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Here is a simple and reliable way to fix broken plastic hinges on the vanity mirror cover. Again in the Thread title refers to the fact, that it is second hinge. On the right side. The one on the left was broken when I bought the car in 2016, so repair has been holding for more than 2 years now. First I drilled two small holes and them looped mechanic wire though them around hinge axle. See pics. This time the part of the hinge on the cover itself was cracked, so I put some crazy glue in the crack. Will see ho long this will last.
If the crazy glue does not hold you may be able to do some plastic welding with a soldering iron. You can sometimes take one or two pieces of small stiff wire or drill rod and press it into the plastic across the crack with the hot iron to act like rebar in cement. Then run the hot iron along the crack to melt it closed. You can even find a donor plastic to add to the joint from old Tupperware or and old toy or something. A hot Exacto knife can be used to make a slot to accept the metal pin to make the job neater and glue can be used to seal the joint up when you're done welding. Maybe a little epoxy.
Plastic welding has been successfully used to repair plastic water tanks on automotive radiators. It takes practice but it works.
Agree. But I normally use teflon tape on top of the plastic to be welded. This way soldering iron tip is not contaminated with melted plastic. And not all plastics are weldable.
Agree. But I normally use teflon tape on top of the plastic to be welded. This way soldering iron tip is not contaminated with melted plastic. And not all plastics are weldable.
I like the tape idea, I'll try that next time. If you place the tip of the gun against a metal pin and press it into the plastic it works pretty neatly to repair a crack and then a little super glue or epoxy over that. I just did a search and found that teflon starts to decompose at 500deg F and decomposes 662deg F.
I've never had a problem with a plastic that wouldn't weld but I'll take your word for that, I don't have a whole lot of experience with different materials. My last project was making a rain cover for the electrical outlets on my generator from the bottom of an old Rubbermaid storage bin. You can make permanent bends and welds with a good heat gun on large pieces of soft plastics and cut strips of material from the unused parts to add to your welds.
Sorry if I hi-jacked this thread, this is way off topic.
I like the tape idea, I'll try that next time. If you place the tip of the gun against a metal pin and press it into the plastic it works pretty neatly to repair a crack and then a little super glue or epoxy over that. I just did a search and found that teflon starts to decompose at 500deg F and decomposes 662deg F.
I've never had a problem with a plastic that wouldn't weld but I'll take your word for that, I don't have a whole lot of experience with different materials. My last project was making a rain cover for the electrical outlets on my generator from the bottom of an old Rubbermaid storage bin. You can make permanent bends and welds with a good heat gun on large pieces of soft plastics and cut strips of material from the unused parts to add to your welds.
Sorry if I hi-jacked this thread, this is way off topic.
Mike.
No problem. I finally remembered proper terms for weldable and non-weldable plastics - thermoplastic and thermoset plastics. For example, expoxy is not weldable.
07-04-2019, 02:07 AM
