That’s my personal PC, so I don’t care about looks, I mostly want a strong connection to the whole notebook’s bottom casing so I won’t break it by touching that part of it while taking it up by it.
I have superglue, hot glue, metal sheets, can purchase screws and such, am not limited of basic supplies, but I have no idea how a pro would go about it.
Deeper description: it’s occured to the bottom part of a notebook holding most hardware. The corner itself is empty so no hardware there. It broke off in one piece, but have itself two still intact details - one is a part of a flat surface that you put your hands on while working, the second is a bit rounded reaching the bottom.
I came to think I want to fix it with some sheet where it is flat, and then glue it to it’s curvy bottom.
Depending on the type of platic you could try to chemically melt it. If its ABS (chances are good for a notebook case) you can put a little bit of acetone on one cracked surface and press them together. The Acetone will dissolve a bit of the plastic and harden again when it evaporates. Just be a bit carefull it will also soften the plastic in the vicinity so you might leave fingerprints in the plastic if not carefull.
If it’s not ABS you can check what solvents would be possible to use for the other plastic and if you can get then.
Or use superglue
That’s probabpy what I would do :D
What’s the better way to apply acetone? Something like a brush or a stick with a cotton head?
Yeah that works
Or if you can get a pasteur pipette that also works great
First test the acetone on the inside surface of the broke piece to see if it even melts the plastic. You can also buy model glue at a hobby store but you will pay a premium for a small amount, but they have built in applicator brushes.
Yeah, that’s not very typical. I’d like to make that point.
Well, how was it un-typical?
Well, there are a lot of these computers going around the world all the time, and very seldom does anything like this happen. I just don’t want people thinking that PCs aren’t safe.
Have you tried uploading a picture?
This is pointless without telling us the model and posting a picture.
I would suggest plastic welding with a variable temp soldering iron and a 3D printing pen if the plastic is ABS. Then sanding the joints smooth. Acetone or glues are a waste of time because the thin binding surface cannot provide any strength.
Hot glue is for pasta arts and crafts and Teslas.
Epoxy/ fiberglass? It’d be very messy unless you know what you’re doing though. My dad would also swear by araldyte or something similar. But I wouldn’t recommend lifting your notebook by the corner after the fix.
I’ve never found a perfect solution for plastic, mostly because it depends on the type of plastic I think.
For the hard plastic of a notebook case, and a join that’s probably gonna be under some stress, I’d try epoxy. Consider sanding it a bit so it grips the plastic better, and clamp it down to apply pressure as it cures.
I make zero guarantees about this approach, like I’ve said, never had a good time with plastic.
Goop adhesive.
Very strong, remains flexible to tolerate loads. Easy to apply.
Best thing about Goop - if you don’t like how it works for a given problem, you can remove it! (It can be peeled off, though it’s adheres very strongly.
I’d slather a bunch on the broken piece (enough so some will ooze inside the laptop and outside too), then push it in place and quickly rub off any that oozed out. Don’t worry though, if you miss some on the outside, it can be rubbed off later after it cures - just don’t pull on it as that will pull it out of the joint. Rub across the break - this will remove the excess without pulling it out.
That’s where I’d start, and see how long the fix lasts. If it eventually did fail, then I’d use an epoxy like JB Weld/PC7. With JB Weld you want to have a solvent on hand to clean off any that oozes out onto the case (rubbing alcohol or Goo Gone, neither will dissolve the plastic).
I’ve sometimes used 2 adhesives like JB Weld and a couple spots of crazy glue. This would keep a piece in place with the crazy glue whole the JB Weld has time to cure.
I suspect you’d have success with one of these adhesives.
