Glue for Acrylic

[Jim Harsha]

I need to glue several pieces of 1/4" acrylic. What glue do you reccomend? Thanks.

[Jamie Buxton]

For acrylic, there's a solvent-dement that works very well. You tape the pieces together, and put a few drops of the cement at the joint. It wicks into the joint, somewhat dissolves the acrylic, and as the solvent evaporates, leaves a good joint. You should be able to buy the stuff wherever you bought the plastic. If not, look for plastic retailers in the phone book. Me, I get this sort of stuff from http://www.tapplastics.com/.

[Keith Outten]

IPS Weld-On 4

Comes with a special bottle that has a long needle applicator and is water thin and moderately fast drying. This is a commercial grade product.

[Ken Dolph]

If you would like to use a glue that works more like wood glue IPS Weld-on 16 works very well. It has the added advantage of a very long shelf life. Weld-on 3 and 4 evaporate shortly after opening the can but make the nicest joint.

I hope this helps.

Ken

[Keith Outten]

Thanks Ken,

I will ask my acrylic supplier about IPS Weld-on 16, it would be nice to have another choice for some jobs...a slower drying glue with more working time.

I use the small applicator by squeezing the air out of the bottle and then open the can and stick the needle tip into the can. The bottle will basically suck up a very small amount of glue, less than a small thimble but just enough for most jobs I do. This way I don't have to pour the glue into the applicator bottle and there is no mess to deal with. The glue transfered to the applicator bottle definately evaporates quickly.

If you have another technique that works better let me know.