Need a product to fill hole in orthotic

May 12, 2018 2:38 PM

I have a pair of custom-made orthotics that has developed a small hole in the surface of one of them. I don’t want it to spread, so I’d like to seal it somehow. Duct tape gets rubbed off pretty quickly. There has to be some sort of product that will fill the hole, dry, and not get rubbed off; I just don’t know what it is. Thanks!
posted by persona au gratin to Home & Garden (13 answers total)

I'd be tempted to try Sugru.
posted by Too-Ticky at 3:01 PM on May 12, 2018

Best answer: The surface here is some kind of leather or leatherette, right? That's what my old orthotics used to use. I'd probably try something like Shoe Goo, which is tenacious and flexible. Prep the area by cleaning it with rubbing alcohol and then waiting for it to fully dry. Then, after the goo is fully cured, I'd go over it with a piece of tenacious tape, which is very very sticky and very abrasion resistant. It's what I use to patch the seat of my roofing pants so that customers don't have to see my butt, and it holds up better than the original pants. Some of the colors are actually slightly different materials; I find that black is the best and strongest, although they're all very good. Again, for best results prep with alcohol before applying the tape. It also helps to heat it while applying pressure for a while, to get the glue to really tack up and stick as well as it possibly can. Something like a dry cloth warmed in the oven and then pressed on with a heavy textbook works really well. It's much better than duct tape, albeit also much pricier per foot. But you only need a few inches.

On preview, I have personally found Sugru's adhesion and durability to be pretty disappointing. In my opinion it's very much an overhyped product. YMMV though.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 3:05 PM on May 12, 2018 [4 favorites]

Oh, if you follow my advice make sure to cut your tenacious tape into a circle or oval. Tape in general is less likely to get rubbed off if it doesn't have corners.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 3:06 PM on May 12, 2018 [3 favorites]

Probably a moleskin patch - one of the round ones so you don't have the corner issue mentioned above - would do the trick. You could first smear in a smidge of spackle, silicone caulk, or epoxy if you have any of those on hand (possibly even good old Elmers glue) and then moleskin over it to keep it from popping out.
posted by Lyn Never at 3:09 PM on May 12, 2018

I can't keep moleskin on my foot for a single day of hiking, so I'm less optimistic on that one as a long term solution.
posted by salvia at 3:37 PM on May 12, 2018

I think the important part is whether the area with the hole needs to be flexible, which probably depends on where the hole is. If it doesn't need to flex at all, then maybe an epoxy putty would do the trick.
posted by pipeski at 4:02 PM on May 12, 2018 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Yes, if you don't need it to flex then epoxy putty is fantastic stuff. That was my first thought but then I figured you probably needed some flexibility in your repair. If you don't, just spackle on a bit of epoxy putty and call it good because that stuff ain't going nowhere.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 6:00 PM on May 12, 2018

If you have an orthotic insert that is regularly wearing through, that is a Podiatrist question and not a Metafilter question.

If that thing is wearing through you need to tell that doctor. It's valuable information. How it's wearing through is very valuable information.
posted by sanka at 7:41 PM on May 12, 2018 [1 favorite]

Dab of shoe goo , reasonably tough and resilient .
posted by hortense at 10:45 PM on May 12, 2018

Have you sought help from the orthotics manufacturer or the store you bought them from?
posted by Carol Anne at 7:43 AM on May 13, 2018

I wonder about a vinyl repair kit.
posted by jferg at 8:52 AM on May 13, 2018

E6000 is a glue that dries clear and flexible and adheres to just about everything, often used in shoe applications
posted by wowenthusiast at 9:53 AM on May 13, 2018 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: Thanks, all. This is really helpful! I’m going to start with the epoxy and Sugru and see if those work.
posted by persona au gratin at 1:48 AM on May 14, 2018