What glue to join plastic and wood ?

[tooki]

What exactly is missing? The rubber feet on those are just standard 3M Bumpon. I’ve done that exact replacement on my Keithley 197’s. They’re self-adhesive, just use Goo-Gone to remove the old adhesive first.

If the cord wrappers have broken off (the things the feet are glued to), I’d just stick big fat Bumpons to the case.

If you’re just missing the tilting bale, you can probably find a replacement on eBay, otherwise there are generic ones made that just screw to the bottom of the case.

Wood glue to plastic will not work: it won’t adhere to plastic. There is no point in trying, and you’ll just make a mess you have to clean up.

[5U4GB]

I'll test some wood and glue inside it,

Uh, that's the exact thing that several people have indicated won't work.  Short of, say, spit, it's probably the least useful glue you can use with ABS/PE/PP/whatever the multimeter is made of. 

Of the commonly-available glues something like Uhu might do it, but even then I wouldn't bet on it holding PE or PP.  In fact go to your local hardware store and look at every glue they stock, pretty much all if not actually all of them will say "not for PE or PP", if that's what the multimeter case is made of.  For example looking at the Uhu site it says:

Suitable for:

Universal - glues wood, wood based materials, plastics (ABS, hard and soft PVC, Plexiglas, polystyrene, Resopal), metal, glass, porcelain, ceramic, leather, rubber, felt, cork, fabrics, cardboard, paper, many plastics and much more.

Not suitable for:

Not suitable for Styrofoam, Polyethylene (PE) and Polypropylene (PP).

So in effect "glues absolutely everything you can think of, unless it's PE or PP".

[Haenk]

But really, which manufacturer of professional equipment would use PE/PP for a case? It has to be ABS. (PE/PP would have a "waxy" touch to it, but I'm 100% sure, it's not...)

[tooki]

Uh, that's the exact thing that several people have indicated won't work.  Short of, say, spit, it's probably the least useful glue you can use with ABS/PE/PP/whatever the multimeter is made of. 

Of the commonly-available glues something like Uhu might do it, but even then I wouldn't bet on it holding PE or PP.  In fact go to your local hardware store and look at every glue they stock, pretty much all if not actually all of them will say "not for PE or PP", if that's what the multimeter case is made of.  For example looking at the Uhu site it says:

Suitable for:

Universal - glues wood, wood based materials, plastics (ABS, hard and soft PVC, Plexiglas, polystyrene, Resopal), metal, glass, porcelain, ceramic, leather, rubber, felt, cork, fabrics, cardboard, paper, many plastics and much more.

Not suitable for:

Not suitable for Styrofoam, Polyethylene (PE) and Polypropylene (PP).

So in effect "glues absolutely everything you can think of, unless it's PE or PP".

Polyethylene and polypropylene aren’t used for electronics enclosures, they’re too soft. They’re commonly used for milk jugs, bottles for solvents and cleaners, and various films and wraps. Not relevant here.

But really, which manufacturer of professional equipment would use PE/PP for a case? It has to be ABS. (PE/PP would have a "waxy" touch to it, but I'm 100% sure, it's not...)

Indeed.

I just checked my Keithley 197, which uses the same case, and unfortunately there are absolutely no markings indicating what resin it is. But it certainly looks and feels like ABS, and I don’t see any reason why they wouldn’t have used ABS for this type of product. It just stands to reason that it is. The only other plastic it plausibly could be is polycarbonate. I’m not willing to do any destructive testing to determine which it is.

[jpanhalt]

Tests to identify ABS.  I mentioned before the flame tests.  The sooty, pungent smell is characteristic.  Sooty alone is not.  ABS sinks in water and floats in glycerin.

https://www.wikihow.com/Identify-Abs-Plastic
https://www.ji-horng.com/plastic-material-identification-by-burn-test

[tooki]

Tests to identify ABS.  I mentioned before the flame tests.  The sooty, pungent smell is characteristic.  Sooty alone is not.  ABS sinks in water and floats in glycerin.

I’m not willing to damage my bench meter’s housing to perform destructive testing, and I assume OP isn’t, either.

https://www.wikihow.com/Identify-Abs-Plastic

I love how 3 of the 4 “non damaging” tests they lost involve potentially damaging the sample… 

[Haenk]

The only other plastic it plausibly could be is polycarbonate.

PC is very hygoscopic, that would not be a good choice for electrical measuring instruments, so: extremely unlikely.

[themadhippy]

Another  option,one of the many grab adhesives like "sticks like sh*t" that stuff sticks almost anything to anything.

[5U4GB]

But really, which manufacturer of professional equipment would use PE/PP for a case?

Fluke.  That's a carrying case not the DMM case itself because no-one seems to specify what those are made of, but it indicates PP is used in some cases.

[ddosegov]

First cover wood with thin coat of lacquer, paint or epoxy, let it dry for a few days, then use 3M 03609/03614/03615/03616.

[tooki]

But really, which manufacturer of professional equipment would use PE/PP for a case?

Fluke.  That's a carrying case not the DMM case itself because no-one seems to specify what those are made of, but it indicates PP is used in some cases.

We are talking about the device enclosures themselves, not carrying cases! 

[tooki]

The only other plastic it plausibly could be is polycarbonate.

PC is very hygoscopic, that would not be a good choice for electrical measuring instruments, so: extremely unlikely.

It may be “very hygroscopic” from a molding (including 3D printing) point of view, but I don’t think it matters in terms of normal-voltage electrical performance. It’s a widely used material for electrical enclosures.

Keithley knows how to design sensitive measurement circuits properly; I can’t see how the enclosure could have an influence. 

[5U4GB]

Fluke.  That's a carrying case not the DMM case itself because no-one seems to specify what those are made of, but it indicates PP is used in some cases.

We are talking about the device enclosures themselves, not carrying cases! 

Uh, that's exactly what the message you're quoting says, "we don't have any data on DMMs but the closest thing that we have data for is made of something notoriously difficult to glue".

[tooki]

Fluke.  That's a carrying case not the DMM case itself because no-one seems to specify what those are made of, but it indicates PP is used in some cases.

We are talking about the device enclosures themselves, not carrying cases! 

Uh, that's exactly what the message you're quoting says, "we don't have any data on DMMs but the closest thing that we have data for is made of something notoriously difficult to glue".

But it’s not a “close thing” at all. Carrying cases aren’t DMM housings.

I wasn’t saying that what you said was untrue. I’m saying that it’s not relevant to the discussion in any way.

[vk6zgo]

I have had a lot of success with "Selleys Allfix".

I doubt it exists outside Oz, but the ingredients are fairly vaguely described on the container as:-

30-60%Acetone

10-30% Ethylene Acetate

1-10% Butyl Acetate.

I have used it to stick a large Bakelite Morse Key base back together after I dropped it, and at another extreme, to stick the plastic segments of the cover of a barrel type connector on the end of the charging lead for this laptop.
The moulded cover of the connector is made of what looks & feels like the soft outer cover on my Fluke 77.

One thing that seems essential is to clamp it during its setting period------ for the bakelite bit with an actual clamp & for the connector a combination of cable ties & a vyce.
 

[5U4GB]

I have had a lot of success with "Selleys Allfix".

I doubt it exists outside Oz, but the ingredients are fairly vaguely described on the container as:-

30-60%Acetone

10-30% Ethylene Acetate

1-10% Butyl Acetate.

That looks pretty identical to the Uhu glue I mentioned, acetone + one or more acetates, which indicates that similar mixes would be available under different names in other countries that don't carry Selleys products.

For people in countries that do carry Selleys, if you want it cheaper than the Selleys prices then buy it under the name Parfix, it's the same stuff but sold at a lower price point.