disintegrated plastic screw threaded hole solution

[coppercone2]

So if you have a PCB on a plastic substrate that has molded plastic bits that you thread into, you might have ran into the situation before where they disintegrated and you have a front panel thats dangling in the breeze when you press on a button.

I tested it and the results were great.

1) drill a small hole the size of your screw (probobly M3) in the chassis where the insert goes
2) get the insert for the screw that fits into the hole on the PCB
3) file the insert down to the correct height, matching with other inserts
4) insert screw into insert
5) clean with alcohol
6) stick a small ball of jb weld over the hole you drilled
7) press the insert into it, so the screw goes through the hole
press some JB weld around the insert using some kind of implement, like a small wooden stick
9) after 10 min cure time, extract the screw using pliers, carefully
10) you have a replacement metal threaded piece that is reasonably bonded to the plastic substrate and correctly aligned
11) you can put more JB weld around it when its cured to shore it up

Finally fixed my wavetek 399 front panel.


Billion ways to do this, but this is the best way I found.

I know its good because I filed down the brass insert near perfect with a leatherman. There was no tapping, aligning, presuming, liquids (besides cleaning, I mean no god damn epoxy liquids) or heat involved.
https://www.amazon.com/HELIFOUNER-Female-Knurled-Threaded-Embedment/dp/B0B38J2VJV

[RoGeorge]

Depending on the plastic type, fiber fillers hardened with cyanoacrylate might work, too.
- Fill the hole with cotton, or hemp rope, or napkin paper, or other similar fiber as a filler.
- Pour a few drops of cyanoacrylate (AKA "superglue").
- Let it dry, then drill and make thread.