Plastic coating has hundreds of uses, water proofing the electronics of robots and remote controlled vehicles that might land in water or repairing fishing poles. Mix it with paint thinner then add it to paint and it makes an almost indestructible chip guard paint for your car that can stand up to any gravel road. You can even use it as modeling glue.

I repair everything I own that is not under warrantee, and I like to repurpose for reuse anything I cannot repair, or I recycle everything else. Now you can buy clear plastic coating but I like to make my own plastic coat.

This is a very easy product to make that you can use right after making or if you have an air tight container save for another day.

Step 1: Materials

Polystyrene or Styrofoam

Air tight Jar

Solvent

You can use just about any clear solvent or naphtha gas to make plastic coat; however the lower the vaporization temperature the faster the plastic coat dries when used.

I used 118 ml of CPVC, ABS, PVC, clear primer cleaner that contained, Tetrahydrofuran, Methyl Ethyl Ketone, Toluene, and Acetone to make clear plastic coat. This stuff vaporizes fast and I had some lying around not being used so I thought I would put it to use.

Step 2: Mixing

To make plastic coat you can use just about any Polystyrene or Styrofoam, but if you want clear plastic coat use just the white Polystyrene or Styrofoam. White Polystyrene or Styrofoam isn’t white, it’s clear like water, and just like water when it freezes it looks white.

Break up the Polystyrene or Styrofoam and stuff it into the jar.

Add the solvent to the jar, the Polystyrene or Styrofoam should start to dissolve almost immediately.

Keep adding Polystyrene or Styrofoam to the jar, if you are using a solvent that vaporizes quickly put the lid on the jar between adding Polystyrene or Styrofoam and wait for it to dissolve.

Continue adding Polystyrene or Styrofoam to the jar until it takes several minutes for the Polystyrene or Styrofoam to dissolve.

Now you have plastic coat that dries clear.

Step 3: Mixing Plastic Coat for Paint

Mixing plastic coat for use with paint is much the same as the clear coat with a couple key differences.

First, latex and other water based paint are out of the question, they just don’t mix with solvent.

Second, paint thinner takes longer to dissolve the Polystyrene or Styrofoam, and it takes longer to dry.

Third different oil based paints use different application thinners. Automotive paint uses automotive paint thinner, oil paints used in the home like you would use on your mailbox might use varsol as a thinner. If you use the wrong application thinner the plastic coat and the paint won’t mix.

Paints with a light colored pigment like white or yellow use the white Polystyrene or Styrofoam to make your plastic coat paint so it won’t taint the final color. Dark paints like black or metallic blue won’t be bothered as much by added pigments so you can use the colored Polystyrene or Styrofoam.

Mix the paint thinner and Polystyrene or Styrofoam to the jar just as I did for the clear plastic coat.

Since the paint thinner takes longer to dissolve the Polystyrene or Styrofoam in the jar you may have a lump of undissolved Polystyrene or Styrofoam.

Put the lid on the jar and let it sit overnight stirring it occasionally until the Polystyrene or Styrofoam in the jar has dissolved.

If all the Polystyrene or Styrofoam doesn’t dissolve by the next day you can filter out any solids with a paint filter.

Step 4: Using the Plastic Coat

To water proof electronic circuit boards first make sure the circuit board works as intended, the plastic coat is harder to take off the circuit board then it is to make and apply if you want to make repairs. Then dip the circuit board into the plastic coat, or paint the plastic coat onto the circuit board with a brush.

To repair worn resin on the whipping of a fishing pole just paint the clear plastic coat made with the PVC primer over the whipping and it dries in seconds making your fishing rod ready to go fishing in a minute.