Repair advice: plastic light bar section

[rdrr]

I’ve just reversed into the latch on my shed door and it’s cracked the plastic light bar (and also dinged the number, but I’m not so worried about that).

Any smart ideas how I might get it repaired?

Best I can think of now is to put some sort of clear tape on to stop it getting worse

 

[PristDean]

Can you post a picture ?

 

[rdrr]

Image attached

 

[Ian Key]

I'd be tempted to put some superglue into the crack and once dried carefully rub it down with a very fine grit emery paper

 

[PristDean]

Thanks for the pic. The problem you have there is the plastic is splintered. So really the bar needs to be replaced. As a stop gap. I would as suggested put some clear sealant over the damage, then when dried put a bit of black tape of over the damage. Less noticeable if you do it in a way that sort of looks like its intended to be there, if you see what I mean.

 

[Torryhun]

Maybe take it to your local workshop that does plastic welding & see what they advise.

 

[Dodger]

Black nail varnish from Bodycare Shop was a perfect match when I scratched the black plastic. 99p for 12ml. It belonged to my wife not me, honest!

 

[Rolfe]

Your wife is a Goth?

 

[Tigger]

As PristDean says, your plastic is shattered. I would trim the flaky bits off with a sharp knife, then fill the resulting dent with clear Araldite. I did something similar back in the day to repair a dinged foglight lens. - worked a treat. Put masking tape on the sound bits to keep the resin off, and remove before it sets hard - 20 minutes or so.

The trouble with this method is that the shattered section has air between the bits of broken plastic, and the araldite/sealant won't displace all the air, which makes it look white/shiny inside. The more bits you can trim off the better. (I didn't have this problem with my foglight - it didn't matter.)

Alternatively, I like Torryhun's suggestion of a plastic welder. Worth a try. Anyone for a soldering iron?