# Best glue for plastic? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 26, 2013, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-glue-for-plastic/656752 "2013-04-26T13:52:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-glue-for-plastic/656752/1 "2013-04-26T13:52:39Z")
My fridge, which is less than 10 years old has four door shelves, two of which have cracked. The place where they cracked is on the part that fits in to the door. It is a mm or two in thickness. I tried epoxying one of them but it didn’t last. I don’t know what kind of plastic it is. The Whirlpool company wants over $100 each to replace them and of course the replacements will last no longer. Can anyone suggest a better adhesive? ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-glue-for-plastic/656752/2 "2013-04-26T14:33:57Z")
Most plastics require a very specific adhesive; a general glue will only work through luck and many will honor the plastic’s resilience by peeling right off. Fridge shelves are mostly polycarbonate, I think (very hard and glasslike, good transparency?) - it may look like Lexan or Plexiglas, but those don’t have very good scratch resistance. Find a specialty store online or near you and get a solvent-based adhesive for gluing polycarbonate. You may need to add some thin support strips of the same material under the break. A plastics store should be able to sell you a length of thin stock that will work. ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-glue-for-plastic/656752/3 "2013-04-26T15:07:05Z")
I think the OP is asking about the door shelves, which are molded rather than a sheet material. I don’t much about gluing plastic, especially repairing a crack rather than joining two pieces, but I love to share this link: [This to That](http://www.thistothat.com/) It’s a website that recommends glues by brand for pretty much any combination of materials you can come up with. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-glue-for-plastic/656752/4 "2013-04-26T15:13:29Z")
I consulted Madame Pepperwinkle, who has a local reputation as the Queen of Adhesives. She recommends **Sugru** (available at [www.sugru.com](http://www.sugru.com)). It’s certainly worked in similar situations for which she’s applied it. ---
**Author:** ![cougar58](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@cougar58](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cougar58)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-glue-for-plastic/656752/5 "2013-04-26T15:17:09Z")
I would say, go to a hobby store and buy some model airplane glue. Its worked fine on plastic airplanes (and cars) for decades, plus you can take a trip and never leave your man-cave. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-glue-for-plastic/656752/6 "2013-04-26T15:22:12Z")
In my experience, Duco cement works well on plastics. Just remember, glue without pressure is like no glue at all. ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-glue-for-plastic/656752/7 "2013-04-26T15:37:19Z")
> [@cougar58](#): > > I would say, go to a hobby store and buy some model airplane glue. > > Its worked fine on plastic airplanes (and cars) for decades, plus you can take a trip and never leave your man-cave. Does anyone still use airplane glue for models? Super glue (cyanacrylate) works so much better and faster, and you can get it in so many different thicknesses at a hobby shop. You can also get the accelerant, which can be very handy. Superglue should be good for the fridge repair too. The trick to using it well is to understand that water is what sets it. Normally, natural atmospheric humidity is enough except in arid places. This also works best when parts mate well, so that the glue ends up being miniscule thickness (the best case for most glues). In less ideal cases, it can help to wet both surfaces using a spray bottle (fine mist, not water bead droplets, if possible) before applying the glue to both surfaces, and then mating them together. The easy alternative is to glue as usual and then spray on a little accelerant. ---
**Author:** ![Srsly\_Dad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@Srsly\_Dad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Srsly_Dad)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-glue-for-plastic/656752/8 "2013-04-26T15:47:13Z")
Loctite also sells a super-glue specifically for plastics. It comes with a primer for surface prep. It works fairly well on many plastics, but not on as well on olefins (polypropylene for example, but that is not likely used for a fridge shelf). On a related note, baking soda works as a super glue accelerant as well and costs a lot less. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-glue-for-plastic/656752/9 "2013-04-26T15:49:28Z")
Super glue will not be good for this repair. Superglue has incredible strength against pulling forces, almost zero strength against shear forces. A fridge shelf has to bear weight in multiple directions, which will cause a superglue bond to break immediately. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-glue-for-plastic/656752/10 "2013-04-26T17:35:30Z")
> [@gwendee](#): > > I think the OP is asking about the door shelves, which are molded rather than a sheet material. Right, missed the “door” part. Some such shelves are made of clear polycarbonate, so the above would apply. If it’s the white molded style, they can be polycarbonate or one of the more rigid forms of ABS. The best thing would be to take a sample, if there’s a detached (or detachable) piece, to a plastics store and ask for advice. I don’t think any of the recommended adhesives above will work on food-grade thermoplastics. It will have to be a very specific adhesive. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2013, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-glue-for-plastic/656752/11 "2013-04-27T12:15:14Z")
To elaborate: It is white, which is why I didn’t immediately think polycarbonate, although I guess you can make it opaque if you want. It is not really subject to shear force; it just supports the shelf and cracked near the support. So it seems to be mostly subject to pulling force. Finally, it is easy to put pressure on it. One or two rubber bands horizontally around the shelves will put pressure just where it is needed. If it didn’t look so ugly (and probably wouldn’t last very long), I could simply put a rubber band around the whole shelf and forget about repairing it. ---
**Author:** ![Doggo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/87869e/32.png) [@Doggo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doggo)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2013, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-glue-for-plastic/656752/12 "2013-04-27T12:34:00Z")
years ago, I bought the real thing from a store to fix broken fridge door mouldings. Don’t remember the brand, but a fridge repair shop should be able to help you.