Has anyone gone any examples of a repaired bowl using dichloromethane? As I wouldn't mind seeing an example, so that I have a rough idea on how it will turn out.

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From streetlighting to radio, dance through the night whilst the streetlights are glowing outside.

I'll get some pictures up soon, although these were only minor cracks within a bowl, so not much to see! Not tried with a completely cracked apart bowl.

If it works with small cracks, it should work with a through split of a P109 bowl.

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From streetlighting to radio, dance through the night whilst the streetlights are glowing outside.

Would it be better to apply to the inside of the bowl where the refractor lines are, or from the outside?

I was thinking better to apply to the inside as the refractor groove would prevent any overspill going too far, whereas it could run down the side of the bowl on the outside.

But then I figured when the bowl is fitted in place, the crack will have more pressure on it and hold together better, and any damage on the outside of the bowl would be easier to clean up than damage in the grooves.

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Neon + Sodium =

SOX rocks my socks!

Update on the bowl, I finally recieved the dichloromethane off eBay. I tested it on the edge of the bowl first to see how quickly it ate the plastic, then applied it to the crack.

Unfortunately, the capillary action didn't seem to happen. The dichloromethane just sat in droplets on the crack regardless of whether it was applied to the inside or outside and the syringe tended to apply either nothing or way more than needed. This resulted in a bit of a mess around the crack on the inside of the bowl.

I think some of it may have found its way into the crack, but it was not at all visually evident.

_________________
Neon + Sodium =

SOX rocks my socks!

I tend to leave cracks and put two small holes in the end of the crack to stop it spreading.

I haven't heard of that done before, but I suppose it would work quite well provided the material is not so brittle that drilling a hole generates more cracks  

_________________
Neon + Sodium =

SOX rocks my socks!

That is true.

You'll most likely find that it did draw into the crack, but its very subtle and doing it well relies on applying a very small amount - this avoids marking. When the gallery is up, I'll add pictures of a successful repair.

I have a GR200 on which the bowl plastic has gone very brittle, and the hinge mounts & bowl clips have all snapped off. The whole refractor area on one side is completely smashed and coming away. I'm planning a slightly more extreme repair, as this light is never going to see rain again, so I just want structural strength rather than beauty. It's so far gone that no amount of delicately injected plastic cement will even look at it.

Planning to cut lengths of clear acrylic and use this as a strengthening medium along the damaged sections, and glue it with either Araldite type epoxy, or perhaps a hot glue gun. The light will be mounted in such a way to hide the damage from view - I just can't have it falling on someone's head (probably mine!).