Michael In our household, things somehow keep breaking, but instead of replacing them with new ones, I often repair them with the help of my extensive tool collection. Recently, the bathroom fan stopped working. A new one costs only 15 dollars at the hardware store, but it was a lot of fun to take apart the electric motor, find the dirty axle, clean and lubricate it, reassemble the fan, and see that it now runs smoothly again. The knowledge gained from such a repair, as well as the excitement of whether you can even put the device back together, is priceless.

Often, when working on such tasks, it is necessary to glue broken plastic or metal parts back together. I don't know why, but somehow I seem to be at odds with superglues, as I have yet to find one that permanently sticks anything together. In the advertisements, it always looks so easy, but in reality, such a superglue at best permanently sticks to the repairer's fingers, while glued plastic parts bend like modeling clay under the subsequent application of force, and then come apart.

An American acquaintance gave me the tip to try the epoxy miracle adhesive "J-B Weld," which comes in two tubes. One contains a black paste called "Steel" (actually a resin), and the other a white goo called "Hardener." If you squeeze a small amount from both tubes onto a surface and mix them with a spatula, you get a gray paste that slowly hardens. It remains moldable for four to six hours, giving the repairer enough time to bond parts made of metal, PVC, ceramic, or wood. Within 15 hours, the paste fully hardens and bonds with the adjacent materials, creating something akin to a welded connection. I used it to firmly reattach the broken plastic tab from a folding crate, without which it wouldn't close properly (see Figure #1).

According to Wikipedia, the miracle paste was invented in 1968 by an American hobbyist, at the urging of his wife, turned it into a small business. The life dream of the company founder, who "suddenly" passed away in 1989, was allegedly to see an 18-wheeler truck on the roads of America loaded with nothing but J-B Weld. This American dream has come true, without a doubt.

Greetings!

Angelika and Michael

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• More topics you might be interested in:

  	DIY Tire Repair
  	Summer Vacation
  	Key Duplication Machine
  	Trends: Driving old Hondas
  	Polamarin Hiking Trail in Point Reyes
  	Crosstown Trail: On Foot Across San Francisco
  	Electoral College