Adhesive or epoxy for glovebox repair

[_jp_]

Long story short, I accidentally snapped the pin/lug that is on the side of my Gen 4 glovebox. Its the part that the "soft close" mechanism attaches to.

I am hoping to reattach it and perhaps "build up" something around it to give it a bit of strength. I initially thought I could use a 2 part epoxy for this, but most say they are not for use on polyethylene or polypropylene. I'm not sure what the glovebox is made out of, but it has PP-TD20 stamped on it which I think means it is polypropylene. Most of the PP glues say they aren't for "gap filling" so I wouldn't be able to build up something like I could with expoy. Do I use 2 products?

Anyone that has replaced their cabin filter will know the part I'm talking about, its the "sticky-out-bit" that the soft-close damper attaches to on the side of the glovebox.

Can anyone give a suggestion as to the best way to repair the glovebox please or how to determine the correct adhesive to use?

[geopaj]

I broke the same thing. I just completely removed the soft close mechanism- the glovebox works perfectly fine without it.

[gazza11]

My lug/pin had broken off too. I cut the broken pin off flush, and then drilled it out. I replaced it with a cup head bolt cut to length and glued it in using two part epoxy adhesive. I also used a thin nut to secure it on the outside. It has been working well for about 6 months. The two part epoxy adhesive has worked well. I left it overnight to cure.
Cheers.

[disco stu]

Epoxy sucks on most plastics. Better bet is superglue in general, but it is more brittle. Superglue/CA will adhere to way more types of plastic than epoxy. Even better is those selleys packs with the plastic primer and a little tube of superglue. The technical department at selleys put me onto those, when I was looking for a polyolefin primer but didn't want to buy the larger lots they sold that in-same stuff but in small quantities. I've tested this now on a few different plastics and it works well.

I don't know the part you're talking about specifically, I've just spent a lot of time gluing plastics and other hard to glue things

[Keithyv]

Yeah, drill the parts out and use a pin / nail to beef it up. Never going to hold with glue alone.

[symo]

I’ve used epoxy putty to repair lots of plastic posts / studs etc with good success.

[erad]

Disco Stu wrote "Epoxy sucks on most plastics. Better bet is superglue in general, but it is more brittle. Superglue/CA will adhere to way more types of plastic than epoxy"

Superglue is great in tension - probably stronger than the stuff you are gluing, but it is weak in shear. O ring kits which use a length of O ring cord cut to size and glued work brilliantly if you try to pull the O ring cord apart, but if you slide the join sideways it comes apart easily. Personally, I don't know the part you are trying to glue, but if it is the lug I am thinking , it will be in shear, so superglue won't work.

[_jp_]

Thanks all for the input.

I only open the glove box a handful of times a year, so its no big loss. I just want to fix it because "it isn't right" and my OCD gets the better of me.

I'm still undecided on what type of adhesive to use, but I'll give glue/epoxy a go first and if it fails I'll replace it with a bolt.