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Acrylic cement


outtafocus

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I know everyone suggests using Weld-on #16 for bonding acrylic.

However, I was visiting my LHS (local hobby shop) when I found the plastic model "glues" section. In this section I found about four different brands of cement which where similar to weld-on #4, being like water. These included brands such as Pro-weld and MBS, all of the bottles had labels reading :"For solvent bonding ABS, Acrylic,styrene,butyrate & polycarbonate."

 

Has any one tried using any of these types of solvents? I picked up a bottle of the MBS brand so I could perform a few experiments on some scrap acrylic I had laying around. And at $5 for a 100ml bottle I figured Iam not loosing anything in trying.

 

Any opinions???

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That's two questions, will.

 

I recall a guy on reefcentral posted a tutorial for diy acrylic tanks b/c he makes them for a living and he noted that he doesn't actually like the weldon products and that he blends his own personal bonding agent. So I don't think there's anything particuarly magic about weldon, per se. If I were you I guess I'd do two things:

 

1) see if you can find out if the product you bought and the weldon products contain the same ingredients

 

2) like you said, do a test on scraps and make a small box & see if it's watertight and if it holds up for a while...like a couple weeks? Not sure if that would be enough time but some kind of testing period would be wise, I'd think.

 

Otherwise, I don't know. Sounds like it would be a possibility though.

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For the most part I dont believe toxicity is an issue. The solvent evaporates and leaves virtually no residue, and since these products are not a glue, they only melt the acrylic I am sure that the solvent is ok.

I highly doubt that any weldon product is non toxic, I know I wouldnt be drinking any.

I will build a test box and check for strength and water tightness.

Anything I do build to be used on any of my tanks will be thourghly cleaned and "cured" in a salt water bath.

Im just experimenting any way.

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qualudethunder

I used the Ambroid pro weld to build my fuge. Its been running for a few months with no issues. Methylene chloride is what it is.

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Thats the same ingredient thats in my solvent. I have read its pretty nasty stuff because of the speed which it evaporates.

So I must make sure I have the windows open.

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qualudethunder

It's not that bad. You use such a small amount that I wouldnt worry too much. You would have to pretty much intentionally huff it to have a problem.

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  • 1 month later...

Bumping this thread back up....where can MEK, Methylene Chloride, be purchased. I thought I read somewhere that acrylic shavings and acetone could be combined to make a weldon equivalent. Has anyone tried this?

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ODOG: Yes, acetone and acrylic chips will work, that was one of my threads.

The only problem I had with this stuff is the acrylic starting cracking in some places, but I did not use it properly. I have looked into this, and it seems if you run a bead of the DIY acetone+chips (or MEK+ acrylic chips) along the bottom edge of what you are cementing, it will work fine. What I did (and the reason for failure) was I taped my project together, and then applied the glue/cement right ONTOP of the corner, not actually between the two sheets of acrylic. Here's a couple threads I was involved in:

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/showthread...&threadid=62345

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/showthread...&threadid=63707

Hope this answers your questions!

-Jonathan

BTW: I'm still planning on having a [local?] plastics company cut my custom dimensions of 1/4" acrylic pieces and I'll glue them together.

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