All,

Is there a cement I can use on the mica that could handle extreme heat?

I have to repair my toaster, it's a sunbeam from 1933 - was a wedding gift to my grandmother. I disassembled and cleaned it a few years ago, and worked flawlessly unitl a girlfriend stuck a knife down in there and made a mess.

Each side of the toast "bay' has a mica sheet with edge tabs that holds the heater wire in place, several tabs have broken off and the wire is free floating.

It's really cool, it has a clock mechanism to control the toast timing, it ticks...and is so stylish, you'd never guess it's 84 years old.
thank you

Hi SmoothOscillator,
I don't know quite what to say about this. Antique/vintage toasters are very collectible and have a big following, so you might do better by checking out one the websites dealing specifically with them. Yours would certainly not be the first one to suffer such damage from a table knife, and I suspect there is a process for repairing them which is known to those who collect and restore old toasters.

Sodium silicate (commonly known as "water glass") will withstand extremely high temperatures. It was the type of cement originally used by most tube manufacturers to secure bases and grid caps to vacuum tubes. It is also still commonly used to secure gaskets to stoves, etc. It sticks well to both porous and non-porous surfaces and forms a very strong bond, but also tends to be very brittle. But whether this would work for your toaster I do not know.

Thanks for the tip Poston.

I figured I'd try here first as this bunch is very knowledgeable - (apparently about most everything sometimes

I'll try a toaster forum.
cheers

http://www.sauereisen.com/ceramic-assem ... uct-index/

Product #6

I am thinking that furnace cement might work.
I use it to cement tube plate/grid caps back on and also bases.
I also use it to cement my wood stove door gaskets back in after replacing them. IIRC, it was like 12 bux a tube.

I had a tube of muffler cement a while back that I used for securing 12V halogen bulbs to a base, worked well.
Those bulbs get extremely hot.
It's good up to 1500F most auto parts stores should have it.

I have a few tubes with loose grid or plate caps so I found this thread and ordered a jar of sodium silicate. Can this be used by itself as an adhesive? I see references to adding ground chalk and zinc oxide to it to make a paste. If this is the case where in the heck does one buy zinc oxide? Is there a common household source for this kind of powder?

loose grid caps-----superglue (this is not a high-temperature application---at least not like the OP's toaster situation)

I've used this stuff "Blue Magic QuickSteel ThermoSteel High Temperature Metal Repair" comes in a little plastic jar from auto parts stores a few times so far with good results on metal, not sure how it would work on other materials, 2400 Degrees F.

Master-Carr Supply has a wide selection of adhesives, all well-described.
Just enter adhesives in the search box at upper left under the name.

http://www.mcmaster.com

- Leigh

You might also look up an adhesive called Rocksett.
Good up to 2,015°F

https://www.amazon.com/Flexbar-15014-Hi ... B001C1D800