Weird Question...What glue can I use on my computer?

[pop1020]

I have a Asus portable...Which my beautiful daughter dropped and broke the corner off. It is the rear corner where the hinge is. There seems to be a metal “square spike or lug” that is fixed to the screen part and is now exposed. The plastic bottom corner of the computer where the lug fits and is secured by two screws is now missing. This means the computer cannot be closed without putting a massive strain on the other hinge.

I want to make another corner, out of hard plastic and then glue it in position.
But what glue to use? Would “super glue” work? Or maybe the glue one uses on rigid plumbing pipes...this glue actually dissolves a bit of the plastic to make a “weld”.
The computer works fine.

Any ideas most appreciated...thanks
Lionel

[MaDef]

Going by the pic you supplied, I don't think your idea will work very well, it looks like that part of the case is structural (takes the strain from opening and closing the screen, plus the weight of the screen when open). The plastic has been damaged along the break, and even if you cut it out and custom fit a new piece it will always be weak along the seam of your "patch". I also wouldn't use standard pvc glue, it's a different kind of plastic than the case, and the primer used for pvc may "melt" the hard plastic of the laptop. (a better option would be to use contact cement by 3M).

I don't know how expensive or old the laptop is, but you might want to check around for a "replacement" skin/case and see how expensive it would be to just replace the whole bottom of the laptop case. If that is too expensive and you want to try fixing it yourself. look at using some flat metal strips to attach to the existing inside of the case (bridging the hole) to attach that hing to (this should take the strain and distribute it to other parts of the case), Then your plastic "patch" becomes cosmetic rather than structural. (don't attempt this unless you have decent problem solving skills and are mechanically adept).

[JoJo Gunn]

I worked for a plumber back in my younger days (last century) so have first hand experience with plumbers glue. It's wonderful stuff for what it's intended, and it does enough "damage" even without primer. It joins pipes together quite literally by welding, by softening of plastic, and it softens a lot of it's adjoining area, so miniscule dots of super glue might be much better, if it can be fixed at all, which is hard to tell from the picture, but I guarantee the plumbers glue is overkill.

(The Oatey red can is what we mostly used back in the day, late '70's, and they still make it).

http://www.oatey.com/products/plasti...purpose-cement

[Digerati]

You can get epoxy putty which comes in two parts (like all epoxies), commonly called resin and hardener. Once equal parts are mixed, chemical reactions occur to turn the putty into rock hard resin, creating permanent bonds, which can then be sanded, drilled, etc.

But do note there are flexible and non-flexible varieties. You want the non-flexible stuff.

[pop1020]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

I think the epoxy putty is the way to go. However I would still like to use the screws to hold the "lug".

If I partly screw the screws in the lug (hand tight) then coat the remaining exposed thread in grease (???) this should stop the epoxy from sticking to it. Then i can remove them...shape the epoxy and reinsert the screws afterwards.

Anything other than grease I could use...any ideas???

Lionel

[Digerati]

I don't know if I would use grease as the petroleum by-products in the grease may react with one of the epoxy components before the epoxy fully cures. Once fully cured, I think the epoxy would be pretty impervious.

However, that is total guess-work on my part.

Applying the epoxy (rebuilding the case) in stages over a couple days (to allow each epoxy stage to fully cure before the next stage goes on top) may allow you to avoid using grease.

If you feel grease is necessary, I would use something like petroleum jelly (Vaseline), or maybe basic silicone grease and certainly, in as thin as layer as possible.