Anyone had any luck "welding" plastic interior pieces?

Vehicle:  1985 Chevrolet C30 Silverado Dooley.

The problem:  When I replaced my OE cracked up dashboard a few years back, I was lazy about re-installing the fancy Silverado dash trim, which is a lovely piece of "metallized" plastic that also serves as a mounting for two of the dash vents.  Naturally enough, it got broken, right at one of the vents where it's really just two thin strips of plastic.

The solution?  How can I fix this?  I'm thinking reinforce with a stick of some kind of compatible plastic, then "welding" with a woodburner or similar tool.  I don't believe any glue would be strong enough, given how small the cross-section is at the break.

What say ye?

Plastic welds don't look pretty. Are you sure no glue could work, even if you reinforce the area with a longer stick of some plastic? Could you post a pic of the break? Hot glue is totally reversible and pretty strong.

Plastic weld with some stainless steel screen if it needs reinforcement. Soldering iron or woodburner can do it. Here's what I got: https://www.amazon.com/Polyvance-5700HT-Airless-Plastic-Welder/dp/B00IEX6NME

It's pricey and basically a soldering iron with custom tips and a thermostat set for various plastics. Still, I like it a lot better than my old soldering iron.

https://www.polyvance.com/video/airless-plastic-welding/how-to-secure-a-broken-fog-light-mounting-boss-2

Maybe drill and pin both sides of the break when glueing to provide mechanical strength (same idea as dowels for woodworking)  

In reply to GameboyRMH :

Yeah, I figured to work from the backside only.  Here's a couple pics:

Looking at the ends of the broken bits:

Superglue the 2 pieces,  then epoxy a reinforcement to the back.

Dr. Hess said:

Superglue the 2 pieces,  then epoxy a reinforcement to the back.

This. Super-glue from the back so you can't see the glue, if looks are important, otherwise do it all around. Wear safety glasses.

I found the best guides on motorcycle fairing repair. They seem to need it the most often. Don't have a particular one to recommend, but it might be a good jumping off point. I always did a few layers of medium depth stitching with an old soldering iron from the back, building up a matrix of sorts. It depends on the pastic however (thermoform vs thermoset) so check for the imprint when its off and google it. Different polymers act very different for repair. 

Edit: oops, missed your pic post... for small butt welds, you might try model glue, it chemically welds many plastics and seems strongest for these repairs. Helpfully, a model shop should be able to closely match the paint and give pointers. Try on a hidden spot 1st!

Thanks for the responses!  As for material, the letters "ABS" appear in an oval on the backside right after the model number, so I might be bold enough to say it's Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene.

The best glue for ABS is... wait for it... Acetone.  Dip both sides in, press them together, let them dry.  I would still reinforce it from behind, and there may be more cosmetic damage than a careful superglue job.

Yes, chemical weld would be the best bet, but you'll probably berk up the "chrome" plating on the face of it. 

Qbond has been my go to for plastics for a while now, seems to hold up well on most of them. 

I just broke the same part on a Ford Focus. I epoxied it from the back. It was hard to clamp so it didn't line up exact but it works.

Since it is a Focus I didn't care how it looked.

i tried to cheat by picking up the lmc catalog lying beside me on the floor.  they got nothing.  sorry.  

nutherjrfan said:

i tried to cheat by picking up the lmc catalog lying beside me on the floor.  they got nothing.  sorry.  

Actually I've seen a "billet" aluminum one online for like 60 bucks.  None of the pics are good, but I'm concerned it might be a tad cheesy.  Surprised it's not in the LMC catalog.