Bonding Plastic to Plastic

[GOT BOOST]

Hi everyone,

Is there a product out there that will enable one to bond the little plastic nipples that connect to vacume line hoses back on to the plastic connector?

I am asking this as while removing my powersteering pump, I broke off one of the two plastic nipples for the vacume line hoses. In addition I had also snapped one of the plastic nipples on top of my thermostat housing unit for the vacume line too.

Any help would be greatly appreciated as I do not want to drop $200.00 on a used powersteering pump just to get the plastic clip that has the two nipples attached.

Thanks in advance,

Mike Nikolai

 

[SoupedUpSupra]

jb weld

 

[limequat]

Or a good 2 part epoxy.

 

[GOT BOOST]

Thanks for the info guys. I will check out the local parts store tonight. I will post my results if it worked or not! =) I am also thinking super Glue or Crazy Glue? I figure it is all good as long as I do not glue my hands to the plastic.

Mike Nikolai

 

[rakkasan]

Thanks for the info guys. I will check out the local parts store tonight. I will post my results if it worked or not! =) I am also thinking super Glue or Crazy Glue? I figure it is all good as long as I do not glue my hands to the plastic.

Mike Nikolai

Super/Crazy Glue will work for a while, but with time it gets very brittle from high heat.

 

[GOT BOOST]

Super/Crazy Glue will work for a while, but with time it gets very brittle from high heat.

Hi Rakkasan,

Thanks for the heads up. As much fun as it sounds to go back in after a while and redo them, I would rather not.

I guess my best option is some JB weld or some sort of 2 part epoxy?

Mike Nikolai

 

[nottooslow]

actually your best option is to replace the broken parts. but if you HAVE to use a bandaid, i would stay away from j.b weld, try the epoxy stuff.

 

[limequat]

I can relate to GOT BOOST. I broke the nipple for the radiator overflow. Damned if I'm buying a new radiator for a stupid nipple. I tried super glue and epoxy, but neither worked. I suppose because of the heat. I wound up filing down my stump just enough to get a hose clamp on.

If things get bad enough you can try threading in a pipe thread - nipple adapter.

 

[Asterix]

Such is the problem with all plastics...

If you can find an epoxy just like the plastic you're trying to bond, you'll have good luck. The best works when trying to bond acrylic to acrylic, since you can use an acrylic epoxy.

However, most of the plastic under our hood is ABS or some other strange high-temperature plastic. McMaster has quite a selection of epoxies; one may bond ABS. All epoxies are not equal.

For a good bond anywhere is to have the surfaces completely free of grease. Superglue doesn't work if there's any grease on the surface. This includes fingerprints. I've found that Superglue is really only good for ceramics and the occasional, light-duty acrylic bond. I've also had good luck using Superglue for the nipple on the BVSV on the thermostat housing. I just got to do it again every few years.

A contact cement may work for a while, but I don't know what the temperature ratings of those is. They are basically just rubber dissolved in a solvent. When the solvent evaporates, the rubber sticks to itself nicely. On such a small piece, it's probably not really strong enough.

JB Weld is probably the wrong stuff because it won't stick to the plastic. JB Weld works great on metal and ceramics.

If you can do a solvent weld, like "gluing" PVC pipe, that'd work best. "Model Cement" is also just a solvent to weld the polystyrene parts together. I've not heard of solvent welds for ABS, but that doesn't mean they don't exist. A thermal weld would be great, too, but tricky. If the plastic is a "thermoset" you can't do a thermal weld. ABS is a thermoplastic which means you can thermally weld it. Acrylic is a thermoset. Bakelite is also a thermoset.

You'll need to know what kind of plastic it is to make the right choice. Good luck on that. Otherwise, just experiment. Checking to see if it melts nicely then hardens back to it's original form will tell you if it's a thermoplastic or not. That's a good first step.

Asterix