Superglue and Baking Soda Make Plastic. Used for Tent Zipper Stop.

Problem statement: Tent door zipper comes apart.

Solution: Repair or replace zip,

Issues:

1. To repair professionally would cost too much compared to cost of tent.
2. Replacement of slider suggested and tried (didn't fix problem)
3. While sourcing a long zip via internet, found you could buy by the meter, but then had to attach the slider yourself.
4. End stops would need to be made to stop slider coming off the zip.

Here's how superglue (CA glue) and baking soda can be made into a plastic for a zip stopper.

Apply a little super glue to position required for a zip stopper.

Sprinkle baking soda onto the superglue. This will cause it to harden immediately into a plastic.

Remove excess baking soda and the zip stopper is complete.

It has been shown how to make a plastic zip stopper using superglue and baking soda. The rest of the tent repair will now be described.

Two meters of zip was purchased online. In order to get the zip slider onto the zip, some of the teeth were cut away using scissors. This allowed the slider to be worked it's way on to the zip.

To stop the slider coming off, stoppers were made using superglue and baking soda as already explained.

Another stopper was made at the other end of the zip. This stopper would also stop the far end of the zip from coming apart.

To save time and provide strength, the old zip was left on the tent. The new zip was sewn onto the old zip. I was going to do this myself but didn't have the required equipment, so after pinning the new zip to where I wanted it sewn, I got someone who owned a sewing machine to sew it on. The zip was then cut to the right length after being sewn on. To stop the end fraying I used a little superglue.

The photo above shows how the new zip was sewn onto the old one. When closing the zip a couple of times I tried to move the old zip by mistake. I have now removed the old zip's grip by snipping it off with wire cutters.

By buying a zip by the meter on line, using superglue and baking soda to make a zip stop, not removing the old zip, and getting someone to sew the new zip on, the tent repair has been successful and cost effective.