philipy wrote: ↑Wed Jun 01, 2022 1:32 pm
This post did surprise me, because I've always thought that Plasticweld would NOT stick acrylic.
Is there maybe more than one Plastic Weld available? Marketing depts. aren't the sharpest tools in the shed........
Anyway, this photo shows my last remaining and almost empty bottle of the 'Plastruct Plastic Weld' that used to be available here in Oz. It's the US version and the formula has changed over the years, as it used to contain chloroform, but is now dichloromethane (DCM) based.
The label has the statement "Multi-purpose, evaporative formula for bonding PLASTRUCT ABS, Styrene, Butyrate and Acrylic to itself or each other." US spelling and grammar, not mine........
- Plastic Weld.jpg (51.58 KiB) Viewed 2932 times
Out of interest I ran a test on a few off-cuts of acrylic sheet using this Plastic Weld and the few remaining drops in the dichloromethane bottle. The acrylic is Shinkolite, a Japanese made acrylic sheet equivalent to Perspex. Genuine 'Perspex' disappeared from the Aust. market decades ago.
Both 'Plastic Weld' and DCM bonded the acrylic so strongly that after being left overnight I can't break the bond by hand. The test piece is at the front of the pic., but taking a photo of transparent plastic is basically wasted effort. Since Plastruct Plastic Weld has disappeared locally, I'll have to hope my reserve supply of dichloromethane holds out.
Out of interest, I also tried MEK (2-Butanone in IUPAC speak). It stuck a piece of polystyrene to a piece of acrylic with a bond stronger than the polystyrene. However the bond between two pieces of acrylic wasn't as strong as the joint made with DCM and I was able to peel the joint apart with my fingers without the acrylic breaking. Much as I'd expected, as MEK works well on polystyrene, but also makes weak bonds when used on ABS.
Regards,
Graeme