At 08:56 AM 6/5/2012, pickle vanagon wrote:
>So I'm going to give that a try.  I plan to sand off the thin side
>(the side that rests against the cluster) paint over the broken
>parts, and then---that's it, right?

The stuff is polyester - you may have an easier time with a
belly-blade X-Acto knife, either coming in at a very shallow angle or
just scraping.  Once you get through the plastic you can scrape the
foil at 90* to get it shiny-bright, but remember it's quite thin.

Prepare to spend a long time rolling and shaking the paint to get the
copper up off the bottom.  Also I've never been able to keep an open
bottle for long periods without it drying up.

Don't put it on too thick.  Not sure what too thick is, but it's
meant for rigid surfaces and you don't want it cracking.  Dry thoroughly.

Electronics techs use a variation on this using silver paint instead
of copper.  One way is in a pen like this:
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3964901 .  Be
sure to read the reviews re shaking it enough and using lacquer
thinner to keep the tip clean.  This stuff is more conductive than
the copper and meant for flexible circuits as well as rigid ones.

>   I think can probably not worry about having those connections
> exposed there in a very small area.

Suggest at least a piece of good quality (Scotch 33+) electrical tape
to keep the air off, but it may be overkill.

Yrs,
d