Never ask two polymer chemists how to fix a home appliance

I broke the retaining arm off my brother's juicer. It's a fragile (and underdesigned in my opinion) plastic part. I wanted to try to glue it before springing for the replacement part, so I asked the same guy I always ask whenever I have a question about anything plastic: my friend Howard. He's got two degrees in polymer chemistry and he knows just about everything about the stuff. And what he doesn't know, the other polymer chemist I know, Ken, who is about as close to a certifiable genius as anyone I've ever met, does for sure.

 

I knew Howard's first question was going to be "what kind of plastic is it?" because that information is critical to finding something that will work. I told him I didn't know but I gave him the model of the juicer.

 

It didn't take him long to find out the thing is made of Lustran. He sent me an early suggestion of using epoxy, and that's pretty much what he stuck with but he made the mistake of asking Ken what HE thought. Ken as I mentioned, is a genius. He's the kind of guy who gets an idea in his head and nothing, not food or bathing rituals or sleep, will get in the way of him implementing it. He has a stable of 17 Citroen cars and somehow keeps them all running. He devised an automated contraption that would text page him when a certain part failed in test, a contraption made largely of rubber bands, an old cell phone, and children's aspirin (I'm not kidding). It worked too. Ken is also the only person I know who has been to Burning Man...he goes every year.

 

You can see the way Ken thinks below in Howard's note. epoxy is way too easy for him:

 

 

"Lustran is an ABS material, so just about anything should glue it.

Structural epoxy is probably the way to go, provided you can prep the surface properly...

I also communicated with Ken...he thought that if you carefully wet the mating surfaces with a little acetone (fingernail polish remover) they will soften enough to re-join. Would also help if you "body" the acetone with a little bit of the dissolved plastic. Are there any non-visible areas where you can get a few scrapings to dissolve in the acetone?

I told Ken the winning suggestion would get their way paid to the next Burn."

 

Great, now Brian is going to check the bottom of his juicer for scrape marks.