Gluing plastic to plastic

[Muse]

Have a problem with my Etymotics Research ER4P earbuds. Expensive. One of the drivers separated from it's housing (maybe I stepped on it, I don't remember). It's a male/female type fitting, the female goes to the cord, the male, opposite the side where it fits into the female has the tiny driver which is covered with a plastic thing that fits in your ear. Both the parts that fit together (male/female) are black plastic, not glossy but kind of flat in appearance. I can shove the male part into the female and the two electrical contacts will make a connection if I have the barrel in the right position, and I can feel that and see how to insert (generally). But something keeps happening to separate them, it doesn't take much. It is a hassle to keep having to put them together, which has happened 1/2 dozen times. I could easily lose the male part!

If I call Etymotics Research I'm pretty sure they will want me to send the earbuds to them and they will have a hefty bill, maybe $125, maybe more.

I'm thinking glue the male/female pieces together. But what kind of glue to use? Super glue of some kind (cyanoacrylate), a specialized Cyanoacrylate? A cyanoacrylate with a specialized primer? A specialized plastic glue? Some kind of epoxy? What do you think?

 

[Thebobo]

CA (cyanoacrylate) should would work fine. You could also use epoxy. Also pictures!

BTW misted water works great as an accelerant for CA if you don't have $$ CA accelerant.

 

[Muse]

CA (cyanoacrylate) should would work fine. You could also use epoxy. Also pictures!

BTW misted water works great as an accelerant for CA if you don't have $$ CA accelerant.

I'll try to take pictures, it's really small, maybe one of my camera's are up to it, or I could edit.

I think I have some accelerant in the refrigerator, along with whatever I have in the way of cyanoacrylate. I haven't used any of that stuff for a number of years, maybe over 10 years. I use epoxy pretty frequently, and even more frequently I use contact cement. I LOVE contact cement for a lot of uses, but obviously this wouldn't work with that because it needs to evaporate to set up. I use Goop once in a while, which also needs to evaporate.

 

[DietDrThunder]

JB Weld is an inexpensive two part epoxy that you can get from your local auto parts store. But only use it where you can't see it. I've got some that has been in my garage for 15 years and it still hasn't gone bad.

 

[herm0016]

E6000 would be a good choice too i think.

 

[dullard]

I would go for any of the many water-proof (earbuds tend to get wet in many uses) two-part epoxy options. Pick one that lists the plastic that you are interested in gluing. If possible, the best alternative would be with a solvent weld (put on a chemical that partially dissolves the plastic, push the plastics together, and as the solvent evaporates they weld themselves with chemical bonds), but I don't know which plastics you are using and not all plastics can be solvent welded.

 

[NAC4EV]

http://www.rhinoglue.com/uses

 

[Muse]

I would go for any of the many water-proof (earbuds tend to get wet in many uses) two-part epoxy options. Pick one that lists the plastic that you are interested in gluing. If possible, the best alternative would be with a solvent weld (put on a chemical that partially dissolves the plastic, push the plastics together, and as the solvent evaporates they weld themselves with chemical bonds), but I don't know which plastics you are using and not all plastics can be solvent welded.

I have no way of knowing what kind of plastic is employed here. I assume it's good stuff, these earbuds are well over $200 new.

Never heard of E6000 before. Looking it up online I get the impression that it isn't suitable because temperature and humidity is involved in drying time. Even the term "drying time" suggests that there are volatile components that need to evaporate from the glue for it to set up. So, I'm _guessing_ that in the tight confines of a male-->female juncture, it won't set up properly or maybe won't set up at all. That's why I like an epoxy idea, however I don't know if an epoxy will bond to the plastic. I could try roughing up the facing surfaces somehow, that would probably improve the chances that the epoxy will hang onto the plastic.

Cycanoacrylate? I've used it some, not much. Seems like tricky stuff sometimes. I don't know if it needs air to dry. What do you think?

I do have some epoxy, including a lot of an industrial strength item in some bulk that I used on my garage last September. It's System Three 1100K10 Amber T-88 Kit, 0.5 pint Bottle

Manufacturer's page

 

[Muse]

I'm now watching this ~11 minute video where they test a variety of epoxies that purportedly are good to use on plastic. This seems pretty great.

 

[Muse]

JB Weld is an inexpensive two part epoxy that you can get from your local auto parts store. But only use it where you can't see it. I've got some that has been in my garage for 15 years and it still hasn't gone bad.

I think I may go with JB Weld (original, not the one for plastic). It did pretty well in the video comparison of 5 different products. Seems to me that maybe all of them would work. I don't know that the tests he was doing are appropriate for determining best product for this application. Just hard to say. I did get one thing, though. I think I'm going to clean the surfaces with isopropyl alcohol before gluing. May also try roughing up the surfaces some, not a whole lot, as well. Have to be careful not to get glue where the electrical connections occur. The System Three stuff might be just fine, and I have a lot of it. Will have to buy some JB Weld, if I decide to go with that.

 

[DietDrThunder]

I think I may go with JB Weld (original, not the one for plastic). It did pretty well in the video comparison of 5 different products. Seems to me that maybe all of them would work. I don't know that the tests he was doing are appropriate for determining best product for this application. Just hard to say. I did get one thing, though. I think I'm going to clean the surfaces with isopropyl alcohol before gluing. Have to be careful not to get glue where the electrical connections occur.

To be honest, I didn't even know they had a JB Weld for plastic.

I use JB Weld on just about everything. I even used it to seal the lead plugs inside carburetors and cured it with a brazing torch.

 

[Muse]

To be honest, I didn't even know they had a JB Weld for plastic.

I use JB Weld on just about everything. I even used it to seal the lead plugs inside carburetors and cured it with a brazing torch.

Have never used it, but figure to get the "original" formula. I don't want something quick setting for this, anyway. Want to make sure the electrical contacts are OK and if not, will have to take apart, clean up and hope I can get the contacts clean enough. My tactic will be to not use very much, not enough to affect the contacts which are at the rear end of the connection. Too much in this case is asking for trouble. Better to have failure from coming apart than the electrical connection being funky or non-existent. I can always reglue, although I am optimistic that one gluing will solve the problem.

 

[Muse]

JB Weld is an inexpensive two part epoxy that you can get from your local auto parts store. But only use it where you can't see it. I've got some that has been in my garage for 15 years and it still hasn't gone bad.

By Gar, I do have some J-B Weld, guess it's the original formula, says 4-6 hours cure time. I'd forgotten about my glue box where I keep a lot of glue type stuff. So, I think I'll use it!

 

[Muse]

Images:

Need to clean and rough up some in preparation for gluing. The bud fits over the opposite end of the driver. The driver itself has a tiny filter stuck into its access hole. The filter is to prevent ear wax from infiltrating the driver itself. A major issue in the project is ensuring that the two electrical contacts are made and retained.

 

[Emaree]

I feel like UV glue or any acrylic adhesive helps in this case, since they are fast setting and thin in texture. The best way wold be to take that to a adhesive selling shops, they will be able to guide you better.

 

[Muse]

My favorite mug broke a few days ago and I repaired it with original JB Weld last night. Says it's up to 600 F tolerant, should handle hot coffee easily. Not an easy gluing job, and I realized that the 6 minute JB Weld I've yet of open would never do. It took me over 10 minutes just to spread the glue on the parts. Cleanup was acetone and paper towels. I LOVE acetone, always have some, I buy it in gallon cans (not often)!

Those Etymotics earbuds, they are great but they are quite expensive and I wonder if they are maintaining the quality. The first set I had lasted ~10 years not a problem. I've bought a few since and they have developed cord divergence issues. Replacing the cords is expensive, they are proprietary and you either have to send them in and have them replace the cords or you need to figure out a way to repair them. Not easy.