glue for plastic

[Martin]

I have a portable cassette player with a clear plastic window on the door that has broken loose from its frame. What kind of glue can I use to reattach this window to the door? I have tried Elmers glue which holds for a few months but eventually comes loose. The window is necessary for the proper functioning of the player because there is a small tooth on the back of the window which holds the spring tensioner for the cassette. This spring clicks the cassette into proper position when the door is closed. Thanks for your help. Marty

[thrugoodmarshall]

Elmer's is about the last thing you'd want to use. Plastic as you describe it is typically not porous.

When I built those Testors' plastic models as a kid, I used a "liquid glue" in a cube-shaped bottle with a brush applicator, which was not really a "glue" but a solvent for solvent welding.

Identifying the type of plastic and selecting the correct solvent, then carefully cleaning both surfaces, clamping them together, and applying a minimal amount of solvent (enough to be wicked into the space between) may give you the cleanest (almost invisible) solvent weld.

On the other end of the range of precision, you can just use "goop", which will glue damned near anything to anything else. Pictures of the packages here:

Mart> I have a portable cassette player with a clear plastic window on the door

[rider89]

someone at a hobby shop could probably help you determine the proper adhesive.

Bill

[Edwin Pawlowski]

There are thousands of plastic compounds. Elmer's white glue won't hold well on any of them. Epoxy works on a lot of them. So do solvent based adhesives. If it is a polyethylene, nothing holds.

[Joseph Meehan]

There are many kinds of plastics and some are very difficult to glue. I suggest an epoxy from your local hobby shop. Go to the hobby shop and ask them what they suggest. They are much more likely to know what to suggest than the hardware store. They also often have better products than you will find in the hardware store.

[buffalobill]

here's one at

has other glues too, use their searches

[do_not_spam_me]

It's good you used Elmers instead of super glue since the latter gives a bond that's not good enough to hold the plastic together but unfortunately good enough to leave an unremovable skin on the surfaces that prevents any proper adhesive from working. Plastics like this are best glued with solvent that dissolves them and virtually welds them back together. Carburetor cleaner spray may work, and acetone surely will. The window is likely made of acrylic (plexiglass), and hobby shops and hardware stores sell solvent weld made especially for it. Try to leave the window alone for at least 24 hours after repair, to give the solvent time to evaporate completely.

[do_not_spam_me]

For clear plastic like this window, I can think of only a few common ones: styrene, acrylic, and polycarbonate, and all can be glued with solvents, although polycarbonate gives only one chance at this since its surface turns to something white and weak.

I've never gotten epoxy to work well on plastics, except hard ones like polyester and bakelite.

The best choice here, by far.

Welding it with a solder iron seems to be the only good solution. Unfortunately it doesn't weld as well as other ungluable plastics, like polypropylene (Tupperware), nylon, and derlin.

[RicodJour]

Use a soldering iron and tack-weld the pieces together at several points around the perimeter.

R

[spudnuty]

I've been using Ambroid "Pro Weld" solvent glue lately and it works well. It works on Styrene, Butyrate,ABS and Acrylic. You can get it an any good hobby shop. Test a little corner of the piece you need to glue. If it deglosses the piece it will probably work. I've also tack welded stuff like this with a soldering iron but I run it at a lower temperature with a dimmer.