acrylic repair

[joeyf]

My kalk reactor is cracked below one of the tubes that comes out of the side that is hooked to the circulation pump.

It is made out of solid acrylic. I was wondering what the best way to seal the crack would be. Since it is a round acrylic tube, I cannot put a patch over it.

I was thinking of getting some acrylic cement, such as weld-on, putting that inside the crack, letting that cure, then cover the outside of the crack with some 5 minute epoxy gel.

Anyone think that will work?

Thanks

 

[joeyf]

Anyone?

 

[GoldStripe]

I think it'll probably do the trick. You could do a patch with some thin acrylic. Just heat it up a bit and it bends pretty easy. Easy for me to say, I've never done it but I've read about it.

 

[joeyf]

Thanks

The spot where it is in is pretty tight, so I doubt I'd be able to make that work, unless I melted the acrylic down to liquid, which I know would be a huge disaster.

 

[jmkarcz]

I have had some good luck with the weldon 3. It's liquid enough, it penetrated into the crack. it dosent go without saying though, Dry it, Empty it, remove the fitting, Stress the crack a tiny bit to open it slightly, use a syringe to apply the weldon, release the stress, and allow 1 hour to cure. You may be able to get away with a runny super glue, but weldon it easiest.

Jason

 

[revance]

Use weldon 3 first, then cover the crack up with weldon 14. Weldon 14 is very thick and will cover the crack up and harden. Using other stuff will probably be a waste of your time because it won't chemically bond to the acrylic.

 

[MinibowMatt]

reverance is right. If the crack is super tight, just use weldon 3 or 4 (water thin) to soak into the crack and seal it through capillary action. Then if your worried still you can use a little weldon 16 over the top.

 

[revance]

oops, meant weldon 16... typo

 

[joeyf]

Thanks everyone

I have spoken with the manufacturer, and they have agreed to repair it for me.