fixing plastic parts (this case the relay board cover), fixing cracked plastic Options

[eastbay851]

anybody who has a piece of broken plastic with which to deal on your car (or, i learned from continually getting off my motorcycles before they were stopped.) the best way to deal with plastic is to use baking soda and super thin super-glue. fill crack or chips with baking soda and apply glue. the preferred applicator here is a piece of tube filament. i get mine from a local hobby shop who makes their own super-glue but fly tie supply places have it. you can build up (in thin coats of baking soda) to 1/4" thick or more. i have made full loops with this method for the cowling of a motorcycle, dropped the bike again and the loop survived while the rest of the piece suffered severe trauma. one of the advantages to using this method... makes no difference what type of plastic it is. super glue does not discriminate.

[Tom_T]

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Actually - the "best way" is to do what's called "Plastic Welding". (IMG:style_emoticons/default/shades.gif)

- wherein you get the proper solvent for the particular type of plastic of which the broken part is made, some scrap pieces of that plastic in the same color & use the solvent to melt the scraps & use that to "weld" the broken bits together, which is about 90% of the original unbroken part's strength, & nearly undetectable - if not completely.

Think of the old Testors clear liquid polystyrene glue on plastic kit models.

Auto Restorer magazine did a "how to" article on it a few months back.

The Super Glue with or without baking soda (a "filler") will eventually break, because it doesn't realign the plastic molecules when soft then they re-harden into a new crystalline net, like the proper solvent will. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif)