plasic adhesives for laptop repair

[Tim w]

Replaced a broken screen on a laptop. The only problem has been that in separating the black plastic lid back from the black plastic lid inner bezel I broke a number of tiny plastic tabs off so that I can't click the two bits together again properly. They meet but there is nothing to hold them together in one corner. Its an Acer Aspire V3 if it makes any difference.

Atm some sellotape is doing the job but I am thinking I might glue the join with superglue which will make it impossible ever to separate the parts again. Is there a more appropriate adhesive? One which would hold well enough but might be soft enough to separate at a later date?

Tim W

[ss]

Would a thin bead of clear silicone do the job?

[Mr Pounder Esquire]

A bit of White Tack. Comes off okay and hold okay. Dead cheap from a Poundshop ............. or many other places.

[ARW]

So a quid then?

[RayL12]

If it is for home use and you are not too bothered about looks, how about using a heated blade to put narrow slots in both side of casing and make some spring-metal or, plastic clips? OTT, maybe?

...Ray.

[Brian-Gaff]

Do we know what type of plastic it is?

One needs to be careful in case anything used is a solvent.

Even good old UhU might just be enough, but it really depends on how much surface can be coated and held together. Brian

[Brian Reay]

Can't you use a 'dab' or two of the super glue which works with plastic. If you restrict it to the visible join and only use a few 'dabs', you can generally split the join with a scalpel.

Laptops are a pain to work on. Compare even the better ones with a MacBook and you will see how it should be done. Very easy to take apart etc.

[soup]

This crowd:-

will do free samples (enough?) maybe a peruse of their site will start ideas flowing?

Anecdote :- Sure the bezel on an old laptop, that I replaced the screen on, was held on by double sided tape. Sure I didn't bother replacing it as the bezel held well enough with the old tape. I feel I should have replaced the tape as the bezel doesn't adhere as well as it did.

[Martin Brown]

My instinct is to avoid superglue for this sort of thing. It condenses on optical components when it cures and invariably gets hazes something.

I'd probably use a spot or two of clear epoxy. Placed somewhere I could cut with a razor blade if needed.

[Adrian]

Drill holes, and tie-wrap 'em together...

This kind of thing...

[Peter Parry]

A SMALL amount of Silicone Sealant. Has enough grab to hold the thing in place as long as the bezel has a weight on it while it sets. However, it can still be levered away if needed. Note emphasis on small amount - you don't want glop coming out everywhere, a few dabs will usually do.

[Theo Markettos]

The screens on many phones and tablets are held in with this stuff:

Just search for '300LSE' - there's strips on ebay, amazon etc. You just cut to shape and apply. It is quite grippy - enough to hold the whole screen in

- but can be separated with a heat gun.

Theo

[newshound]

I find that ordinary electrical tape applied under tension normally provides a permanent but removable repair in favourable geometries like this. Apply an excess length and then trim neatly with a craft or Stanley knife. For black or white laptops you can even match the tape colour to the machine.

[RayL12]

LMAO. Yeah, just the thing.

[polygonum]

If you are going to suggest following an Apple approach, maybe stick a magnetised strip on one side and a magnetic strip the other - allowing the magnetic forces to hold it together. (And use pentalobe screws, ribbon connectors which require force along the length, temperature sensors that don't work like any others in existence,... )

[Tim w]

Thanks for all the replies. On reflection I am going to superglue several dots.

Tim W