Repairing acrylic typewriter cover lid for VCF 1130

TYPEWRITER COVER CRACK WITH ACRYLIC GLUE

The lid of the 1053 console printer, an output only version of a Selectric typewriter, has an acrylic plastic part that is held onto the opening of the lid top. It allows the operator to see what the 1053 is typing but reduces the sound emitted and helps keep foreign objects from falling into the typewriter mechanism.

The VCF system's acrylic top that was cracked and almost broken in two. It had been stabilized by the use of scotch tape to hold everything together, but this is not esthetically pleasing. It has to be repaired or replaced.

I have a great acrylic glue which would bond the sides of the crack together. To make this repair and to keep from having blobs of glue disfiguring the surface of the plastic part, I had to devise a method of holding the parts together while the glue worked. 

I chose a very thin version of the acrylic glue to minimize the risk of marring of the surface. When I attempted to glue the parts together, I found that they didn't provide enough 'melting' to fuse the sides. It seemed to hold together as I let the glue set but it fell apart a few minutes together. 

I moved on to using cyanoacrylate glue (superglue). It forms a very solid bond with acrylics and I have good experience with it. The main risk is another form of marring of the appearance of the plastic, called fogging. Any glue that hits the surfaces of the lid, such as when squeezing out of the joint, will cause that spot to look as if it had been frosted. 

To address this risk, I had to combine two strategies. First, I had to put tape across the surfaces (other than the seam that is being glued) so that any glue that leaks out will not penetrate through to the acrylic underneath. Second, I had to orient the parts so that any dripping was down to the underside of the part when it was installed on the printer - this would lessen the visibility of any fogging that did take place. 

I can now appreciate the plastic films that cover acrylic parts from the supplier. This not only protects against any scratching but it could help prevent fogging when edges are glued together.

The sections glued together, although a bit of blue tape was stuck on the edge of the glue at the joint. I will come back tomorrow and carefully clean off the tape edges. 

The fracture line is still noticeable, although it will be less obvious once the blue tape remnants are removed. The thickness of the acrylic is enough that you can see both edges - top and bottom - of the fracture. In this picture below only one side has blue tape stuck to the seam.