I am not even sure how to describe this thing - but this is a grip or holder for my glass tray in the toilet.
I think previously it was held by glue, but it has gotten loose and the tray slips off. I stuffed a cardboard below to create tension so the tray will stay. However, the area is constantly wet, hence the cardboard is prone to dissolving eventually and in danger of falling.
This is a link with the picture - picture speaks a thousand words!
What options do I have to repair it so the tray can be gripped by the holder again?
Provided that you don’t want to remove the tray regularly, bathroom silicone will work just fine.
Place a layer of silicone on the bottom of the clamp of about the right thickness. Let it dry for 12 hours. Slide the glass into place. Prop, tie, clamp the glass into position. Caulk silicone into the clamp with the glass in place. Let it dry overnight.
Apparently the bracket doesn’t clamp onto the glass or you couldn’t get the cardboard in place. As a home repair I would try epoxy which is waterproof and rigid; some varieties are clear, some are yellowish. The silicone RTV might stick to the glass better but that joint would remain flexible and the shelf could droop.
Either epoxy or silicone should work fine as others have said. Silicone caulking is the standard adhesive/filler used in 12mm bathroom glass installations. Fast setting epoxy is easy to work with due to the much shorter curing time, both can be a little messy. Assuming you can find a replacement, the quickest and most effective solution is probably a new tray and bracket.
Setting and curing are two different things … and the description is careful to use these two terms differently. The product claims to form a bond within minutes which is useful for the typical homeowner application, however it will take much longer for the epoxy polymer chains to form to give full strength.
Silicone is a little more obvious, it will “skin over” in an hour or so but if you poke it, it’ll gush out. Takes a while for it all to cure through and though.
The product in your link would be great for the OP’s project, that’s for sure.
Usually, those clamps have a thin bit of rubber or cork between them and the glass so you can tighten the setscrew (in the bottom “jaw”) without scratching or cracking the glass.
Over with kitchen cabinet hinges and latches, you should be able to find thumbnail-sized cork discs with sticky backs so you can stick them to the glass and snug up the clamps. Another location might be with the felt or rubber feet/bumpers used to protect furniture from knick-knacks.
By saying this shelf is “in the toilet” I’m guessing you’re not in the US, as we’d say “in the bathroom” but either way, the cork discs are cheap. Around here, a 24-pack of them costs less than $3.00.
Q: could they use clear ‘desk buttons’ as shims between the glass and the clamp before tightening the set screw? It might allow for ‘limited’ torque while minimizing damage to the glass.
The outsides look very corroded, the screws are probably too corroded to work.
The way to get the filler material, in, (eg a sheet of rubber or plastic, or polyester material) over the glass , so the filler is pushed in as you push on the glass…
Don’t use paper or cotton or other natural fibre, as the natural fibre would become wet, and it could swell up (cracking the glass), or become liquid (after becoming mouldy ? enzymes and cleaners attack cellulose…), losing its grip.
Seems like a neater solution than the silicone/glue/epoxy. I’d got with some sort of tapered rubber since a foam would tend to absorb moisture and foster bacterial growth.
As for everyone campaigning for a set screw underneath - I’d say applying pressure to a tiny area of glass (on the weight-bearing side) is a great way to generate smaller pieces of glass, but I’ve been fooled before…
