Anyone had any luck with repairing plastic bezels?

Does seem like very much surface to glue to on the CF-51, I understand why they break so easy. Does anyone have any suggestions? I bought three to make one, but the bezels were broken on all three.

 

I've not had much success with gluing plastics. Maybe glue some cloth strips on back side of bezel to hold cracks closed?

 

I have not had any luck either. But the cloth strips is a really good idea, now if someone can tell me a glue they had good luck with using.

For all that is good about Toughbook, the plastic on these units are way too thin to take any abuse.

 

Not sure about a bezel but I've always welded (thermo- not thermo-setting) plastic camera parts with a temperature-controlled soldering iron at just above the plastic's melting point.
If it bubbles it's too hot.
Perfectly clean bit of course and don't breathe the fumes.
Takes practice to be able to do it without marking the front (er.. you weld from the back ) just push in the bit about half way through, then smooth the crater. Repeat.
Easy peasy.

 

How about gorilla glue construction adhesive?
I tried super glue on plastic eye glasses frames and it stuck to everything except the frames.

 

I use a plastic welder and sand down the imperfections from welding. Then I paint the whole item. I use the plastic welder a lot. Amazing what I have been able to fab and or repair for the interior of my truck.

 

Any suggestions on a plastic welder? What brand or model? I am open to trying something new. Sounds like it might be a handy tool to have around.

 

We need to source a channel iron (al.,mag.,plastic) that will slip over the edge.

We talking CF-51 and 52 here?

Jeff

 

With some plastics there's another way not yet mentioned.
Works great with abs.
Brand new & just-washed & dried roughish file - find a spot inside that you can remove some plastic without it showing and file enough to make a paste with some solvent sufficient to bond the 2 broken parts together - add some reinforcement at the back if there's room, got to work fast though.
On a break, got to get back to work.

 

unclemack...that's a good one. I have done the same with white wood glue and sawdust on cabinets...to fill screw-holes.

 

Mine is from a company called Urethane Supply Co or USC.
Here is an fleabay item number for a used one.

330733468885

I got mine over a year ago for $100.00 if I recall. It's a 5500HT. Make sure you also get some Fiberflex rods (5003R10). I don't even bother with the other rods anymore. I also cut slivers from extra or hidden spots to use the exact material and color for some welds.
Mine has changeable tips. I made a narrow tip using a brass machine screw. Cut the head off and ground the one side like a one sided chisel. The ground part is about an inch long. Works great for small spots that the supplied tips won't work on.

Shawn

 

One other trick I've needed occasionally is to make a kind of "heatsink/backing bar" (hadn't thought of a name for it) to protect the face of the repair and avoid distortion - as you might when welding thin non-ferrous metals.
Some early plastic car bumpers were so soft that I would use body filler to make a quick mould of the front surface to preserve the shape & texture while welding the back of a crack.
No matter how careful you are with welding it's probable that a fine crack will still be visible on the front surface.
I have a small amount of cobbler's wax in black which I bought for filling the screw recesses on Minox cameras - but it's also great for filling those fine cracks. If you're not painting of course
Jeff might know if cobbler's wax has another name in the US.

 

I've used superglue gel to put the corner back on the bezel of my CF-52. You have to look pretty close to tell it was done, but it does show. I used a toothpick to apply the glue and used very little of the glue so it didn't ooze. I did this with the bezel still installed, so I may have glued the bezel to the lid, but I'll deal with that if I need to in the future. Good luck!

 

Shawn, did it take you very long to learn how to weld plastic?

 

I would love to have that plastic welder, but until I can break enough things to justify the expense, I would just use a urethane glue (Gorilla glue is my favorite) to coat the fabric. keep it flat until it is dry.

Use scotch tape to hold the front so the crack will stay as tight as possible.

Score the back of the plastic, and wipe water on both the plastic, and your coated fabric. Water does something to make the bond better. Then coat both the coated fabric strip and the back of the plastic with Gorilla glue. mush the fabric patch into the glue good and let it dry. The Gorilla glue will swell some, so you may need to sand it down if you get too much glue on the plastic, but this has worked for me a couple times on places that will not take stress. Not sure how it would work on a place that does take stress.

Of course the crack is still visible from the front, but Unclemack's suggestion (black cobblers wax) can likely help with that.

You might even reinforce the not broken areas this way to hopefully prevent a future break.

 

Another trick I use is a soldering iron for electronics. I got a cheap 6 dollar one with the flat tip I keep just for this. Use the iron to run down both sides of the crack then get a strip of plastic to melt and bring the thickness up to where you want it. Zip ties make good welding rods for this. You can then sand it down to where you want it.

How does it hold? Very well if you take your time with it. I have repaired my 18" helicopter blades with it several times and haven't had it fail in flight at high RPM's yet. (when you lean to fly them you tend to brake a lot of stuff,lol, TIP: just going ahead and take off, you will screw up trying to take off slowly and the nose dips) The blades are 9.4 inches long each.

 

It wasn't too bad to learn. Just experiment on old plastic items. Old car parts, and cheap electronic cases from Goodwill, etc...
The fiberflex rod makes it easier, although that rod is black, so if you do light color items, you must repaint. The fiberflex rod is fiber reinforced and has a glue in it also.
I started off by picking up a cheap interior item from ebay to practice on. Something like 5 bucks with free shipping. I have lots of broken electronics to practice on.

 

http://displayproductsonline.com/me...f78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/1/5/1502_2.jpg

Plastic channel. Might have to adjust the hinges for clearance when closed. I was thinking of using this on sides of CF-51 screen bezel. I looked at aluminum also. Wrong dimensions. Mine miked out .50 inches. This may have enough angle to be a snap fit.

Jeff ...speculating...