Getting better gluing acrylics...

[Stephen Beckham]

Well, now that I've done my third one of these, I'm getting the hang of not dropping extra chemical somewhere on the face of the exposed acrylic.

This was made for a friend's Aunt to go on her casket. It's just under 12" total across. For those who saw the original, you might notice that I reduced the amount of detail in the altar. It was hard enough glueing the center parts of the A back in there, I didn't need 8 small parts to the alter as well with the smallest piece that would be less than 1/8" tall and 1/8" thick...

Practice, practice, practice.... Oh and those little acrylic glue bottles really help. I found one here locally that's by Craftics company and it's callede a PLASTICATOR. It comes with a small bottle and a 25 gauge needle (not sharp). It was trickier than the syringe in the fact that it drips when turned over from gravity where the syringe requires minimal pressure to start the flow. The advantage is smoother flow and easier to manuever around the parts...

[Frank Corker]

Really nice job! It always is awkward with the syringes, I have one which has a fairly thick nozzle and that drips with gravity, however if you are careful it can still be done. I sometimes use a small detail brush to get to the very fine stuff. Like you say though, practice makes perfect.... I think you are there matey!

[Larry Bratton]

This might not be exactly applicable to this, but maybe will be helpful to some.

I glue acrylic letters to closed cell pvc for my signs. I found that Weldon #16 works well for this. As an applicator, I bought some plain old plastic catsup/mustard containers (the kind like restaurants put on the table or counter). The adhesive stays liquid inside them. This thicker adhesive can be applied with the tip with great speed. You have to keep a old rag handy to keep the tip clear, because it air dries with great rapidity. I have glued hundreds of letters with this stuff and it works well. It will also glue acrylic to non-plastic surfaces. ( I buy the Weldon #16 in gallon cans)

[Darren Null]

I use the tiny syringes that diabetics use. Works well for me.

[martin g. boekers]

Speaking of Weldon, is there different strenghs? When I try to "weld"
a piece to a base it happens so quick that sometimes when I'm finished it's not a nice clean clear weld.

Any help?

Thanks,

Marty