Glue or weld this plastic?

[caution]

Being somewhat of a newb with repairing plastic, I'm curious what my best choice might be for the end of a push button bracket.

It's made of a plastic that's flexible with a fairly shiny surface with the marking "Y C" on it. Not that it means anything about the plastic's composition, but that's all I see. I didn't want to ruin the break surfaces with the wrong type of adhesive.

 

[trippy1313]

So you have the broken piece? If it's the right kind of plastic, you might try that "Acrylic Cement" stuff. Works pretty good on some things. I learned about it from here. It kind of melts and seal the plastics together.

Id recommend testing it on some other plastics first. It was a bit tricky for me at first.

If that won't work... Personally, if that wont work... I'd maybe try plastic welding. It just seems so small I'd be surprised if you can get a good weld.

I'm sure someone more experienced than me might have A better idea.

 

[caution]

Yeah, I have the piece. It was rattling around inside the box when I received it. The second image shows the break point. It was a poor design having a big chunk of plastic attached by such a small point that handles (potentially) a lot of stress.

I believe acrylic cement/acrylic adhesive IS for plastic welding, but wasn't too sure if it works on non-acrylics like PVC and the poly-whatevers.

I did try reading through stuff on here but too often I find old threads being referenced that have since disappeared :-( I will buy some and try it on another spot to see if it works.

 

[trippy1313]

Okay, see I "plastic weld" with heat, a tool similar to a soldering tool. I guess I've heard using the cement called welding...

Maybe was I do could be considered plastic soldering... I dont know. But the tool is called a welder. Lol. Im not sure.

I dont think it will work on PVC plastics.

 

[caution]

Oh you actually melt the plastic with heat and not a solvent? Interesting... that may be what I need to do. More research, the box can wait

 

[baddboybill]

Which unit is it from? You may want to try and get a part from another unit. Because if there's a lot of stress on that part it will be very hard to repair lots of guys here have parts units and might be able to get you a good one


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[caution]

I don't think it's a commonly collected radio, it's an SCR-30 Realistic minibox. I did determine the plastic to be polyethylene, which you cannot weld like you can with acrylic, PVC and ABS so yeah, it would break again for sure. I was going to do just as you suggested and buy another of them on the cheap, but I got the piece to stay put without any glue chance would have it

 

[trippy1313]

What'd you end up doing anyways?

 

[caution]

I decided to purchase the other box that was for sale, they took the same offer ($10) and it showed up a couple of days ago, so I'm hoping it has an unbroken piece inside.

As it turns out, the piece that broke off is held in place by other pieces surrounding it, and works, but just a little more wiggly than it would be otherwise. It will be nice to have an unbroken piece, though.