What is an extremely hard fast drying (less than 3 hours) non-conductive glue I can buy retail tomorrow?

[CZroe]

A local computer shop calls me in for laptop repairs frequently. 90% of the time, it's because someone's AC Adapter damaged the DC in jack. Usually, the jack is cracked, the metal contacts bent/broken and the solder or traces ripped off the board.

Replacement connectors are never available. Gingerly jury-rigging it back together is HARD. Sometimes, all I need is a drop of solder and even that causes alot of trouble. After the repair, nearly always the connector is unstable and a few insertions and removals of the plug will damage it again.

Hot glue is too flexible. I need something that dries like hard plastic that I can gob all over the whole "assembly" (That's what you can call it when I'm done with it ). Im never sure if what I have is conductively safe or not, so I usually rig up another way (Glue a block down behind the connector so it can't move backwards, etc). In some cases, this isn't an option.

So I need a 100% non-electrically conductive "glue" that dries as stiff and hard as a brittle plastic (The kind that "cracks instead of bends"). I've got a laptop ready to go except it needs a little stability. I want to have it ready by tomorrow, so something that available retail like Walmart, Home Depot or Radio Shack is prefered. Any suggestions? Thanks!

See my other thread for a great tip for people with these type of problems...

 

[beverage]

I'd guess an Epoxy... you can get some that come in small "double" syringes..

you squirt out equal ammounts of both parts, mix them together, and the glue. The fast kind sets up in 5 minutes, and then takes several hours to fully cure, but when it does it's hard as plastic...it WILL crack, not bend.

 

[jm0ris0n]

Yup, majority of epoxies (double mix) have at least a bond strength equal to 2 tons of force! Very insane, very secure.

 

[zephyrprime]

Why is hot glue too flexible?

 

[MadRat]

JB Weld sets up in twenty.

 

[KalTorak]

Loctite makes a bunch of good glues for such applications...

 

[xylem]

Pick an epoxy that is designed to bond to the materials you are using. Epoxies have variable setting times, so you can pick one that has a workability of a period of a time that is suitable for you (I have seen them as low as 2 minutes). Heed the fact that epoxy bonds are fairly permanent, so any further work in the bound area would be difficult.

 

[McCarthy]

Epoxy suggested here too...keep a few on hand though. The twin tube Duro general purpose does an admirable job on a wide array of surfaces, quite liquid when freshly mixed and good for getting into small cracks. JBWeld was also mentioned, JBKwik (the fast set version) hasn't failed for me yet, so I have no problem saying to use it in instances where you need something a little more viscous to avoid the glue spreading and/or would like to build up a thicker layer. Which leads me to...

...plumber's epoxy. It comes as a stubby cigar shaped roll of clay like consistency. Break off a piece, mix it between your fingers. You can build up layers as thick as you like, heck put a blob over and around the jack, lay a piece of cling wrap over the top of the blob and put the top of the laptop case (or bottom, however it goes together) and press together. That jack will never move again - just remember the cling wrap or the laptop will never come apart again either. Rock hard, you can make gravel with it in your spare time if you're so inclined. Cheap too, Home Depot, Lowes, whatever have it.

One last thing, maybe I got a bad batch, but I paid the $7 for the special 'plastic bonder' epoxy (again two tube, black, think Duro) Stunk to high hell and it's a slow set, but supposed to have mystical powers over plastic. It doesn't. It didn't even hold a cracked lawn sprinker together, though a later uglier application of JB Weld did. The general purpose bonds plastic just as well in my experience.

 

[CZroe]

Originally posted by: zephyrprime
Why is hot glue too flexible?

Because it's more flexible than the shattered jack it's supposed to secure


Thnx for the suggestions ppl. Should I be conecrned about possible electrically conductive or flamability properties? How long before I can safely test the power again without setting the fumes on fire?

 

[McCarthy]

Playing with the multimeter here I can't get a reading on any glue with the Ohm setting. True, it's a cheap meter, but I wouldn't worry. I worry less since you're not setting my house on fire of course.

Flamability, I got JB Weld to smolder after attacking a blob with a bottle torch once when I was heating something near a repair, never got it to flame and it quit on it's own. Using a Zippo on a piece of plumber's epoxy here, can't get it to do anything.

Run your own tests of course, might vary from brand to brand. Doubt it, but better to test.

 

[CZroe]

Well, the initial fumes may be more of a problem. I'd have to wait for a full cure to be safe but I wont

 

[McCarthy]

Which glue did you go with then?

Also curious, do you edit all your messages so they fit in with your signature line? Seen that 'message edited on account of' in your posts for a long time now, but they were edited so....random wondering.

 

[MadRat]

JB Weld is good for up to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. What computer part is going to get that hot?

 

[InlineFive]

Does this qualify as General Hardware?

-Por

 

[sharkeeper]

CA adhesive, boron matting and some kicker spray! Patch holes in [omitted] paravanes and strength is higher than HC steel! Plus the kicker smells sweet as it does its thing!

Cheers!

 

[VansTheMan]

Gorilla Glue is good stuff. Pretty much any two part epoxy will do the trick. You might want to test the stuff that comes in a cigar sized roll as some of it has a certain amount of metal in it.

 

[CZroe]

Originally posted by: McCarthy
Which glue did you go with then?

Also curious, do you edit all your messages so they fit in with your signature line? Seen that 'message edited on account of' in your posts for a long time now, but they were edited so....random wondering.

I got some cheap epoxy from Wal-Mart. They had two of the same brand that seemed almost identical except for the setting times. I got the 5-min 1.5 ton bonding strength one instead of the 2 ton one because time was important. I gobbed it all over the connector then and assembled the laptop. I had to run off to my other job so I left it with the shop owner to test. I think it'll be fine though.

I do edit alot When I first signed up for the AT forums an edit would produce something very similar to my sig. ("Message edited by: USERNAME on TIME/DATE") That changed but I didn't. I need some creativity...

 

[CZroe]

It was called "Devcon 5-minute Epoxy"

Frighteningly, it didn't work first try. Apparantly the glue contracted and seperated the delicate solder job while drying. I used a box cutter to cut down to the contact on the side (Thanks to the new-found stability of the whole thing ). Blobbed solder on it and ran a jumper to the bottom of the motherboard in case that fails again. I blobbed some more epoxy over that. Well, other than the fact that the second application sort of made the jack too tight by limiting the mobility of the contacts. It works when you force it in as far as it will go, though the "tightness" seems like it may just squeeze it back out if you're not carefull. At least it's not in danger of breaking off the motherboard or becoming impossible to work without opening again.