Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Repairing a cracked OtterBox case

Cracks developed on my OtterBox Commuter case for HTC's Desire HD, and I am attempting a repair.


The repair so far.

I pressed and held the cracks in the plastic outer case together by using Scotch tape and applied a small amount of Super Glue on the inside of the case. Waited for 24 hours to let the glue set.

I removed the Scotch tape and confirmed that the glue is holding the case together.



Since the only glue holding the pieces together would be whatever managed to seep into the cracks a place a second layer of glue behind the cracks and applied a small soft but strong piece of plastic for additional support.



Not the cleanest job... but it will do.

So far so good. I managed to re-insert the phone without re-opening any of the cracks. Lets see how this goes.

July 9 ,2011 update:  The repair went well and it I think the damage wont be getting any worse. Needless to say I am happy to have my phone under OtterBox protection again.

I emailed OtterBox and they told me they will send me a replacement. That is excellent customer service. Really surprised since I never expected anyone to warranty "physical damage". It will be cool if they do, if not I will just use the repaired case. Nothing else I have seen in the market has convinced me that it will protect my investment as well as an OtterBox Comutter or Defender case.

July 18, 2011 update: The repair worked out pretty well. So far no problems with the repaired case. I am a little more careful with how I press the buttons these days, pressing them from the front of the phone rather than reaching out from the back to press them, The replacement from OtterBox arrived today.

October 21, 2011 update: No problems with the new Otterbox case.

1 comment:

  1. My Blackberry Z 30 Defender hard case (Vintage 2015) finally cracked from the lens cut out all the way to the right side. Will try Gorilla Superglue. Phone is used for work. Use Otter Defender cases only for all phones,

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