what's a good glue for plastics?

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venm11

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I have a bunch of broken plastic things and want to repair them. Subtly, and tastefully. Not with big goops of hot glue. But, I also need something robust and preferably not brittle like crazy glue (?).

I used to have a cement for plastic, which would slightly melt the two plastic surfaces (afaik). It was pretty strong and required very little of it to work.
 
I've had good luck with Loctite gel super-glue.

The best stuff is whatever was in my plastics shop in school. It melted/fused plastic together.
Probably some type of mild acid in water, it was clear.
 
If you know the plastic type, you're best using a specific glue. ABS/PVC glues work amazingly well on their intended substrate.

Don't use super glues. They outgass and will deposit a coating surrounding the bonding areas.

Gel epoxies work well on rough breaks, and of course the weldon series works awesome if you know the type of plastic you're using.
 
How can you determine the type of plastic it is? Outgassing I am a little concerned about as one thing I'm repairing is the plastic grille on my air purifier.
 
acetone melts plastic, not sure how well it works to bond pieces together.
 
Gorilla Glue.
Amazing stuff.
http://uk.gorillaglue.com/eng/glues/glue-list/1/

About 5 years ago I sat on my sunglasses and broke one of the stems.
Gorilla glue fixed it with an immensely strong bond such that I still wear them and you wouldnt know they have been repaired unless you look closely.
 
ep0x73 said:
The best stuff is whatever was in my plastics shop in school. It melted/fused plastic together.
Probably some type of mild acid in water, it was clear.
Click to expand...

Nah, not an acid. Almost certainly an organic solvent like acetone or methyl ethyl ketone.

OP, give acetone a try. It's easy to acquire (any hardware/home improvement store should carry it) and will work to weld most plastics used in molding of consumer goods.
 
Actually... one of these parts has "ABS" written right on it. Recommendations?

(sorry, I address issues like this once a week. It's time to fix my damn scanner feeder tray, because it's getting annoying)
 
Something like this will work:

http://www.loctiteproducts.com/p/epxy_plstc_s/overview/Loctite-Epoxy-Plastic-Bonder.htm

You can also just use a solvent to melt the edges of the ABS and press them back together--acetone, MEK or methylene chloride. Also helps to mix a little ABS dust/shavings into the solvent, let it melt and use it as a glue. Most plastics are "glued" by melting/fusing them together with a solvent. Some (polypropylene, polyethylene) are next to impossible to glue by any method.
 
go to the plumbing dept in your local hdwr store, they have glue specifically made for ABS, also PVC type plastics too....it's way cheaper (a good sized jar for only $2-3) than those so-called "specialty adhesives" that you will find over by the paint/hdwr aisles in those little tubes that last about 10 mins after you open them.........

model glue also works on some thinner/softer plastics.... however the last time I tried to buy some they made me feel like a crackhead/sniffypopper, asking me for 2 ID's and giving me a leery stare down, so be prepared.......

and FYI, solvents like Acetone & MEK do work, but are extremely difficult to control the severity of the melting process, so if you are gluing something that may be valuable or not easily replaced, find something else to use.......
 
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