Broken slate, soup cans, clamps, L-channel, straight edge, super-glue, and bondo.
- Thread starter realkingcobra
- Start date
Awesome? 
OIC. Chicken noodle depth consistency for level. How do slates usually get broken anyway? Over tightening? Not looking forward to relocating mine, but good to know if I drop it on my toe it is fixable. :grin-square:
Awesome?
The soup cans allow you to raise up the slate high enough to work under it with clamps, and to give you points to level on to make sure the slate surface is flat across the break line before you super-glue it together
Glen
Yes, but your toe won't be
I don't know how this slate was broke, all I know is it's been broke for the last 5 recoveries and no one's done a thing about it, but I don't work that way...so I'm fixing it.Glen
Nice play by play with the pictures, Glen. Once that's glued, I assume you just treat it like you would any other seam?
Wouldn't some sort of epoxy be a better choice for something like this?
Actually not because you'd have to apply it before the broken slate is put in place, and that's when it needs to be flat leveled against the other side, which can take some time to accomplish. Once the pieces are fit together and flat/level...if you use the thin based super-glue, it'll seep right through the crack and come out the bottom, which is why I have a strip of duct tape across the bottom of the crack...to create a dam. If you watch the super-glue in the crack, it'll keep soaking in until it backs its way back out and forms a bead of glue on top of the break, that's when you know you've glued it as far down as you're going to get. Once the glue drys, I just scrape off any excess, then use bondo to fill any missing pieces of slate. With that done, I turn the slate over and repeat on the bottom if needed. I've put plenty of one piece slates back together the same way broke all the way down the middle lengthwise.
Glen
Makes sense.
In all the years I've been working on tables, I've never had a re-break at the same spot
Top side repaired.
Bottom side fixed.
Nice work, and thanks for sharing. :thumbup: Is there a particular brand of glue that you've found that works better than the others?
I have never sanded superglue it does look smooth. No beeswax!
Glen,
Thanks for the pictures and post.
Obviously you wouldn't do it if it wasn't strong enough...but exactly how strong/durable is the super glue? I assume tightening down the slate screws hase 0 chance of snapping that corner back off?
Thanks again to all the mechanics who contribute here,
Ian
Thanks for the pictures and post.
Obviously you wouldn't do it if it wasn't strong enough...but exactly how strong/durable is the super glue? I assume tightening down the slate screws hase 0 chance of snapping that corner back off?
Thanks again to all the mechanics who contribute here,
Ian
