Glue for thin plastic

[Reddinr]

I need to glue a plastic cover piece on a camera I have. The type of plastic is unknown. It is black, injection-molded on a Canon camera. I dropped the camera about a year ago and to my luck, everything still works. I just found that the bottom of the case developed a crack in it, probably from the drop. I need to glue it. Replacing it would require $$$ sending it to Canon because it is the piece with the serial number tag on it. The plastic is thin, about 0.072 inches and I have about 1 inch of length. I've never had good luck with super glue on things like this. My guess is that the plastic is filled polycarbonate. So is there a best-choice glue to use?

 

[MrWhoopee]

If it's polycarbonate, you are in luck as it can be glued effectively.

Which Glues Work for Polycarbonate Plastic - Acme Plastics

Regular solvents won't adhere to polycarbonate. See the different methods for gluing, or fusing polycarbonate.

www.acmeplastics.com

More likely it's acetal/delrin or something else that doesn't glue worth a damn.

Bonding Acetal with Adhesive

How to maximize adhesive bond strength and performance on acetal surfaces, and more tips for bonding acetal using industrial adhesives.

www.permabond.com

 

[extropic]

First, I'm assuming that gap, shown in the photo, will go to essentially zero when the parts are mated for bonding. Is that correct?
Do you intend to glue the break with the parts still attached to the camera or removed from the camera?

I would remove the parts and try ABS solvent glue on a small area, on the backside, to see if it softens the material.

 

[mmcmdl]

How bout JB weld for plastic ?

 

[Reddinr]

Yes. The gap will go to zero. It is just shown that way to show the two pieces. I think I will have to glue it on-camera. Getting the piece off is not easy. There seems to be hidden screws, probably under the serial number label and elsewhere. But, as it happens, when the part is placed properly, it will click in and be held tight. That, with some tape will hold it while the glue dries.

Part of the problem is that I really don't know what the plastic is for sure.

 

[extropic]

I thought they might have to be glued in place. I suppose you've already resigned yourself to having the plastic glued to the metal below.

What do you think about putting an overlay on top of the crack? That approach wouldn't glue the parts to the camera (metal) below and it would allow some surface area to test ABS/other solvent adhesives to see what works.

 

[Aaron_W]

Plastruct sells a thin liquid glue for plastic, their orange bottles is thicker so it can fill small gaps, the white bottle is thinner. Both work on styrene based plastics including ABS.

It is a fairly hot model glue available from many hobby stores.

 

[nwfdub]

Weld-on 3. It melts, then reforms several types of plastics. It does it on a molecular level. It's not glue per se. It's more like chemical bonding. Should do the trick. Use sparingly.

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[ChazzC]

Years ago I bumped the front of my Nikon D50 and broke off the top of the front cover. I found a replacement on eBay, but thought that it would be good to have a spare so I glued the original back together:



Is it visible, somewhat; did it fit perfectly, yes. Do I still have the D50, no (and I have no idea why I still have this part!).

IIRC I used SureHold Plastic Surgery®:


Works on almost any plastic (except "low surface energy" plastic, which require special formulations or "Adhesion Promotors."

 

[tq60]

Look up plastic near you.

If you have a dealer, then take it to them.

They usually have different solvent glues that would self weld it.

Otherwise, they may be able to identify it and the glue.

Also, contact cannon, it may be a replacable part.

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