What glue should I use?

<p>At a family gathering yesterday I was using my K10 with the Pentax AF360 shoe mount flash on the camera. My "Travelon" brand camera strap failed and the rig dropped to the hardwood floor. The flash hit the floor first and the flash broke off cleanly at the mounting foot. The flash is still working, but I need to glue the foot back onto the flash body. The strap came loose at the camera lug. Those straps have a sleeve that fits over that part of the strap and that means you have to go to considerable effort to inspect it. But now I know that it can work its way loose, so I will inspect it regularly from now on. The K10d and the 16-45 lens both survived the fall like champs. Not the first impact for the lens, either. It rolled off my car hood last summer and landed on asphalt, and it still works just fine. <br>

What glue would you recommend for gluing this plastic/polycarbonate part back together?<br>

The mounting foot was molded into a plate that is attached to the flash body with screws. I think I can remove the plate, glue the shoe back on, and then when the glue is cured I can screw it all back on. When the foot broke off the electronics from the foot to the flash simply came unplugged. So I can just plug that back in before I remount the plate. Seems like a pretty simple repair if I can just use the correct glue.<br>

Any input is welcomed. </p>

<p> </p>

<p>2 component epoxy. I can't advise a brandname since these change quite often; your local DIY shop will probably have a few choices.</p>

<p>*some* plastics will responde well to a super-glue, some will not. As mentioned I'd try a 2-pary epoxy as well.</p>

<p>JB Weld.</p>

<p>Rick H.</p>

<p>2 part epoxy. If it won't interfere with operation, apply plenty. Super glue is better when you want the repair to be less obvious. I would take strength over looks for your repair.</p>

<p>This isn't a rare happening. I picked one up on ebay like this that can be used in off-camera mode. Still, I hope you can get it fixed.</p>

<p>Doug</p>

<p>If the crack has irrelevant surfaced space around use slow hardeneing 2 parts epoxy, expand the surface surrounding the crack with a wire brush on a drill or huge grained sand paper and put some layer of fiber glass into your epoxy too. Or is the crack below the tightening ring?</p>

<p>I'd try an MEK solvent based cement first, in case it's styrene.</p>

<p>Maybe it would be better just to replace the whole foot. I've done it for the AF540, but not for the AF360. Pretty easy to to. I bought my replacement foot from Pentax USA, but I can't find the link to that. I've gotten recommendations for usacamera.com and a search of their site does show AF360 parts (http://www.uscamera.com/360fgz.htm). However I've never used them before....</p>

<p>Thanks, Steve. That is my new plan. <br>

I took the flash foot mounting plate off and discovered the inside surface was stamped with "<ABS>" which I took to mean it was molded of ABS plastic. I tried to glue it all together with Testor's model cement, which works well for polystyrene and ABS plastics. I got the foot glued back onto the plate, but a shard of plastic was missing from the accident, so it was not a 100% repair. It seemed adequate, though, until about 36 hours later when I tried to mount it on the camera. The amount of force needed to mount it caused the repair to fail. So I am going to have to either buy the foot from Pentax or look for one on ebay to use as parts. <br>

I appreciate everyone's ideas. </p>

 

<p>I just went to the site Steve recommended and ordered the exact parts I need for just over $20 plus shipping. I may never have found it without my PN friends. Thanks! </p>

<p>Good luck! Also, leave the batteries out of the flash for a while before doing the swap. I'm not sure if there's a shock hazard through the foot, but better safe than sorry. The capacitors in those things can be dangerous.</p>