I need to glue a piece of the ashtray/coin holder assembly. I tried Super Glue but it did not hold at all, even after an hour. Any suggestions? The plastic is hard and reminds me of the kind used in plastic model kits I used to assemble as a kid, like styrene I think.

I hate to have to buy a whole assembly when all that is needed is a glued joint that will hold.

 

Super Glue is only good if you need to hold something together quickly. It's not very strong though.They make 2 part epoxy "plastic" glues that work great. You may need to "scuff" up the two surfaces of the plastic first to give the glue something to hold to.

 

I agree, use a good epoxy on a roughed up surface.

 

Epoxy can work great, but in order to get it to work on plastics, ya need to scuff up the surface and maybe "V" it out at the joint. What I do is take a razor knife (like a box cutter) ad make little cuts in the joint and glue it.

Now, in a case like yours, super glue might actually be the best type of glue. But it depends. If it's a piece that needs to hold a lot of strength it probably won't be the best solution. But if it only need to be moderate strength, like a repaired tab or something it might work great. But, here's what you need to do to make it actually hold securely: clean off the old glue you put on earlier, then apply solvent to each surface. Use something like PVC cleaner/primer you would use for glueing PVC pipe. Apply it to both sides of the joint surface multiple times using a small screwdriver or like instrument. Keepboth sufaceswet for a few minutes. On most plastics (not all), this will melt the surface a little, or at least make it "gummy". That's what you want to achieve. Once the joint surfaces are gummy, even a little, apply a small amount of super glue to one side andpress the parts together tightly for a minute or so, then let it be. Don't touche it for 1/2 hr or better yet a couple hrs.

Having small kids with precious toys that get broken periodically, plus auto projects, I've glued a lot of hard plastics this way and they've held with suprising strength, sometimes as strong as original. Plus the repair is usually near-invisible. Some plastics don't"take" as well as others. Then, epoxy, JB Weld in particular, may be a better way to go. Hope this helps.

 

Sometimes I use superglue in a few spotsto hold the pieces together while the epoxy has time to harden, if it's hard to clamp.

 

gonna sound weird, but I used super glue and little strips of notebook paper. Kinda like fiberglassing.... I put epoxy around it after that for added strength. This was on the center Bezel for an old Volvo, but same thing, glue alone didn't do it...