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I have a phone/tablet support that is made of two bars of maleable aluminium. It was joined with a plastic cover that broke. How can I join the two bars again?

Maybe there is some kind of device like a hollow cylinder that I can wrap around the bars and using some screws to hold the bars tight?

Or maybe some kind of material that can be molded over the two bars and then becomes strong when heated?

The support is this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gooseneck-Flexible-Compatible-4-0-10-5-Devices/dp/B07RBSXD7Q

In the photo, the bar on the left is also aluminium but it's covered in plastic. I can remove that plastic.

Aluminium

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  • You're really gonna have to ad photos of all the parts, we can't guess based on a description.
    – MiG
    Feb 18, 2022 at 14:27
  • This might do better on engineering.stackexchange.com. It's not home improvement per the definition on this site.
    – isherwood
    Feb 18, 2022 at 14:29
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    Join two aluminum (or aluminium) bars - TIG welder or MIG welder.
    – Ecnerwal
    Feb 18, 2022 at 14:32
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    You are going to end up buying a new one anyways. Just do it.
    – Steve Wellens
    Feb 18, 2022 at 15:27
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    @statueuphemism Yeah, except it happens with China in particular for specific reasons, including deliberate evasion of our national consumer safety schemes (CSA and UL)... and Amazon is a huge part of that. A manufacturer operating in the US and Canada "has collateral" as Tuco puts it in Breaking Bad, and has very serious motivation to respect safety laws and make good stuff. China isolates its manufacturers from that accountability, on purpose, as an act of economic war. And you call it happenstance.
    – Harper - Reinstate Monica
    Feb 18, 2022 at 22:58

4 Answers 4

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Stop a power company crew and ask them to crimp a straight splice for aluminum wire to those two parts, bring donuts. Check your home store for clamp connectors or at an electrical supply store for a connector similar to the one shown below. enter image description here

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  • Note that this connector will cost more than the cheap Chinese tablet stand. However, it will outlast its next 5 successors, and you.
    – Harper - Reinstate Monica
    Feb 18, 2022 at 18:17
  • @Harper-ReinstateMonica Did you have to remind me that I won't live forever... like I thought I would as a teenager? :-)
    – JACK
    Feb 18, 2022 at 18:34
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If you're not worried about the physical appearance of the finished part, an epoxy putty could be used.

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  • Is it really that strong?
    – Joe Jobs
    Feb 18, 2022 at 20:40
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    Strong enough to hold a phone on a table top? Sure. Strong enough to hold a 10" iPad on the dashboard of an off-roading jeep? Maybe not. If I were to try, I would use the putty to craft a replacement part probably bigger than the broken plastic piece, not just a tiny dab trying to stick the metal to the plastic. Hard to tell exactly from the photo, but I might put the wire back into the plastic piece, wrap it with several wraps of wire to reinforce it, then mold the putty over all of that to give it the "meat" needed. Holding it in my hand, I might instead decide it better to replace it.
    – spuck
    Feb 18, 2022 at 22:09
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A small worm gear hose clamp (radiator clamp, jubilee clip, worm drive hose clamp, or screw hose clamp) might work to hold the pieces together. You could wrap the pieces together with rubber gasket material beneath the clamp to help spread the force a bit.

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Silicone tape, stetch it tight and wrap it round it will bind them together tightly.

Silicone putty is another option. Sugru is one brand that I know of.

Polyester putty is an option too. "body filler" or "builders filler".

String and superglue can work too. bind them tightly with cotton string or linen thread, then add glue to harden the knot and eliminate slipping.

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