Fancy Chemicals With Long Names

I have an old Nalgene bottle: the wide-mouth, clear Lexan water bottles once a talking point among yuppie hikers but now ubiquitous in plenty of venues. Disregarding the Bishpenol-A debacle that rocked the reusable water bottle industry a few months ago, I like my retro container from the early 1990s. Sadly though, it broke recently when I dropped it on my driveway, suffering a large crack on the bottom that quickly emptied it of its liquid contents and shattering (figuratively) any future utility it had for me. So much for it's indestructability. Since it was part of my childhood I decided to repair it, though its future use would be for containing things other than liquids. I was wary of the pitfalls, however, of using an incorrect method of repair. I knew if I just dabbed some generic super glue on it then it likely wouldn't hold up, my confidence in my own repair skills would be compromised, and I'd probably throw away my most evoking piece of outdoor nostalgia that I own. I knew I had to do this right.


I looked at Gorilla Glue technical assistance forums, I looked at melting it, I looked at using PVC pipe glue. I researched a lot; I learned more in one hour about acrylics, Plexiglas, Lexan, and many other plastics than I had ever known in my life. This page is particularly educating. As I suspected from classes on differentiation of labor, the industry has produced thousands of types of plastics with thousands of characteristics and uses. I learned that my Nalgene bottle is a type of acrylic plastic called Polycarbonate, and the best way to fix it was to "weld" it back together by effectively melting it with a particular solvent called methylene chloride. This liquid runs into the crack via capillary action, reacts to and breaks down the polycarbonate, and melts it back together into a single piece. I wanted this stuff, so I went to Home Depot. They did not have it in the plumbing/pipe section, and much to my chagrine I later found out that methylene chloride is a common component in paint strippers. Before I got a chance to go back, I found out from a hobbyist and model building website that there are plently of model glues that consist of this stuff. So, ten minutes and $5 later, I had a brand new bottle of hobby glue being sent to my door from eBay. I haven't received it yet, so let's hope this stuff works!