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mattl

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I have a couple of plastic items that need repair.  One is minor, no stress and the other gets a lot of pressure and needs something strong.

 

A month or two ago I was doing some spot cleaning with my Bissel Pro Heat carpet cleaner and the end on the hose broke off.  This is at the point the attachment goes on.  Replacing the whole hose unit is difficult and expensive so I'd rather bond the plastic together.  The other item is just the base of my weather station, once it's back on it will get moved infrequently.  There are so many options out there not sure what to use.
 
The strongest glue I have found to use on plastic to plastic is Gorilla glue. They instruct to use water on one side and glue on the other. I had great success in just using the glue on one side then put them together and tape to hold the contacting pieces together for 24 hours. A couple of different repairs have held up well.

Jon
 
I have never had good luck with Gorilla glue on a non-porous surface. (On wood and fiber it is AMAZING though)

For plastics I'd look at solvent or thermal welding if the material is suitable. Any adhesive that is brittle, think cyanoacrylate (super glue) or most epoxy's are likely to fail on a rigid substrate. If you could arrange a lapped join, perhaps with a backer or sleeve over the join, Silicone RTV can be pretty amazing. Having a little flexibility in the bond coupled with a tenacious hold to the non-porous surface really works well.
 
JB Weld has worked miracles for me.  I prefer the type that takes 12 hours to cure.

 

I'm not clear on the hose piece that's broken.  If nothing needs to slide over or into it, then you're golden and won't need to file down the glue after it sets.  OTOH, if you do, it might be a tedious process if you have to do it on the inside of the glued piece.
 
Depends...

If the two parts have a good contact surface and the plastic is "soft" (like polypropylene) one solution is:
- use sandpaper (grit 80 - 100) to make the two surfaces rough and "hairy"
- spread a thin layer of very fluid cyanoacrilyc glue to both surfaces and let dry (the roughness and "hair" will produce a broad surface for the glue to stick)
- glue together the two parts with thick cyanoacrilyc glue (after the treatment, the two surfaces will not match precisely and you will need thick glue to fill the gaps)

If instead you want to keep it simple, use a polyolefine primer: the one in the link works fine, but here in Europe there are several types hence I suppose you can find the same in the USA

 
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The part that broke is the hard plastic end that goes into the various attachments to clean spots or upholstery, gets a lot of pressure as I was trying to get a spot almost dry and pressed deep into the carpet. 

 

It's a very odd piece.  It's a section that appears to be inserted into the main body of the hose coupling.  It has two prongs that go into the body, these are polished and obviously not bonded together, and a "D" shaped piece that was inserted and bonded to the main hose end.  The break is straight and clean  but the broken surface is a little rough, if that helps any.

 

Here is a pic I grabbed from a website that might help.

mattl-2019020700272003310_1.png
 
At $25 + free shipping + 10% off at Bissell.com I don't really think it's worth trying to fix the broken hose.

Remember that is a tension zone and it's very difficult for any "glue" to stand for too long.

If you already have the adhesives, it may be worth trying and maybe stretch the hose's life, but if you're going to spend money buying adhesives, it's better to buy the replacement hose.

 
I work for a plastics company.

Quite often the best way to repair something is to use the correct solvent to melt the edges and then quickly join them. Then let the part rest, preferably 24 hours, for the bond to cure.

What solvent? That would depend on the plastic. I suggest taking the broken pieces to a place like Tap Plastics and asking them to determine what kind of plastic it is, and what solvent to use.
 
At $25 + free shipping + 10% off at Bissell.com....

Ah, but that's the rub.  My hose is not detachable, it costs $40+ and from reports I've  read it's a bear to replace since the whole machine needs to be disassembled. I've seen people post it took an hour to replace and you have to remove the right wheel to thread the supply line from the pump.  All doable, just not sure it's worth it. 

 

It would be great if Bissell sold just the end piece as it's obvious it is a separate item, but no.  In exploring several images I see now the Bissell now attaches it with a screw.  I may look at that option along with glue.
 
So maybe it's time to replace the whole thing...

I have the revolution pet pro and ...WOW... it's really better and much more powerful than ANY commercial stuff.

Last use was saturday night, when a rider did what's expected from drunk rideshare riders in a saturday night.

Huge mess REALLY cleaned up in less than 3 minutes + cleaning fee coming straight to my bank account. SWEET!
 
Thanks- Might just do that!

 

After all the discussion here I took a closer look at the handle.  It does come apart, there are a couple of screws that hold the trigger assembly in place.  I''' have to pull that apart and see how the rest of the assembly is constructed.  Using a donor hose might be a better solution than glue.

 

That brings up the bigger question about plastics, they are ubiquitous today, and due to the seemingly hundreds of different formulations it is really hard to identify the best way to repair an item.  If something is more than a year or two old the part will be NLA, there by rendering it tossable when  a simple repair might give the item many more years of use.  Frustrating.
 
A Hot Glue Gun

can be a great help in repairing many broken plastic items, especially it the two pieces that need to be stuck together are difficult to hold together while any other type of glue “sets” and makes a bond. Hot glue sets almost immediately. I finally bought one at Christmas time this year and it came in very handy repairing some of our Christmas ornaments.

Eddie
 
If you're trying to bond plastic parts made from ABS, look for tetra hydro furan, or THF. It's also used on PVC. TAP plastics should carry it. It's kind of nasty so you want a lot of ventilation when you're using it. It's highly flammable, and you do not want to let quantities of it evaporate by themselves to dryness, as that can form explosive peroxides. So keep containers tightly sealed and only use small amounts at a time. The good news is that it's not thought to be carcinogenic, but it readily penetrates skin and can cause dehydration of tissues. It also dissolves latex so use nitrile or neoprene gloves.
 

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