Rubber Feet

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by cachehiker, Apr 15, 2012.

  1. cachehiker

    cachehiker Private E-2

    First new thread. Bear with me. :)

    I searched and I couldn't find much and I can't think of a better forum than hardware. For me "hardware" brings back memories of soldering, wire wrapping, gigantic breadboards, UV eraseable EPROMs, and Greenlee panel punches for your D-subs.

    I am at my wits end. I have an Acer 1410 and one of the rubber feet came off. It was out of warranty and I doubt a customer service agent would have much pity for me anyway. I can't find a glue that will bond to both the plastic case AND the rubber foot.

    I've tried about six different adhesives up to this point. Epoxy, Plastic Epoxy, Household Goop, Rubber Cement, etc. Like I said, I'm into HARDWARE. I have lots of different adhesives and brazing equipment too. My lastest projects have been stacked Yagi Uda arrays, a 30W/channel Amp, hand wound 2:1 Baluns, new woofer surrounds and custom crossovers for some old Minimus 77's, and oh yeah, a music server, guess I'm a Major Geek after all.

    The longest any has lasted was a week. So what have you used? Do you know if it's acetone, methyl ethyl ketone, or ??? based? And how well did it work?
     
  2. shnerdly

    shnerdly MajorGeek

    I have used RTV Silicone with success but NOT the Ultra Silicone, just RTV. The stuff that smells like Vinegar.

    Another one that would work would be automotive trim adhesive.
     
  3. jlphlp

    jlphlp Master Sergeant

    Hi,

    Have you tried Contact Cement?

    JIm
     
  4. cachehiker

    cachehiker Private E-2

    I've tried Household Goop (the American formulation with toluene) which isn't RTV but is silicone based AFAIK. It adhered to the plastic just fine but let go of the rubber foot after a week or so. That one exhausted the adhesive selection I had kickin' around the shop.

    Loctite Vinyl, Fabric, and Plastic Adhesive was the first one I actually went out and purchased and the last one I tried. It is MEK based and likewise adhered to the plastic just fine but let go of the rubber foot the second time I put the laptop in my backpack.

    Contact Cement was going to be the next one I tried but I may just go after automotive trim adhesive instead. BTW, I am taking the time to scrape away all remains of the prior adhesive before trying the next but I am wondering if there's some kind of interaction between one and the next going on.
     
  5. cachehiker

    cachehiker Private E-2

    Scratch that. I found some Shoe Goo in the bedroom. It's also toluene based and made by the same company as Household Goop and gets better reviews as far as I can tell.
     
  6. sach2

    sach2 Major Geek Extraordinaire

    I'm a fan of Goop but don't see the one I used to buy in the green tube. It might have been household. I used it to reattach a side mirror on a car (plastic to metal) and it has held up for 4 years. I think I had to a reapply once.

    But in your case it looks like the Plumbing Goop is the only one for both plastic and rubber. Since you are familiar with glues it might be worth taking a look at their fact sheet and see if it gives you any information on ingredients to see if you have anything similar. http://www.biosafe-inc.com/plumbing.htm
     
  7. plodr

    plodr Major Geek Super Extraordinaire

    Perhaps gorilla glue or gorilla epoxy http://www.gorillaglue.com/glues/glue-guide.aspx
    I was trying to find unsuccessfully info on heat resistance because that would be why the rubber keeps falling off. The heat causes the glue to break down.
     
  8. cachehiker

    cachehiker Private E-2

    The rubber foot last let go when I checked my email at the neighborhood yard sale last weekend. This time I suspect the little foot must have fallen into the flower bed.

    After that I got to talking to a buddy in the model shop where I work. They had some rubber around and they hadn't had any problems with adhesion with it. He claimed that all rubber is not the same (duh) and that trying a different rubber compound would be a good idea as the solvent based rubber cements will often stick differently to different compounds.

    In any case, I cut a half dozen little feet out of the piece they gave me. They were harder that the original foot, were much easier to hold on to while roughing them up with coarser emery cloth, and didn't have much carbon black added to the compound.

    Unfortunately, the shop is currently using a pressure sensitive adhesive that I wasn't looking forward to cutting down to such a small size. I wasn't too excited about applying "sufficient pressure" to the laptop case either so I decided to keep looking for a bit longer.

    Anyway, my poor Subie is in the shop having a valve seat reground and I stopped by on the way home to check on it and asked the mechanic what he used for reattaching rubber parts. That mandated a detour to the auto parts store for 3M Super Weatherstrip Adhesive (MEK based). He said it never lets go of the rubber or the door panels or the air cleaner lids or the ...

    So far so good.
     

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