Repair of plastic Britains toys

Not exactly model engineering, but Grandfatherly duties demand repairs on my grandson's Britains agricultural toys. (made in China !) Can anyone recommend a suitable glue which will bond satisfactorily with these types of plastic ? Rory will be eternally grateful for an answer for his Grandad !! Where can I buy such a glue ?

Mike

Depending on the job a glue gun may save you

Very handy things, glue guns

Not sure if this is the same thing - seems like quite a few spare parts are available at prices which don't seem completely silly. Might be easier than trying to glue plastics...

**LINK**

Sounds like a job for 3D printing ?

Mike, most of these types of toy are made from polypropylene type plastics which are good for normal wear and tear but at almost impossible to glue, even super glue will not hold. As far as I am aware the only effective means of joining is by heat welding. This is not a job for the faint hearted and you will need at least five pairs of hands. Why is it Grandad's always get the impossible jobs whilst Nanny gets the jobs that just need a needle and thread? I am sure that someone out there will have an answer, I for one would be interested as I have a 3yr old granddaughter who is a one woman demolition expert.

Having done a bit of research I have found that Loctite have a product called Plastix plus which they claim will allow 'super glue' to bond any Plastic. Worth a try for around a fiver and mega brownie points. Please let us know how you get on if you do decide to venture into the unknown.

I've welded or fused together plastic toys using a soldering iron. I worked from the back so as not to mark the front, if you can get a piece of similar plastic to fuse a patch and make a gooey poodle mess. Never had any real success with adhesives or hot glue guns. John

Thanks for all the hints and tips. Loctite Plastix sounds like it's worth a punt as the broken bit in question is very small. I quite like being the 'toys repair man', lots of brownie points as Dusty says.

Next step "bicycle repair man " !!

Mike

I would have thought that most toys like that would be ABS rather than polypropylene so no problem for superglue. You can also make an ABS glue by dissolving bits of ABS in acetone.

Russell.

As I recall the Britains farm animals are in a soft, bendy and slippery plastic.

Airfix still use the same awful plastic for their sets of soldier figures which makes them almost unpaintable. I used to curse them for not using polystyrene when I was a teenager.

Neil

+1 for that. I also tested plastics with real Cellulose Thinner (not the modern stuff with Xylene in it) or Cellulose Dope to use as a 'Dissolve Adhesive', but I suspect the modern plastic constituents are quite 'Poly' complex to maybe void it's further use.

I have used plastic weld with some success on various repairs, usually bought from my local model shop.

I welded some plasticbits with a home made electric poker work tool/ hot end a lop of Ni Chrome wire, powered by a 6v transformer.

Ian S C

Update for Dusty. The Loctitie Plastics Glue seems to have bonded brass to the plastic in question, so thanks for the tip. Next problem is, what will stick to the zinc/ aluminium/ magnesium alloy that is also used in Britains toys ? Ordinary two part epoxy just doesn't stick and a lot of net research has come up blank, loads of complex adhesive information involving toxic chemicals but no really practical solutions, will the broken tractor have to be consigned to the scrap heap, ' my grandson's kingdom for the right glue' to paraphrase Richard III !!!

try some of that UV cure glue . sticks to most stuff even the flexble plastic so they say. itried some ngood for some stuff not for others

Plastic plumbing solvent cement works for quite a few plastics which are otherwise problematic to glue.

It's colourless so to see if it will work for your application blob some on an unseen area, leave it a few minutes and wipe it off with a clean white rag, if some of the colour comes with it then it's beginning to dissolve the plastic and should provide a good permanent bond,

- Nick

Right now I'm printing a doll's house table in PLA as an essential part of my 3D printer road test for MEW...

Neil

Nothing to do with the time of year then?

Hi All. An update on repairing Britains models. The broken part in question was in fact made of die cast metal, zinc/aluminium/ magnesium/ copper mixtures known as Zanak or Mazak, very difficult to stick anything to. My solution after much internet reasearch and asking around was to file close fitting faces, degrease with Loctite 7063 degreaser, abrade gently, re-degrease and then use Hafix Glue. Google Loctite 7063, the cheapest is £9.99 inc. postage, and go to the Hafix website as the only suppliers. Araldite now have glue they claim will stick almost any plastic !

P.S. It's not Araldite for plastics, It's Loctite All Plastics, works very well.

Mike.