Using Super Glue and Baking Soda to Repair a Plastic Switch Plunger 

During the first week of our COVID19 Lockdown here in South Africa I accidentally broke the metal hinge on my spectacles. Since need these to read and all optometrists were closed for who knew how long I decided to use the method to build up a nodule welding the ear piece to the lense frame. I could obviously not fold the ear piece closed like this but it got me through to when optometrists reopened. It held strong for about 4 months! The frame was black so I used a permanent black marker to colour the repair black and hardly anyone noticed the repair. I also used the method tho repair and build up our ice maker container in our fridge/freezer which has held up for over a year now at sub zero temperatures. Amazing stuff!!!

For more strength, use .6 ounce fiberglass cloth instead of powder. The CA will wick through the fiberglass cloth and bond over a large area and the .6 ounce fiberglass cloth is extremely thin.

You can also use fine dust of charcoal for black filling and cocoa powder for brown filling. This can also be done to color epoxies on wood and bakelite repairs.

I've used this on quite a few different things with varying levels of success... Baking soda and talcum powder can both work decently well but using thin or extra-thin super glue helps a ton (don't even bother with gel, extra control, etc)! Also, for this particular project, I would've just used a small soldering iron to press a hot piece of metal parallel with the arm (perpendicular to the break)! For something small like this I typically use a staple (already bent, as if you just pulled it out of a piece of paper)!

For years, I had used a product called Insta-Plastik, which is a powdered solid-bonder, which re-creates plastic, when mixed with super glue. Same idea. When that became unavailable, I found Q-Bond - a more advanced form that has 2 powders, 1 w/ pulverized metal (super strong bond). Work on office equipment, which involves lots of plastic that is fracturing and breaking constantly. The 2 part bonders (acrylic adhesive & accelerator) also create a strong bond. The plastic that doesn't repair with these methods is the heat-resistant plastic.

I used this method on a lawn mower plastic intake manifold that had completely broken off ,that has to withstand heat, presure and vibration and so far after 3 years of use is still holding.

Since watching this video I have been using this trick everywhere, fixing things that I wouldn't have been able to fix an easy way. Not only that but it's more a solid fix that just glue by itself. Thank you!

Colloidal silica, also known as Cabosil, is used in boat building and is a great thickener for CA Glue because it can be mixed in without hardening immediately. It creates a better structural bond than baking soda.

Go go Gadget glue globs! Love this..it's a must try. Never heard of it before.

Good demonstration. Can't be mixed, the exothermic reaction is fast. When possible place tape under to contain the superglue, then put on the baking soda. Dumping out the uncured baking soda is needed to prevent dry pockets. I've used gel superglue as my first layer when I couldn't get a good seal with tape.

I just plugged 2 quarter inch holes in a tin with bronze coating flower pot .Imediately checked for leaks ...No leaks . Success !!

That is terrific I wish I would have known this years ago... I will definitely be using this method in the near future

I use super glue and paper towel and it works awesome. Good job on the build up for extra strength.

Great tip, thanks for sharing

I have used baking soda and CA glue with good results. With plastics, I did use coarse sand paper to provide more adhesion surface which did work.

Thanks for making this video. Your push button repair seems to have bonded well. My suggestion is that when using baking soda, calcium oxide, nano-particles of carbon, or baby powder as a filler, it seems that you might get even better results if you would contain the area to be filled with tape, as you did, but then you would put the filler powder in the area first, and next add the drops of CA glue; in other words, when you are using thin CA glue, you seem to be "putting the cart before the horse" and letting the glue run everywhere before you add the powder. Try it the other way and see if you get better results; on deep joints, try layering the powder, adding a single drop or 2 of glue, then a layer of powder, etc., because the various powders (except the baby powder) tend to cause the CA glue to set hard upon contact. As a final measure, lightly spray the repaired area with CA accelerator to cause any remaining liquid CA glue trapped in the matrix to quickly set, and, if you used baby powder, to cause the paste created by mixing CA glue with baby powder to set. See this link for the baby powder/CA glue approach - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-NA2XJ7PTT3M.html P.S. I know that baby powder used to be made with talcum powder, and now is primarily made with corn starch and/or other ingredients. Please refer to the linked video to determine the exact ingredients that they used to make the paste that doesn't set instantly, but only when sprayed with the CA accelerator, if I correctly understood what these guys were doing.

Awesome.. between a couple of different videos on separate channels i am going to repair some glasses and possible place a tooth that popped out of the plate on my dentures. :) may use baking powder to give me a little more time. very nicely made. thank you ~dor

I use it all the time, have always had amazing results, even where the CA alone wont bond, the baking soda is magic!

I fix vintage electronics of all sorts. Often times, internals are broken because plastic became brittle. Broken off screw posts, cracked gears and levers, broken knob skirts. This fixes EVERYTHING. I bought a little barber shop powder applicator thingie with the bulb jar and a nozzle and it works wonderfully. At first I thought it did not disperse enough baking soda, but had no issues so far. It also help in hard to detach and vertical spaces, but make sure to cover everything, because it just shoots soda. Though it’s not that hard to 3D print a Nozzle for it.

Great !Thanks! I repaired a fuse box cover on my 1990 Chevy truck like you did. Its a little fatter wider tab and broken right at the base. So it was still barely attached. I just built a little clay dam around it and started adding baking soda first then the super glue alternating like you did. Built it up to the level of the dam ,(about 2mm), and its awesome. Guys with trucks etc of this vintage have to deal with a lot of brittle 30+ yr old plastic parts and this looks to be a game changer!❗thanks again❗👍🇺🇸

Good idea 👍

Thanks a lot for sharing your tricks

SG and baking soda are great for plastics, similar elements. For I've used wood fillers, MinWax poly filler is the best for both int and ext applications, and a group wood repair compounds sold. They're expensive. Used them at home and on the job. Super glue mixed w fine dust dries hard but it's great for"dutching". It's all good. Owning a good DeWalt sander would help, too w an assortment of diff grades of sandpapers! 👍

Fantastic idea given

I had a pair of boots that needed repair, I only had a small bottle of superglue and a pair of nitrile work gloves. I thought the nitrile was similar enough to the rubber on my toe, so I applied a small strip I cut from my gloves. There was a chemical reaction that actually made it heat up and start smoking, and the bond from that was stronger than the original rubber that fell off. I don't understand exactly what happened but it is worth mentioning that nitrile bonds well with superglue in my experience

That's really cool method, not seen this before and have a couple of non-safety relatrd jobs where I think this may work. Thanks for sharing 👍👍👍

Great lesson! I will use this soon. Thanks and have a nice day !

very kind of you that you have posted this. thanks a heap.

I once accidentally made a knife cut of 3/4" on my hand and after cleaning it and waited few minutes to stop bleeding, i quickly covered it with crazy glue and added very little amounts of baking soda to dry it out, i added the baking soda very slowly to avoid that dangerous high temperature of the reaction. That patch lasted attached to skin the enough time to heal, many days.%

Awesome definitely a thumbs up and save to my library

good repair. thank you.

That is so wild!!! I wonder how anyone thought of this to begin with because I've seen people do it before. But it amazes me every time I see it. I am so wowed with the minds and creativity that God gave these people that come up with these things.

And old salt shaker works pretty well for the baking soda...

Cable ties, cut into various lengths, and super glue make great repairs for motorcycle plastic cracks, etc. I use them on my bike, and it's very strong.

Nice explanation and test. Be sure to use the liquid type of glue and not the gel type! I fixed some plastic tubes here in the kitchen a couple of years ago. Still going strong.

Awesome! I hate when tiny things break bc it’s so hard to glue them!

Nice I have been using it to repair broken laptop hinges for some time and it works great

Great... Thanks for sharing👍

In my fiero, I had two broken plastic straps/bars that the shifter console screws into. There are two holes (one towards the front and one towards the rear) in each strap/bar which are part of the center console plastic frame. Each broke right at the screw holes and even broke into smaller pieces at each point leaving big gaps in the plastic (impossible to glue). I taped off areas to create pockets to fill the gaps and to make reinforcing spans on each side of the four repair points. I coat the plastic edges first with THIN superglue (not Gel) and sprinkle in some baking soda to get a good base at each end of the gaps, then I add a few thin layers of baking soda/superglue into the tape forms until the repair is built up. The mix will get very hot for a few seconds and may start to smoke slightly. DO NOT GET A WIFF OF THE ODORS AS I BELEIVE THEY HAVE TRACES OF DEADLY CYANIDE. Use safety goggles, N95 Mask, Nitrile Gloves, Ear Protection when grinding, and a good Exhaust Fan venting outside away from people and animals. The whole repair area will be hidden so I just trimmed/smoothed up the repair with a Dremmel Tool, drilled new holes for the screws, (yes this stuff is gridable and drillable) and painted the patch areas with a little flat black enamel paint. The screws are very tight because the patches are very hard but a bit giving on the surface too... and since they are sheet metals screws into plastic, I don't have a tap for them. I lightly coated a screw with Acetone and screwed it in until it started to bind, then worked it slowly looser and tighter working my way until each screw can be fully seated. It is very strong, the plastic flexes but the patches don't much, they are rock hard. I have been using this technique building Radio Controlled model airplanes to make Balsa wood as strong as thick plastic. It holds up well to heat, cold, humidity, vibration, and atmospheric pressure. It has nearly the same thermal rate of expansion as most automotive plastic so it will hold up to wide changes in the environment. But don't put too much force or it may break the plastic before the patches break, but that is what causes these straps to break in the first place - leaning on the shifter console as you reach over to pick up something off the floor in the passenger seat - I wait and stop the car to do that from now on. This plastic is 35 years old so it needs TLC and respect.

Take a bleach container and cut strips 1/8 to 1/4 wide & hot glue them on the board or plastic make mini forms to contain the build up filler.

Great! Well explained. Thank you.

plasticweld with a 25w solderiron might be better and you can fininsh with JB Weld. plastic tie wraps are a good filler when doing plastic welds.

Thanks for this

Wow! Thank you! Very handy tip!

Excellent plastic repair. I just used this method to repair my phone case. The piece that props the phone up while watching videos broke. It was a very delicate repair. It was broke at 2 ends each only 1/8" wide. I'll see how long this repair hols up.

I once more or less permanantly repaired a cracked sink drain pipe using clear silicon caulking, and first aid cotton roll gause. it formed a pretty strong patch for the crack, and the tight binding kept the crack from spreading. I had NONE of the tools I needed to do the job "properly" and just improvised, the pipe lasted another seven years.

I’ve always had very poor results gluing plastics. So many different types, that one glue can’t fix all. Best results I’ve obtained is with a soldering iron and similar plastic for filler.

Awesome job thank you so much

When applying the baking soda, use fingers to pinch and sprinkle soda on the glue area just like seasoning a dish with salt. This is much easier to control.

Some plastics will not adhere properly to CA glues. When used with baking soda the bond area is hard but will snap off easily. For plastics it's best to your a Surface Activator or "primer", which is typically a felt tipped pen supplied with specialised plastic glue packages from Loctite etc. The primer chemically alters the plastic to make the CA really grab hold.

This is the best repair idea I have used. It does however get hot. I had a big repair on a camping tent and just used lots of glue and baking soda and I could not even touch it after it was hard since it was so hot.

Interesting! Never heard of this before but will keep it in mind.👍

Nice fix

It's working for REAL TY so much.

Look for "Adam Savage's Favorite Tools", he speaks about CA and baking soda. Even if you don't like the man, his volume of knowledge is incredible.

Detta ska eg fiksa tænnan mine med! Tusen takk!

i used it on my laptop key (the ENTER key) which was broken into half. at first it didn't work. the second time i put mesh tape first then a thin layer of baking soda, then the CA glue, then thin layer of bs again then ca glue again. the key is still in one piece for about a month now. reminder: it sets instantly.

Mix super glue with saw dust to repair knots in wood. It cures to the same color as a regular knot.

Well done exellent informative video.👍🏼

Good info.. tq

Thank you 😊

It seems that different brands of super glue have different reaction speed with baking soda. Based on multiple videos, it seems that the Loctite brand has the fastest reaction in case you have to glue something where holding the parts stable is hard.

Looks reasonable. I would try today

I built up a worn down plastic heel with this method the boots are still in use 3 years later the shoe repairer said they were a write off

Used this method to fix a chip plate which was part of a 62 pc set, came out great.

Thanks for sharing

Excellent

i use this all the time is very nice

Cool trick. Not as amazing as using a cotton ball and super glue to fill a hole in particle board *_and then_*_ tap it out trip accept a bolt!_ but still useful. I got a CA glue kit from the HW store that includes 2 powders. One powder for improving plastic adhesion; the other for metal. I should compare that stuff with baking soda.

You can add fiberglass patch...I am pretty sure this is how acrylic nails are made and I had a broken fingernail fixed at a nail salon. The fiberglass tape/fabric was thinner than auto repair cloth, which I have successfully used to make a 10 year and holding repair to a hole in cast iron drain pipe. I also used JB weld to fill the hole first.and I used quick cure super glue and painted it all with that epoxy resin for car repairs.

thanks for sharing this!

So great

Nice video. Thanks. Have you tried the UV setting glue? It would probably have also done the same job.

Oh nice job. I thought of a plastic bumper air dam has a deep gouge would fill nicely...

Brilliant!

Nice video

Tyvm...great share!

This is also used for broken radio controlled cars. Works great

Awesome👍

I just wish manufacturers would care a bit more about quality than cheapness, and make sturdier fridge-drawer handles!

forwood you can mix baking soda with cinnamon to get the right color cinnamon works just as good as baking soda

I've used this method on many different things and it works well every time. I've also found epoxy to work just as well.

This works good for repairs

I would always allow a day (24 hours) before sanding or filing as super glue requires time to fully cure. Maximum strength needs time to build. Barry

put powder down first

If gluing wood to wood superglue and baking soda work wonders. It will even work if the wood has oil on it. I used this method 20 yrs ago to glue the fire walls back on my radio contorted planes. After they hit too hard on landings. The fire walls end up oily from the engine and really no way to clean it out of balsa wood. Never had one fail with this mend. Make a fillet with the baking soda, then drip with the CA, to make sure all the glue reacts then hit with accelerator. Make sure you work in a well ventilated area, the fumes that come off are nasty. It also creates a lot of heat in the reaction.

Can that type of mixture ( baking soda n CA) stand under high heat? Tq

Thank you

Using painters tape as a way to create a containment mold around whatever you want to repair or in whatever shape you want to cast is a bit easier to deal with and remove than plastic tapes. Also, I would actually consider the piece that you repaired as a structural piece, since it provides functionality upon assembly.

Why doesn't anyone mention that there are 2 types of Superglue, thin and thick. I you use the thick type, which is what I just did, it won't work. The Superglue just beads up and makes a complete mess. You have to use the thin Superglue which soaks right into the baking soda. The thick type just beads up on top of the baking soda.

I use ca glue when sanding and glueing up at work on certain damage that comes in or occurs during handling of the muf we use. Works well but one tip use a flat block of mdf with sand paper glued on to get the surface back to flat as a disc sanding machine tends to ride over the glued area because its harder than the muf board🍻🍻

Iv had a lot of luck putting a single sheet of tissue between parts that are super glued. With the switch I would probably wrap in tissue and drop super glue on it

It's worth mentioning that the plume coming off the mixture is not dust but smoke. That stuff gets extremely hot and will put a hurtin on you if you get it on you.

Sand the board fill hole with sawdust matches the board 😀

Since you had the majority of the plastic you wanted to rejoin, you might have gotten better results with Polystyrene cement.

soda is nice, also cotton fibres and thread tied tight works strong

I've used it to fix a cracked plastic gas can 6 months ago. Still going strong! No leaks yet!

No this is a cool video!!

From the first time I saw this trick.... I've used it many times

I swear...baking soda has 1000+ uses.