Acrylic bonding

[Agent_Smith]

Is There anything that can make a piece of acrylic come unstuck after you have glued it in? I built a sump a really long time ago (3+ years) and now the baffles I have made are starting to come off, but in some places they are still attached. I thought I might as well just take all the baffles out and put thicker ones in.

 

[BeanAnimal]

What did you bond them with? What kind of acrylic is it? How did you bond it (what steps did you take)?

Bean

 

[Agent_Smith]

1. weld on #2

2. Its just regular vanilla acrylic That I got at the Hardware store

3. Just put the two pieces together and put some weld on in the joints

 

[zahner]

i don't think you can unglue them, weld-on forms a chemical weld in the material. if you want to replace them completely you would have to cut them out i think.

 

[Agent_Smith]

ok I can do that.

Thanks Alot

 

[stugray]

"weld-on forms a chemical weld in the material"

Actually weld-on is a solvent. It doesnt 'glue' the acrylic, it actually melts it, and the joint is formed when the acrylic resolidifies.

If you have a joint that has come apart, then it wasnt done properly, and you might need to question the rest of your joints.

Stu

 

[zahner]

yes, weld-on is a solvent

we are both saying the same thing and you are right, the joint should not come apart if done properly.


definition of chemical weld:

A Chemical weld occurs when you dissolve together the two faces of each surface to be joined (in a controlled fashion) with a welding chemical. The welding chemical is a volatile solvent that is blended to control the speed at which it dissolves the surface of the material and to control its rate of evaporation. The welding chemical is brushed, poured, or squirted onto the surfaces before they are pressed together. By carefully pressing the semi-dissolved surfaces together a bond is formed that is very similar to the bond we would get if we heated the surfaces using thermal welding. The solvent "flashes off" or evaporates, and after about 24 hours you have a homogeneous weld with no foreign material between the two surfaces.