Graft for part of grille UPDATE

[TWS]

@Daveh  Sorry for the delay...holidays ya know.  It's on its way to you.  I will email you the tracking info.  All good, just pass along the favor to someone in your future.  Merry Christmas!!!

[Daveh]

Thanks I really appreciate it.  Merry Christmas. 

[Daveh]

TWS,

I just received the graft for the grille.  Awesome packaging.  I don't think anything could have damaged the part.  I really appreciate it and I will post some pics when I have it complete.  Thanks again.

Dave

[FE5CUDA]

That a boy Tim.

[Daveh]

@TWS 

I have to give a shout out to TWS for giving me the graft for my grille.  It turned out amazing and is stronger than the other side.  I really appreciate the generosity.  I've included some pictures.

1. The original cracked grille
2. The unbroken side of the grille for comparison
3. The repaired grafted piece.  I put gussets on the backside.  I knew just butting it up against the grill plastic would be strong.

I was concerned about matching the color but since it's black all the way through i began sanding to smooth out the seam and worked up to wet 1000 grit and it looks great.  Just need to take your time.  No painting needed it all matched. 

Let me know what you think. 

[DeathProofCuda]

Looks great! 

Can you share some details on how you did it?  What product(s) did you use for the plastic bonding?

[Daveh]

Ok here is what I did.  I posted another thread about what would be strongest to use.  I bought one of each (below) and tested them all on the same scrap 1" X 1" piece of an old scrap grille.  Glued them and waited 24 hours to allow to dry.  Here were my findings.  You will be surprised.

1. PC-7
2. JB Plastic Bonder
3. JB Plastic Weld
4. Oatey 30889 Cement
5. Harbor Freight Super Glue
6. Gorilla Glue For Plastic

Like I said I used gussets on the back side to make sure I had something to bite to. 

1. PC-7
I've had success with this in the past for other applications but it didn't work at all.  It broke apart the joint with light pressure


2. JB Plastic Bonder
Worked Great.  It was black so I used it to fill in any seams to be sanded.

3. JB Plastic Weld
Sucked. barely any pressure and it came apart

4. Oatey 30889 Cement
This was recommended but didn't work either.  I really think it's mainly for PVC pipe

5. Harbor Freight Super Glue
UNBELIEVABLE.  I paid $.39 for this tube and thought it would never work.  It was amazing.  It held so strong that I cracked the plastic and not the seam that I glued.  Who would have thought. 

6. Gorilla Glue For Plastic
Didn't work came right apart.

So I used the HF super glue to butt joint the two pieces and glue it to the back gussets.  I used small C clamps to hold the patch to the rear gussets  I then used the JB Plastic Bonder to fill in little gaps and sanded from there since it dried black.  I hope this helps.  I was astounded the Harbor Freight Super Glue was so good. 

[DeathProofCuda]

Appreciate all the detail.   I did some similar product testing a couple years back to evaluate use of JB Weld vs. some SEM plastic bonding product, but still haven't gotten around to fixing my grille.

[TWS]

@Daveh You do nice work!  Glad it all worked out.