Any repair tips for gun plastic

[rdagger]

I picked up a pair of Operation Thunderbolt positional guns.  One of them has a smashed grip (see the pic).  Anyone have any repair suggestions?

[DYNAGOD]

(assuming you still have the pieces)
super glue, and other acetates leave an undesirable frost on plastics. especially black plastic..

[Kremmit]

JB Weld has a product called JB Stik- it's an epoxy putty, you mash it up and mold it into shape.  It dries pretty darn hard, probably harder than the gun's original plastic.  The trick will be getting it to stick.. I wouldn't try to mold it into a thin piece like the existing shell, but just mash a bunch of it inside, so it contacts more surfaces.  Then, sand down the outside after it's dry.  Oh, and mabye melt some wax or something over parts you DON'T want it to stick to, so you can dissasemble it afterward.

Good luck!

[rdagger]

(assuming you still have the pieces)
cyrano-acetate (super glue) leaves an undesirable frost on plastics. especially black plastic..

No the "good condition" gun arrived smashed without the broken plastic pieces.

[DYNAGOD]

jb weld may actually react with the plastic and cause it to melt..
the activator is  pretty caustic ..(if its the stuff im thinking of ,if im wrong i appologize)
id do a sample piece first..

[DYNAGOD]

JB Weld has a product called JB Stik- it's an epoxy putty, you mash it up and mold it into shape.  It dries pretty darn hard, probably harder than the gun's original plastic.  The trick will be getting it to stick.. I wouldn't try to mold it into a thin piece like the existing shell, but just mash a bunch of it inside, so it contacts more surfaces.  Then, sand down the outside after it's dry.  Oh, and mabye melt some wax or something over parts you DON'T want it to stick to, so you can dissasemble it afterward.

Good luck!

i was wrong, not the stuff. i was thinking of this stuff we use in the machine shop to dimension impossible to check inside dimensions.
its like a bondo of sorts but it holds its shape to within a .001" or 2 .
but the activator/hardner for the stuff will clear out a room,kill a million brain cells and proboly melt through a plastic table..

[rdagger]

I thought I might try casting the grip using a  product like Alumilite.  Does anyone have any experience casting and know if this would be strong enough?

[DYNAGOD]

I thought I might try casting the grip using a  product like Alumilite.  Does anyone have any experience casting and know if this would be strong enough?

you could proboly make a nice mold, but as rdagger stated, you may have issue getting it to bond..
dissimilar materials dont like to bond at a molecular level.

[Kremmit]

My understanding is that alumalite's not really strong enough for this type of project.  Otherwise, everybody'd be making all kinds of parts out of it.  It's ok for solid stuff, but thin parts like those gun shells wouldn't hold up.  Same for the JB Stik for that matter.  Those shells are just too thin to be done with anything less than injection molding of the type done by Tom of Specialty Plastics fame.  I think a big gob of stuff smacked into the hole and sanded down is gonna be your only shot, whether you use Alumalite or JB Stik or some other stuff. 

[rdagger]

I guess I could fill the hole with Bondo and sand it down.  Then I could dip the grips in some black flexible plastic dip coating (Dip & Grip).

[Kremmit]

Doesn't Bondo dry kinda powdery?  That may be even tougher to keep in place if you ever disassemble them, which I'm guessing you'd want to do before you dipped 'em.

BTW, what is the dip stuff called?  It sounds like handy stuff! 

[rdagger]

BTW, what is the dip stuff called?

[sac01]

get some bondo-glass (it's bondo with tiny strands of fiberglass in it) fill the entire hole with it, and leave extra outside of the casing, then just sand down the whole mess to to original shape.  It's super strong, and it won't crack.  I've used it to fill holes in marine applications, and if it holds up to that beating, it will hold up for what you want.


sac

[DYNAGOD]

BTW, what is the dip stuff called?  It sounds like handy stuff! 

Dip & Grip or Plasti Dip.

i use it at work to coat tooling when its not in use, it has absolutely no adhesive properties,its soft as supple rubber, and its more like a sleeve than a coating..

[paigeoliver]

Bondo and then spray on truck bedliner!

Anyone ever considered getting an entire cab coated with spray on bedliner? Instant Duramold!!

[sac01]

... that's just crazy enough....

Hmmm I have considered getting Phil Collins sprayed with bedliner 


sac

[DYNAGOD]

Bondo and then spray on truck bedliner!
Anyone ever considered getting an entire cab coated with spray on bedliner? Instant Duramold!!

hey, if theres ever a flood your cabinet can double as an emergency flotation device