I need some good (great) glue for plastic

[Tim Morton]

I had a threaded coupler break over the winter on my hot tub. Long story short it is the plastic threaded coupler that looks like it would be a pain to replace because it is part of a metal heat exchanger that has a flared end. Even replacing the heat exchanger looks rough because it is tied to the electrical panel. So......if I could glue the broken coupler back together again, and be able to screw the connection together I could then figure out away to support the coupler and hopefully make it a permanent fix. I figure I have about a 5% chance of pulling this off...but if I have to put any more money into this money pit I am going to drag the thing to the dump.;)

So I need a GREAT plastic cement...or another solution.

Thanks!!!

Its kind of like the picture here and it is completely separated into 2 pierces at the red dotted line.
http://i27.tinypic.com/212eq28.jpg

[Jim Becker]

Tim, you need a solvent type "glue" for the type of plastic that the coupler is made from. The idea is to melt the pieces together...that's pretty much how any plastic glue works.

[Tim Morton]

thanks for moving this Jim,

Yes, I have ruled out Gorilla glue....and am looking at jbweld. I assume the coupler is PVC. It needs to have enough strength to be able to compress the gasket, and then I can use a mechanical fastener to hold it all together.

[Randal Stevenson]

I don't know what type of plastic that is, but when I was SOOOO much younger and building models, there was a plastic glue that would melt the two parts of plastic together chemically, at the hobby stores.
Might be worth a trip to a model shop to find some.

[Joe Pelonio]

If it's pvc then regular PVC cement should weld it back togther.

[Joe Chritz]

Dab a bit of PVC cement on the surface somewhere and see if it "melts". If it does you can use regular PVC cement like Joe mentioned. You may have to hold it for a minute or so but it will work.

Assuming good contact that will be as permanent as the original.

If not, epoxy it well, and coat the outside. JBWeld is rock hard and if it sticks will stay well. There is still an old Ford van driving around with a metal cooling system pipe with JBWeld just covering a hole that rusted in it.

Hey it was late, the auto parts stores were closed and I had to leave at 0400 to go steelheading. Improvise adapt and overcome.

Joe

[Tim Morton]

They now make a 2 part fitting that replaces these broken parts.:D Seems i'm not the first one to break one.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Unless it's PVC:

All ethylene type plastics give off an oily substance that covers the surfaces almost instantly. They are not readily glue-able.

I've used Electron Beam rastering guns , hydrogen and propane gas flames to cleanse the oils off before applying adhesives with limited success.

You can "weld" ethylene type plastics using heated air and additional identical plastic like a welding rod. I've also done this using a tiny little tip on an acetylene torch holding the flame away and just heating the plastic enough to melt the plastic and add the weld rod. It was tricky not to burn the plastic.