Which plastic to mend my kettle lid?

[jkn]

Hi All we have a 'standard' cordless kettle, mostly made of Stainless Steel, with a hinged lid for filling etc. The plastic retracting catch which keeps the lid closed has started to fail (somewhat poor design IMO) and the lid is popping open.

I am trying to make a (possibly temporary) fix to the catch with a soldering gun and a pack of 'plastic welding sticks', but I'm unsure which plastic to use.

ABS has worked for a short while, but then the repair falls off; the plastics seem to not be totally compatible, I have available:

HDPE ABS PP PC PP/EPDM

I realise that it's hard to be sure about this of course, but any suggestions as to what plastic I might try next for this application?

Thanks Jon N

[Andy Burns]

Look on the kettle body for any plastic recycling markings (usually a triangle with arrows and a number or an abbreviation from your list above).

[Brian-Gaff]

Does it have to be plastic? I never had any luck with thermoplastic as it just does not stick. you need to reform the whole part or make it from some other material. Brian

[Andrew Gabriel]

Very *very* common. Often caused by hard water scale forming inside the lid, preventing the catch parts from moving anymore. It really looks like it's specifically designed to fail after a year or two.

Some plastic parts in kettles do lend themselves to thermal welding. i.e. melt the two broken surfaces over a flame simulteneously, and then push them together before the plastic solidifies, and hold them steady until it solidifies.

However, with some plastics (such as polystyrene), you risk just setting light to the parts, so be ready to extinguish them quickly if that happens.

[jkn]

well, I've gone ahead with (a) installing a spare kettle whilst I do my fettling ;-), and (b) stripping down the old one. The only recycling mark I can find is 'PA' (polyamide), which is not in the same area as the lid but does seem at least plausible.

I'll buy some PA welding sticks and have a try with those. I appreciate the comments about making a new piece instead; it might come to that, unless I lose interest beforehand...

Cheers J^n

[newshound]

Agreed, just to add that it is also a pretty challenging application owing to the temperature cycling and, for plastic, relatively high temperature when boiling.