did not use glue or paint. I used Acetone to weld the crack and I used melted abs plastic slurry as a putty. Then I started with a courser sandpaper untill it got close then I wet sanded with 2000 Grit.

Take it from me all of those other methods suck compared to this method.

For cracks once you weld them with acetone. Well let me explain that 1st. You will need some clamps to hold it together but it doesn't take that long to dry maybe 30 minutes. Take a small paint brush and you just brush acetone on both sides of the crack and them clamp it together you dont want to put it on heavy just lightly coat.. You want to make sure you clean the cracks 1st with like alchol.

Once that's done you can paint over the cracks with abs slurry. you don't need a lot, maybe 1 brush stroke 2 max.. This will fill the cracks and make them will less noticeable, once they are sanded down.depending on how well you sanded it and then wet sanded it may not be noticeable anymore and worst case it will barley be hairline.

The benefit of doing things this way, is you don't have to paint or use glue. And you are lucky like me and had a drive bay cover made of the same abs, or you could sacrifice a piece of abs from a part of you front case that no one will ever see (like maybe a finger snap that you can cut off) ( you could always use acetone to glue another finger off of something else on there) than it is 100% color matched plastic repair.

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

That looks pretty good! Huge thanks for sharing all the research on this, and following up with results. I hope this brings a few battle-scarred pieces back to life.