10 Minute Plastic Repair Kit ~ McGyver Style

In this Instructable I will show you how to make repairs on plastic that can last years for less than $2.00 !

Materials :

• Your broken plastic item.
• Tube of Super Glue ( I used the liquid formula from the Dollar Store )
• Q-Tips ( or generic cotton swab, Dollar Store again ! )
• 80 ~ 100 grit sand paper
• 6 inch Single cut file ( optional )

Step 1: Prepping the Area

Wipe down the area in need of repair with a rag and rubbing alcohol to remove any dirt and grease. Next take your medium grit sandpaper and rough up the area removing any paint, decals or burs like in the photo.

Step 2: Making Your Patching Material

Next remove the cotton from the swab by pulling it from the bottom keeping it all in one piece so what you're left with is a thick wad of cotton. Once you have enough to cover about 3/4 of the area flatten it out by pulling it from the center outward. thicker parts of the cotton should be placed over the areas with missing pieces while the thinner parts cover the areas of undamaged plastic. This will help a lot if you need to feather it out and blend it in so it doesn't show.

Step 3: Making It All Stick Together

This is pretty self explanatory, after you have the cotton over the area you want to fix take the Super Glue and drip it over the entire piece of cotton until it's saturated. Make sure the thicker portions are saturated with glue while the thinner areas have just enough to make them an even color. Once you have saturated the cotton in glue take something like a matchbook, a piece of cardboard etc to use as a spreader. I used 2 wooden match sticks to flatten the edges and help get the glue all the way through the cotton. * NOTE: I forgot to mention this is to be done in a well ventilated area away from any possible ignition sources. When you apply the glue you will see a little wisp of smoke coming from the cotton swab. This is normal, but you should be cautious of where you are and what is underneath your work piece. This does create some heat, but it is very short lived since the smoke only lasts about 1 ~ 2 seconds, by that time it's pretty much hard and cooling. Some of you may think it can cause a fire, but it doesn't. It's really no different than the chemical reaction you get with fiber glass resin. This is a trick I've been doing for the better part of 15 years or more with NO damages or fires due to this reaction. All the steps after the initial prepping is shown in the video. After about 10 minutes it should be dry enough to file down the high spots or feather the edges with sandpaper. BE CAREFUL don't remove too much of the patch from the thinner edges, if you do your patch work will become weak. You can fill minor imperfections with some spot putty and finish sand to your liking.

Thanks for reading !

Step 4: UPDATE ~ End Results

I finally got around to taking some pictures of the what the finished results look like. I only filed off the top and hit the edges with some 120 grit sandpaper. Spending a mere 5 minutes on it for this instructable since this is a part to my crashed drone and it now resides in the trash. You can spend more time on it to achieve near perfect results. Thanks again, and please vote for it in the Life Hacks contest.