Glue inside a dishwasher

[GMM]

The top arm wasn't doing the job properly and I could see that it's made in two parts (top and bottom) which were separating, so I took it off and prised it apart completely. I thought it might click back together but no - damned thing was glued and prising simply unstuck the stuck glue (IYSWIM). Off to the orange shed for something to stick it back together and found some Evostick 'Serious Glue', which was the only thing that claimed to work at high temperatures and in the wet (superglues etc all warn off use in water). Stuck it back together, waited 24hr to get a full strength bond. Ran the dishwasher tonight......and there was the bottom half of the arm sitting in the bottom tray. Ironically, a new arm (already ordered from Partsmaster) was only 2.99 (plus the same in P+P, of course), compared with the fiver for the glue. Somehow I suspect that a solventy-thing (like model aeroplane glue) would do a better job as, to some extent, it would weld the plastic (I know straight chloroform works well for perspex, for example), but does anyone have any positive experience of trying to do this or is it just a no-go?

[ransley]

Use an epoxy, I have it on my car radiator, but cleaning will be the key to a bond.

[ransley]

A 2 part paste epoxy.

[1501]

The real trick with using a solvent type adhesive is to know exactly what type of plastic you're sticking. The "model aeroplanes" are moulded from a polystyrene plastic and the adhesive is just that - polystyrene and a volatile solvent. To get a really tight joint in these models the experienced modellers use, what is essentially pure solvent like, Acetone or Methyl Ethyl Kytone.

[GMM]

Epoxy did occur to me but, misguidedly as it turns out, I thought that a glue that claimed to stick (quoting from the pack) 'all things in all conditions/-30oC to 130oC/waterproof' might do the job (!). It seems that the only thing that was correct on the pack was the 'lifetime bond' claim - the bond did indeed last its lifetime (about

10 minutes!). I looked at all the various options on the rack and one of the epoxies warned against using near food, so I thought I should steer clear (though I'm sure any nasties would leach out in a cycle of a dishwasher)>

[GMM]

That, indeed, was what stopped me from simply looting something from the lab to stick it: I suspect (but I'm not certain) that it's polypropylene, which is pretty impervious to most solvents, rather than an easily-dissolvable plastic like polystyrene.