How to glue Acrylic
by Aquaboy on Saturday, March 13th, 2010 | 25 Comments
This video segment will show you the basics of gluing acrylic. The concepts shown here also apply to other plastics with gluing properties similar to acrylic. More videos available at tapplastics.com
Ah cool thankyou duude
Im doing it with tensol cement anyway
@NewEraKAK You could certainly ‘stick’ pieces together that way, but it would be ugly and not as strong of a bond.
THANK YOU TAP PLASTICS!! I found this solution very easy although I have not tried it yet. I live in the UK so I am using another cement like it!
>>>This is by far, the best tutorial anywhere. I’ve never cut or welded acrylic before. At least for art sake.
I used to make skylights, so I have an idea, but we never used weld on 16. All plastic welding was done with large machines and ovens.
Thanks a lot for tips!
Hey wondered whether you could laminate 10 pieces of acrylic on top of each other using a glue gun?
It is possible, but difficult with clear material. Getting the bubbles out is the big challenge. If you are gluing opaque material, then the bubbles don’t matter and it will work fine. With pieces 3″ X 36″ you might be able to carefully lay one piece on top of the other, starting from one end and squeezing the glue and bubbles forward as you lower the piece.
See answer above. The most important part of hiding the seam is to route and sand the edges so that the seam cannot be felt. The seam would also need to be bubble free. Otherwise there will be gaps between the two pieces.
Is it possible to laminate two 1/4″ pieces together to make a 1/2″ piece using this technique?
an oxy-acetylene will do it. if not, a buffed edge comes up nice on black acrylic.
@175myles i wouldnt bother witha plastic tank. the rocks scratch the hell out of acrylic. you could possibbly try MR10 polycarb (it is apparently scratch resistant)
Will this technique work for face laminating acrylic pieces together? I have two pieces of 1/4″ thick and would like to make it 1/2″ thick, by about 3″ wide and 36″ long. Any suggestions? And then would flame polishing help hide the lamination seam?
Thanks for your response.
I made sure the piece was perpendicular to the sandpaper by bonding it to another piece with double-sided tape.
I can’t look for bubbles because the plastic is opaque.
@stokestack The weight of the piece of plastic is all the pressure that is needed. Any extra pressure can squeeze the glue out of the joint. You also mentioned sanding the edge. Sanding almost always rounds an otherwise flat edge. This will severely weaken the joint. When you squeeze the glue into the joint, the joint should go clear with no bubbles. This indicates good surface contact and a strong bond.
@175myles You can order them on our website.
@WTFcrewvideos Yes, Weld-On 16 will bond PVC to acrylic.
Where do i find acrylic? I live in Australia. And would acrylic be suitable for small baby fish storage untill i get glass tanks?
How much pressure should one apply when applying the glue? I glued an assembly together while applying a decent amount of pressure. On trying to rout one edge with a flush-trim bit, the glued piece flew off and I could see that glue did not penetrate the entire contact area. Nor did the bond look particularly well formed.
One surface was the glossy side, and the other had been sanded well with at least 400-grit paper. It had been dry for days.
Thank you for responding. Your videos are very helpful. Gave me ideas on how I can possibly fix it.
Thanks.
Happy New Year.
hello . can you use weld on 16 to glue clear shd 40 pvc to clear acrylic? if not then whats is good to do so? thanks for any info!!!
@ParadiseBlue369 If the two pieces are clean and mate together without gaps, it should glue up just fine. That is assuming there is enough surface area to bond. If it is very thin material, or there is little surface area, the bond might not be strong enough.
We do not have any retail locations in Canada. You can order our products from our website.
Thanks for the info. I suspected that higher heat/shorter exposure might be the key.
@stokestack Butane is much too cool a flame to polish acrylic. Butane burns at about 1900 degrees F. MAPP Gas is recommended because it burns at about 3500 degrees F, over 1000 degrees hotter. With a lower temperature, you have to hold the flame in one place to generate enough heat, and by then the plastic ignites. With a high temperature, the flame moves so quickly that the surface melts (thus flame polished) , but does not ignite.
Good video.
I tried flame-polishing the edge of some black acrylic with a small butane torch. Regardless of how much or how little I exposed the edge to the flame, it never flowed; it merely crazed and ignited. I realize that this torch is not as hot as the ones you recommend, but the fact that the plastic ignited makes me wonder about this method.
@MasterJezzie We don’t recommend it, but you can try to see if it meets your needs.
@yanelyarrieta You did not mention the size of the piece you want to glue. In general, if you follow the video, the water thin Acrylic Cement will flow into the joint without any bubbles. Sometimes applying the glue from both sides of the joint improves success.
Flame polishing should always be last because Acrylic Cement applied to a polished piece will craze it. Make sure any cement is thoroughly dry before flame polishing, or that will cause crazing as well.