Hi,

Have a "patching" job, and not sure what to use.
Would be most grateful for any suggestions.

Had to take apart a kids toy, plastic housing, to fix the motor inside.

They glued the housing, no screws, so the case is now fairly
"butchered," with some cracks, etc., as a result of my taking it apart.

I can use epoxy on the cracks just fine, but the case now also has some
approx., 1 inch (some 1.5 inch) holes and cutouts.

Epoxy doesn't seem correct for this, as I think it's too big a space
to cover.

I can put a piece of wood behind the hole when I'm patching it
to give some grab to the patching compound, and minimize the depth of
the hole.

What should I use other than epoxy for these "holes" ?
Again, it's a plastic case.

Would want it to "set-up" Hard (like epoxy would)

Any other thoughts on doing the patching would be most appreciated.

Thanks,
Bob

On 8/4/2015 8:13 AM, Bob wrote:
Hi,

Have a "patching" job, and not sure what to use.
Would be most grateful for any suggestions.

Had to take apart a kids toy, plastic housing, to fix the motor inside.

They glued the housing, no screws, so the case is now fairly
"butchered," with some cracks, etc., as a result of my taking it apart.

I can use epoxy on the cracks just fine, but the case now also has some
approx., 1 inch (some 1.5 inch) holes and cutouts.

Epoxy doesn't seem correct for this, as I think it's too big a space
to cover.

I can put a piece of wood behind the hole when I'm patching it
to give some grab to the patching compound, and minimize the depth of
the hole.

What should I use other than epoxy for these "holes" ?
Again, it's a plastic case.

Would want it to "set-up" Hard (like epoxy would)

Any other thoughts on doing the patching would be most appreciated.

Thanks,
Bob

Not all plastics are alike. If your plastic is polyethylene, nothing
will stick to it.

I might try a hot melt adhesive with mechanical patch like piece of
fiber glass.

That's a tricky one. Perhaps buy the child a horse
and hope they forget that you broke their toy?

I can think of a couple *possibilities*, but nothing
that's clearly the best solution:

* A fiberglass patch kit... if it doesn't melt the plastic.

* A flexible patch attached with contact cement.

"Bob" wrote in message ...

Hi,

Have a "patching" job, and not sure what to use.
Would be most grateful for any suggestions.

Had to take apart a kids toy, plastic housing, to fix the motor inside.

They glued the housing, no screws, so the case is now fairly
"butchered," with some cracks, etc., as a result of my taking it apart.


"A man needs to know his limits."

--
Captain Jon Luc Picard

On 8/4/2015 10:23 AM, Edmund J. Burke wrote:
"Bob" wrote in message ...
Hi,

Have a "patching" job, and not sure what to use.
Would be most grateful for any suggestions.

Had to take apart a kids toy, plastic housing, to fix the motor inside.

They glued the housing, no screws, so the case is now fairly
"butchered," with some cracks, etc., as a result of my taking it apart.

Duct tape, get it in a pretty colour if you want.

--
Froz...

Quando omni flunkus, moritati

On Tuesday, August 4, 2015 at 7:13:54 AM UTC-5, Bob wrote:
Hi,

Have a "patching" job, and not sure what to use.
Would be most grateful for any suggestions.

Had to take apart a kids toy, plastic housing, to fix the motor inside.

They glued the housing, no screws, so the case is now fairly
"butchered," with some cracks, etc., as a result of my taking it apart.

I can use epoxy on the cracks just fine, but the case now also has some
approx., 1 inch (some 1.5 inch) holes and cutouts.

Epoxy doesn't seem correct for this, as I think it's too big a space
to cover.

I can put a piece of wood behind the hole when I'm patching it
to give some grab to the patching compound, and minimize the depth of
the hole.

What should I use other than epoxy for these "holes" ?
Again, it's a plastic case.

Would want it to "set-up" Hard (like epoxy would)

Any other thoughts on doing the patching would be most appreciated.

Thanks,
Bob

One of the things I did for a living was repairing electronic equipment and I often repaired broken plastic parts and cases. Here's a link to Amazon and the Plas-T-Pair plastic repair kit. ( ͡ᵔ ͜ʖ ͡ᵔ )

https://tinyurl.com/nvvqr5z

[8~{} Uncle Plastic Monster

On Tue, 04 Aug 2015 08:13:17 -0400, Bob wrote:

Would want it to "set-up" Hard (like epoxy would)

Just use expoxy then. Apply in several sessions, each one putting a new
layer as thick as can support its own weight while soft.

--
http://pages.videotron.com/duffym/index.htm

On Tue, 4 Aug 2015 09:36:15 -0400, "Mayayana"
wrote:

That's a tricky one. Perhaps buy the child a horse
and hope they forget that you broke their toy?

I can think of a couple *possibilities*, but nothing
that's clearly the best solution:

* A fiberglass patch kit... if it doesn't melt the plastic.

* A flexible patch attached with contact cement.


Considering the kind of guy he is, he'd probably buy this child a broke
horse too!

On Tue, 4 Aug 2015 09:00:57 -0400, Frank "frank wrote:

On 8/4/2015 8:13 AM, Bob wrote:
Hi,

Have a "patching" job, and not sure what to use.
Would be most grateful for any suggestions.

Had to take apart a kids toy, plastic housing, to fix the motor inside.

They glued the housing, no screws, so the case is now fairly
"butchered," with some cracks, etc., as a result of my taking it apart.

I can use epoxy on the cracks just fine, but the case now also has some
approx., 1 inch (some 1.5 inch) holes and cutouts.

Epoxy doesn't seem correct for this, as I think it's too big a space
to cover.

I can put a piece of wood behind the hole when I'm patching it
to give some grab to the patching compound, and minimize the depth of
the hole.

What should I use other than epoxy for these "holes" ?
Again, it's a plastic case.

Would want it to "set-up" Hard (like epoxy would)

Any other thoughts on doing the patching would be most appreciated.

Thanks,
Bob

Not all plastics are alike. If your plastic is polyethylene, nothing
will stick to it.

I might try a hot melt adhesive with mechanical patch like piece of
fiber glass.
First things first - what kind of plastic? In many cases the
simplest way is to get a peice of the same type of plastic and either
heat or chemical weld the patch back in. ABS is a cinch. PVC not a
whole lot worse. Polyurethane isn't bad either. Polyethelene is also
quite simple to "weld"

Bob wrote:
Hi,

Have a "patching" job, and not sure what to use.
Would be most grateful for any suggestions.

Had to take apart a kids toy, plastic housing, to fix the motor
inside.
They glued the housing, no screws, so the case is now fairly
"butchered," with some cracks, etc., as a result of my taking it
apart.
I can use epoxy on the cracks just fine, but the case now also has
some approx., 1 inch (some 1.5 inch) holes and cutouts.

Epoxy doesn't seem correct for this, as I think it's too big a space
to cover.

I can put a piece of wood behind the hole when I'm patching it
to give some grab to the patching compound, and minimize the depth of
the hole.

What should I use other than epoxy for these "holes" ?
Again, it's a plastic case.

Would want it to "set-up" Hard (like epoxy would)

Any other thoughts on doing the patching would be most appreciated.

Assuming epoxy sticks to it, just use that but thicken it so it doesn't run.
A good thickener is fumed silica (trade name Cab-o-sil or Aerosil). It is a
very, very fine white powder, turns more or less clear after mixed in; add
it to some uncatalyzed epoxy, stir til well mixed, add more of it or epoxy
as needed to get a spreadable material (about like vaseline or peanut
butter), then catalyze and mix well. You can add some mechanical strength by
tapering the hole edges at an angle on both sides with a file.

If you use wood to back it up you won't get the wood off after the epoxy
sets up; if you want to be able to remove the wood, put a piece of clear
packaging tape on the epoxy side, and all will peel off easily.

On 8/4/2015 12:54 PM, wrote:
On Tue, 4 Aug 2015 09:00:57 -0400, Frank "frank wrote:

On 8/4/2015 8:13 AM, Bob wrote:
Hi,

Have a "patching" job, and not sure what to use.
Would be most grateful for any suggestions.

Had to take apart a kids toy, plastic housing, to fix the motor inside.

They glued the housing, no screws, so the case is now fairly
"butchered," with some cracks, etc., as a result of my taking it apart.

I can use epoxy on the cracks just fine, but the case now also has some
approx., 1 inch (some 1.5 inch) holes and cutouts.

Epoxy doesn't seem correct for this, as I think it's too big a space
to cover.

I can put a piece of wood behind the hole when I'm patching it
to give some grab to the patching compound, and minimize the depth of
the hole.

What should I use other than epoxy for these "holes" ?
Again, it's a plastic case.

Would want it to "set-up" Hard (like epoxy would)

Any other thoughts on doing the patching would be most appreciated.

Thanks,
Bob

Not all plastics are alike. If your plastic is polyethylene, nothing
will stick to it.

I might try a hot melt adhesive with mechanical patch like piece of
fiber glass.
First things first - what kind of plastic? In many cases the
simplest way is to get a peice of the same type of plastic and either
heat or chemical weld the patch back in. ABS is a cinch. PVC not a
whole lot worse. Polyurethane isn't bad either. Polyethelene is also
quite simple to "weld"


Of course.
I worked enough on plastics to identify most without the use of a lab.
Most of the cheap stuff is PE which is hardest to repair.