Thread: Glueing plastic with super glue + Bicarb of Soda

Hi Mike,
Does it matter which Super Glue. I use Loctite 401 & 406 mainly.
Yes I know it will not stick to a Plastic Shopping Bag, as this is what I use to move the Glue around with.

Originally Posted by crowie

G'Day Mike, I sent out your repair tip to a few friends and an old Navy mate sent the following reply,
though I don't think you'd be allowed to have ether in your school for the purpose of plastic repairs.
Cheers, Crowie
Crowie,
The best plastic glue is ether.
Sets in seconds, is clear and is as hard as the plastic you are using
I found this out from a old guy who was in the second world war. They used it to fix the Perspex canopies on the planes.
To purchase it you need to go to a chemist and tell them what you want it for. They will only give you a 50ml bottle.
Use a paint brush, small artists type, wipe each side and press together.
I used to make “on range ammo dispensers” for rifle shooters out of Perspex using this method.
Did you know that Bakerlite (that they used to use as insulators) is the first commercial use of plastics.
Cheers, Neil

Isn't ether the main ingredient in 'Start ya bastard start'?

Yes I'm pretty sure the main ingredient in Start Ya Bastard is ether. I accidently gassed a chook with some of it once - dropped the can and knocked the nozzle and a chook raced up to see what the noise was about - 3 pecks later she keeled over - took her outside and about 5 minutes later she was up and running around again. Pretty wobbly for a couple of minutes and went off the lay for a week.

I don't know about the Loctite but give it a try. At less than $2.00 for a 250gm box of bicarb I'm pretty sure it would be a damn sight cheaper than anything you can buy from Bunnies. Just give it a try on something non vital and see how it works for you. As I said most of my plastic repairs where to laptop cases which super glue won't touch by itself.

Gargabe bags - if you can move in in less time than it takes for the bicarb to hit the glue you might have a chance but once it touches it thats it folks it sets rock solid.

Great tip Mike

Add that one to the plaster of paris and thin super glue for great cheap quick bog/filler.

Worth noting, thanks for the tip.

G'Day Mike,
Is there any special process as to how to use the super glue and bi-carb when making a repair, please.
I've tried a couple of times and failed.
Cheers, Crowie

A comment, and an anecdote.

Not sure if ether will glue most plastics, but chloroform was the simple "glue" of choice for Perspex (lexan/polymethylmethacrylate). Made many u/w camera housings in my younger days.

Used straight, it would join effectively, provided surfaces were perfectly true, with no gaps. Gap filling could be improved by dissolving some ground up perspex in the chloroform to form a thicker gel, but at the expense of some strength. All the above was subject to a degree of crazing over time, as the solvent caused swelling and subsequent shrinking of the perspex.

Also available was a commercial glue, namely the methacrylate monomer, and a catalyst, which gave much better results.

Regarding the CA and activator:
My son is a guitarist, and as such has cultivated a couple of his fingernails . Shortly before he was due to do one of his HSC performances, he snagged and peeled one of them.
1st temp repair with CA, lasted a day, before it gave way again. I then repeated the repair, but reinforced with some thick paper, cut to fit over the nail, and laid on with CA.

Problem was that it kept slipping out of place, before the CA went off........so

with a rush of blood to the head, I reached for the spray bottle of accellerator.......
Boy did he dance.
Survived though, and the repair lasted long enough for him to do his performance. Can't get near him with a CA bottle now, though.

regards

I feel his pain having accidentally got some under a nail and hitting with accelerator.

The heat and expansion is excruciating.

his dance was self explanatory

I can actually contribute something constructive here and being a newbie I'm pleased.
Anyway using the process as originally mentioned I have successfully repaired broken plastic retainer clips on my cars headlight fitting but more impressivley fixed a crack in my polypropelyne dinghy and nothing much holds to poly.

In that case I used a small triangular file to cut a groove, then filled with sodi bic then added the glue. You can even build up layers in this way as long as you do it before the process is completed, bit more filler bit more glue etc.

Flash 400 from modelling suppliers also works as a good glue in this process.

What is sodi bic?

Originally Posted by Cliff Rogers

What is sodi bic?

bicarb of soda. or sodium bicarbonate if you prefer.