Best glue for laptop plastics?

[seashore]

Just wondering what people think is the best glue for small cracks in laptop plastics to stop them becoming bigger cracks. Preferably easy to apply, and reasonably inconspicuous when dry. Thanks.

 

[Diggs]

Medium viscosity CA. Thick CA with kicker if I need to build fillet welds. The regular thin/water CA you buy in a tube at Walmart is a mess. I do use epoxies occasionally but not for wicking into a crack.

 

[britechguy]

I actually like water thin superglue (cyanoacrylate) for wicking into cracks. The thing I test first is whether the plastic of the case is acetone resistant (and most are). You can do a quick wipe with an acetone moistened piece of paper towel or swab while the glue as not set, and quickly dry it, to prevent the CA-Haze, but what has wicked into the crack stays there.

If I need to rebuild something It will almost always be epoxy glue, often with a surround of epoxy paste for added structural strength.

 

[Diggs]

I actually like water thin superglue

You should try the medium if you haven't. The thin stuff wicks right through a crack and spreads on the other side. Not so the medium yet it wicks pretty well and stays in the crack.

 

[alexsmith2709]

I've used the Wilko own brand "Hard Plastic" glue without any issue. No idea if its the "best" to use, but i dont glue many bits back on, but the fews bits i have done seem to have stayed.

 

[NviGate Systems]

There is a product called Plastic Weld, it's an epoxy, it's designed for plastic.

I had a Toshiba Laptop years ago that developed a crack on the back of the LCD casing, I decided to fully crack it (if you have a weak point sometimes it's better to fully break it then fix, as the not totally broken part can eventually break and make issues)

I put both pieces together with Plastic Weld, I could literally bend it back and forth after it cured.

It's not your typical epoxy, but it does what it says. You have to sand after applying it unless you do cleanup before, but it can be tough to do.

This stuff is powerful, but I did try it on hinges once and it was no match for the force the hinges put on the case, so there is a limit.

 

[britechguy]

I, too, have used plastic welder epoxy, many times, and it does have additives that make it "dissolve" the surfaces being glued and integrating that into the final bond. It is very good.

Like most epoxies, it can be cleaned up with denatured alcohol when it's in the early stages of setting. you can really clean up the visible surface pretty well, though the stuff is very seldom transparent (a lot of what I've used is either gray or "opaque snot yellow" when mixed and cured) so if the crack has any gaps you are going to see the glue even if it's invisible along most of the crack.

 

[Larry Sabo]

This stuff is powerful, but I did try it on hinges once and it was no match for the force the hinges put on the case, so there is a limit.

I've had very good luck with J-B Weld PlasticWeld epoxy (syringed) on hinges. I bought the 5-min. variant from the UK because the stuff available in Canada is black and takes forever to set. Even the 5-minute stuff still takes a good 15-20 minutes to stop running where you don't want it. Turning the item upside down so it runs around the knurled brass nut and mounting post doesn't work because they fall off. RapidFreeze instant glue is great fr holding the bits in place until everything sets. sometimes, I surround the mount point with JB-Weld PlasticWeld putty to reinforce it. Luckily, it sets in about 10 minutes. The other negative, besides the setting time, is the smell -- stinks up the whole house for hours. Once fully things set (24hrs+), it's indestructible.

 

[NJW]

"opaque snot yellow"

OT: Is there a Pantone shade for that?

 

[NviGate Systems]

You probably could use mica powder to change the color, they use Mica Powder for epoxy where you don't want anything to change the chemical bonds.

If you want to experiment, eye shadow would do the trick, I've used it in 5 Min Epoxy before and it works a treat.

 

[MichaelsComputerServices]

Plastaid

 

[frase]

You probably could use mica powder to change the color, they use Mica Powder for epoxy where you don't want anything to change the chemical bonds.

If you want to experiment, eye shadow would do the trick, I've used it in 5 Min Epoxy before and it works a treat.

Just don't try this method on self