Fridge door. On the door itself there is a shelf to hold milk bottles and cartons, it is removable - it has managed to come off (the part that holds it on the atual door has snapped off - so I am thinking about glueing it back on. The door is actually filled with foam behind the plastic so my idea of screwing it back wont work
Whats best for glueing plastic onto plastic for a strong hold?
Araldite? I think some glues might not work in cold temps when hardened?
-- Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite
They all embrittle, but some years ago the Guinness Book of Records suggested that cooled epoxies gave the strongest bond of any adhesive. The plastic is most likely PVC. Polycarbonate in nearly unbreakable and polyprop/eth are unlikely. The last will not glue with anything normal, but the other two will. The part will have to be kept at room temperature while curing as otherwise the set will be either retarded or completely stopped at fridge temperature. In either case, the hardener will form an adduct with carbon dioxide in the air and fail to perform its task.
John Schmitt
I use Revell modellers glue. Its a solvent action and works well on the transparent parts of my fridge and the opaque parts of my Epson printer. Don't expect it to last forever I have had to re-glue the printer after 3 years.
I recently glued the interal freezer compartent door of our fridge back together using nothing more than B&Q own brand plastic glue. I think most parts in fridges are polystyrene which glues very well. Plastic glues shouldn't be affected by the low temperatures in the fridge (once they have set) as it is actually more of a weld than a glue (the solvents soften the plastic and cause it to cross link).
You can't glue polythene with anything you can normally get your hands on. The best you could probably to is try and weld polythene together with a hot bit of metal.
Graham
Both Polyethylene and Polypropylene are easily and reliably glued with normal adhesives (especially Cyanoacrylates). After cleaning the surfaces they should be flame flashed with a blowlamp. The flame changes the surface energy of the polyethylene.
Polyethylene has very low surface energy which is why water beads up when dropped on the surface, after flame treating a drop of water will not bead but will spread out if the treatment was correct - try it on a scrap bit of thick polythene wrapping. The industrial version of the technique uses high voltage corona discharge units to achieve the same effect.
You can also get double sided adhesive tape from 3M called VHB (very high bond). There is one specifically made for low surface energy plastics.
Check out the pictures here
picture 17 shows the good side and 18 the bad. 19 shows the shelf
The shelf does actually hold - but on the right (broken side) it does not stay on solid and if you put anything on them it starts coming off - i need something to hold it in place - i am hoping with the 3 conenctions still in place and laods of glue - it sould be solid.
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