How do I repair a crack?

Post by **christian61** » Saturday 8 November 2008, 20:34

I just had a closer look at a snowboard I bought on ebay (for very little money) at the end of last winter, and I noticed that it has a crack about 10 cm long between the edge and the cap (see photo).
The crack is only about half a millimetre wide.
I'm thinking of repairing it with superglue (and then press it with clamps). Will the superglue dry when the crack is closed by the clamps?
The alternative might be epoxy, but how can I get it into the crack deep enough? Superglue is more liquid.

Thanks for any advice!
Christian

Post by **codighel** » Saturday 8 November 2008, 20:46

what board is it?anyway,better the super glue.contact the one who sold you the board and say him is a fraudolent!!

Post by **christian61** » Saturday 8 November 2008, 22:19

codighel wrote:what board is it?anyway,better the super glue.contact the one who sold you the board and say him is a fraudolent!!

I bought the board almost a year ago for ... (should I tell?)

around 25 Euros including shipping. The seller was not a snowboarder, and I think he didn't know the board had this crack.

Christian

Post by AZ » Saturday 8 November 2008, 23:09

SuperGlue makes extremely good bonding - but only with the right kind of plastics. Otherwise, superglue does not even stick to the material, so it would be completely useless to repair that crack.
You could give it a try, but I suspect that the superglue will not be the right kind of glue.
If I were you, I would opt for one of those epoxy glues, those that come in two components that one mixes right before the use.
Mix them VERY well to activate the catalist.
Usually, those glues benefit from being exposed to heat, but clearly one should not want to put his beloved board inside an oven.
Careful application of a hair dryer is probably a good option; see if the instructions on the glue box mention heat.
Good luck.

Post by **starikashka** » Sunday 9 November 2008, 7:47

Glue could cost more than board itself

Post by **nils** » Sunday 9 November 2008, 9:33

epoxy is the only solution!
heat the tubes of blue araldite under a lamp or in hot water for a while so it gets more liquid and is able to go deep. use a strong blade to twist the crack open while pouring epoxy si it goes everywhere.put under a small press for 24h in a warm place. all protections using plastic beige tape.
good luck!
Nils

Post by **christian61** » Sunday 9 November 2008, 16:35

AZ and Nils, thank you very much!

I was afraid Superglue might not be the right solution. I have used it several times to repair Windsurfboards. I had forgotten that there are some kinds of plastic (PE and PP) that cannot be glued with superglue.

Heating the epoxy in hot water is an excellent idea. Maybe I should also heat the board before applying the glue.

I'll do it the way Nils suggested and then post the result.

Christian

Post by **The Blitz** » Sunday 9 November 2008, 17:27

Look pics Christian !

viewtopic.php?p=16294#16294

Post by **christian61** » Wednesday 3 December 2008, 17:53

Hello everybody,

the repair went like this:

I didn't want to order araldite for the little crack. So I decided to use some cheap epoxy from the supermarket. I heated a metal plate and mixed the epoxy on the hot plate. Then I sucked it into a syringe and began pressing it into the gap. Then came the bad surprise: the epoxy began to harden only one minute after mixing it. The heat had not only made it more fluid, but extremely speeded up the hardening process (normally at least 10 minutes).
In panic I stopped filling the gap with expoxy and pressed the crack together with a clamp. Almost too late!
There was still a little crack which I hadn't managed to fill with epoxy. I waited a day and closed it with several layers of superglue.
After using a file, the repair is no longer visible.
I guess I was lucky. Next time I will use araldite!

Christian61

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How do I repair a crack?

How do I repair a crack?

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