Adhesive Question, trying to fasten straps to plastic armor

[Albie Caruana]

Hello All,

I am attempting to attach nylon or elastic straps to plastic armor pieces and I am unsure what is the best kind of adhesive to attach nylon or elastic to a plastic piece? It would need to have strong hold since it will be what holds the armor piece to the suspender like straps. I have tried contact cement with not much luck. Hot glue seems not to be super strong. Super glue eats through nylon (not sure if it does elastic also).

Any thoughts would be very appreciated

 

[MB Trooper]

Cyanoacrylate - CA Glue to attach nylon straps, elastic and Velcro to my ABS armor. I have been wearing it for 4 years and it is still stuck.

 

[mdb]

What type of plastic? Nothing will stick to polyprop for instance and it basically needs a flame treatment to get paint to stick.

So start with the kind of plastic and also the kind of join. No one can give good advice until we know what exactly you are working with and want to achieve.

There are chemical as well as physical properties to consider ! flex of the strap (all straps have flex some have stretch you will need to account for that at the very least- so you want a glue that has flex and will not make the strap brittle.

 

[Splat762]

You could try E600.

 

[DizzyStrmtroopr]

it depends on the plastic, but I use 2 part epoxy for nylon strapping on my stormtrooper kits, both ABS and HIPS, just sand the contact area down well. for elastic straps I use superglue because it soaks into the fibers, and clamp it down to the plastic while it dries to promote adhesion. E6000 works well but I don't use it all the time because of the 24hr cure time.

 

[mdb]

No reply as to the kind of plastic so I'll assume it's vacformed kit?

In any case if you are using a fabric do not use anything that will be rigid. It will make the fabric brittle and break and thus lose all the properties you want.

So no, I wouldn't recommend super glue or epoxy based glues. Generally speaking the faster the cure the less durable it will be. That long cure of liquid latex, of E6000/Shoe Goo, epoxy resin (vs urethane) is exactly what makes for strong bonds. It takes time to save time.

Yes, scuff the surface, use a low grit (80-100) and wipe with alcohol (isopro or ethanol) to remove all loose particles. It is always good to be able to clamp, just be careful as some glues will soften plastics used in vacforming to the point you can get distortion.

I use Shoe Goo (E6000 with a different solvent- literally same company and everything) almost exclusively now as it will flex with the strapping and the plastic- it is very rubbery and so will allow both surfaces to flex at different degress while you wear the garment.

I also first press the glue into the fibres of the strapping, it's really easy to do with fresh glue especially if you make sure to wear gloves the fit well (I wear the smallest size latex/vinyl/nitrile gloves possible, otherwise they get stuck in glue and pull straight off!)

Then I also work some glue into the scuffed surface and make sure it is really worked into each scratch. Then I apply the final layer to bond the surfaces together.

I'll sometimes also add a wider thin leather patch over the end, and make sure the glue has been worked right through the strap. This increases the surface area that holds the strap and helps spread the load. And if I'm really feeling like it need more I'll zig zag stitch the leather and the strap together first. Sewing being a perfect solution for fabric parts (including webbing and elastic).