One of the plastic lugs in the door moulding that holds in the lower shelf has broken off. I'm prepared to try a wood shape replacement araldited on with a couple of wood screws into the insulation to hold while it sets.
But will it set with the fridge operating? Am I going to have to switch it off with all the hassle that will arrive with that from the kitchen operative?
I suspect it may just delay a new fridge purchase.
Rob
The curing of proper araldite is accelerated to an hour or so from 24 by going from room temperature to around 100C
I would imagine that putting it in a fridge would be disasterous to the curing time. Possibly allowing the adhesive to flow out of the joint before it cures.
You may need to look at a different adhesive with a chemical accelerator or put your foot down with the kitchen executive.
Are you man or mouse??
I suspect you will never get the required strength by gluing it on that way. Can you not do it in say 10mm thick perspex/polystyrene instead?
The right solvent glue for a plastic to plastic weld would probably set very much faster even if it smells.
Basically araldite smell will taint stuff in the fridge so you might as well turn it off while you mend it with whatever glue you use!
Chemical reactions tend to be exponentially faster with increasing temperature so with it on your odds of a satisfactory result are nil.
It probably will set eventually weeks or months (perhaps just before hell freezes over) but take so long that it will have a chance to get everywhere including the kitchen operatives fingers.
Probably. If you do use araldite do it at room temperature.
Yes, but slower.
I don't know, but generally reaction rates roughly double for a 10'C temperature increase, so halve for a 10'C decrease - the 'Arrhenius equation'.
That might suggest four times the normal curing time as a ballpark estimate.
Cheers
+1. Though how well epoxy adheres to fridge lining remains to be seen.
NT
Many thanks guys - I'd forgotten the 10 deg C ratio thing (Arrhenius) so yes that is not the right option.
Martin - your idea of the plastic to plastic solvent in conjunction with perspex looks the right way to go. But what solvent ? I seem to have a memory of perspex cement being made by dissolving small bits of perspex in something - cellulose thinners ?
Rob
Acrylic cement was made by dissolving acrylic in chloroform, commercially available under the trade name Tensol. Why not try super glue, the originals were developed as replacement for glues like Tensol to overcome the problems of working with chloroform.
Richard
I don't have much luck with Araldite these days. Many years ago it used to set rock hard, but my recent attempts stay slightly flexible. After the last failure I used plastic cement from my local model shop, which sticks many plastics including Perspex. It's a thin liquid which is applied to the join, going in by capillary attraction. Based on methylene chloride I think.
available under the trade name Tensol. Why not try super glue, the origina ls were developed as replacement for glues like Tensol to overcome the prob lems of working with chloroform.
I've used CA glue successfully on fridge liner, but assumed it would be too brittle for long term use.
NT
Yes it will set in a fridge, but be slower. The key is to make sure its clean and dry when you do the assembly.
Brian
With a little more hardener it actually seems to work well. I had an old Hitachi fridge with a glued on rear shelf stop for years. Admittedly it was not really load bearing, but it never fell off. I think I used something called araldite rapid. Brian
Sounds possible - the Rapid has a notional 10 minute set time, IIRC.
Always avoid rapid epoxies unless you really need the quick set, they end up much weaker.
NT
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