Hacking Broken Plastic Parts without a 3D Printer

We’ve all encountered the odd plastic part that is broken and unobtainable. Sure, 3D printers can print big replacement parts, but sometimes you just need to rebuild a very specific piece. [AkBkukU] shows off a technique for doing just that using a process you could almost call manual 3D printing. We’ve seen banking soda used to cure cyanoacrylate glue before, but this technique uses it to build layers of glue that are apparently quite solid.

There’s quite a bit of nuance in the video below, but the basic idea is to put a pile of soda on one side of a piece of tin foil and a glob of glue. You dip the part in glue and then into the soda. Each time you get a little thicker layer of glue.

Afterward, you’ll have to file and otherwise shape the new part, but the fact that it can survive being filed should tell you something. We were reminded of how some people use epoxy to form repair parts and then machine them to the exact shape needed. At the very end of the video he builds up layers on a part he can’t dip. Did it work? Watch it and see.

In addition to the manual 3D printing technique, he demonstrates using baking soda to cure repairs on a knurled knob from an old clock radio. That’s a bit more conventional, but if you haven’t seen it done before, it is nearly miraculous.

Glue is amazing. We’ve seen hot glue do injection molding. There are many more types out there, too.

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