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Any tips on plastic adhesives? Trying to repair headphones (slrpnk.net)
submitted 3 months ago by to c/diy@slrpnk.net
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Hi DIY!

My headphones of many years recently broke. My first response was to attempt to glue them back together with super glue (ethyl 2-cyanoacrylate) however that didn't seem to hold. Not even a little bit.

I then did a bit of searching and found that Sony often use ABS plastic in headphone manufacture, so presumably these are ABS. I then read super glue should work okay on ABS, however there seemed to be no bonding happening at all.

Do any of you have any tips for the best kind of glue or epoxy to bond these plastic parts back together and get the music flowing again?

I plan on wrapping the joints in thread afterwards, for additional durability. But first I need to get them bonded.

A close up picture of headphones with the plastic connecting the headband to one of the cups being snapped
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[–] 41 points 3 months ago* (12 children)

I would make some metal rods to insert in the holes left in the hollow plastic. Epoxy those in place on both sides to reinforce the joints which will have stress on them. I think that is the only chance you have of repairing broken plastic like this with little surface area to bond. You could look around and find some nails or something to cut up.

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  • [–] [S] 8 points 3 months ago (2 children)

    Great idea! I'll give that a go, thanks. Reinforcement rods, adhesive, and thread wrap around the outside should surely be enough

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  • [–] 3 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    Might be able to find some wire in an electrical or automotive store. 20 guage is about a millimeter or less, 12 guage is between 2 and 3 mm. Do you have calipers to take a measurement?

    Wire Coat Hanger might fit, will be harder so a better reinforcement.

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  • [–] 5 points 3 months ago* (7 children)

    @punksnotdead@slrpnk.net I would suggest carbon fiber rods or aluminum, ferris metal could interfere with the bluetooth radio depending on their shape.

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  • [–] 3 points 3 months ago (5 children)

    I seriously doubt that.

    👍 1
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  • [–] 3 points 3 months ago (4 children)

    I'm just a lowly embedded engineer working on BLE on aarch and other SOC kernels.

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  • [–] 4 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    And I’m a 30 year veteran EE who designs a lot of high speed and RF gear. There is zero chance ferrous metal rods to repair the headphones as described would have any meaningful impact on the Bluetooth connection.

    You’re technically correct that metal in the vicinity could possibly have some measurable impact on the 2.4GHz radio, but your theoretical scenario is a practical absurdity.

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